But
still, it hasn’t helped to learn the public has developed a taste for reading crime
over romantic fiction. It seems Public Lending Rights, who monitor what goes on
in our public libraries, maintain Crime Fiction has overtaken Romantic Fiction
in the library popularity stakes. Apparently what we want in these gritty
social and economic times, is even grittier fiction. We’ve thrown over the chance
of a 'will she won’t she,' good story, followed by a smoochy happy ending, in favour of
yarns about the slayings of schoolgirls and other bloody thrillers of the likes
written by James Patterson .
And if that’s
not enough for me to deal with, a friend recently asked if she could read one
of my short stories. Ignoring the publishers habitually repeated dictum, “The
only person who gets a free copy is your mother,” I offered her A Cat About the
House, recently published in the anthology, Its Never too Late to Fall in Love
You’d think I was being seditious even
offering it.
“What! I didn’t
realise you wrote Romantic Fiction – Why?”
When friends respond like that, why indeed?
Well to make money wouldn’t go amiss – not that at the moment there's much chance. I love doing it,
sounds a bit weak and self indulgent, but its true, I really do. Getting stuck into
writing a story is akin to going on holiday to my way of thinking. But in
truth, I want others to have a good time, forget about their troubles for a short while and enjoy reading what I write. If I achieve that, then I'll have achieved the greatest thrill from writing.
