I'm not trying to shade audiobooks in the least, but is it possible that the equivalent of second-screen viewing is listening to an audiobook doing something else and getting distracted, hence the heavy reminding and explaining?

I don't want to believe this is a thing that was actually written and published. The world is depressing enough.

"The Bolt" is seriously a masterpiece. The OG stepback. I could write a novella based around that painting alone.

#romance #WriterSky

Yes it's so satisfying, like when you slot in a missing puzzle piece.

Interesting question. I write romance so the genre is designed to make the reader comfortable with the certainty of an HEA, but I will make the characters go through the wringer first. I agree there's no story if there's no room for difficulties and you can't smooth everything over.

From the first chapter of my romantasy inspired by historical romance, set in Renaissance-like world with magic and monster hunters. #WIPSnips #WriteSky #romantasy

I should add that I'd heard about this person beforehand. She had a habit of criticizing the genre of romance she later pubbed in as shallow and unrealistic. That's the only reason I was curious to read her book. I am well aware of the mediocre output of influencers parachuted into book deals.

I said "read", not "bought".

I recently read a romance written by an influencer and pubbed by Harper Collins. It's so obvious she went into this thinking that writing romance is easy, like all you need is to throw in tropes and sex scenes in the word blender and those dumb readers will eat it up. Alas, it got a 3.3 on GR.

Great to have your posts on my timeline. I very much appreciate the positivity.

All of this. On occasion my good friend and writing buddy is kind enough to send me good reviews of my books but I never EVER go looking for them myself. Someone would have to hold me at gunpoint for me to set up a Google alert with my name.

Totally agree. Also I just thought of this but time-traveling is a histrom subgenre and it's 100% romantasy. Maybe another thing is that for a lot of people histrom = Regency = not fantasy. As opposed to, say, Vikings or Ancient China or pirates which people may more easily associate with fantasy.

I think someone mentioned in a thread on this very topic that some "traditional" histrom has supernatural elements, and "Mine Till Midnight" by LK comes to mind. I feel histrom would actually be a wonderful basis for another type of romantasy.

However my romantasy reads a lot like a histrom with monsters and magic, and I'm not a fan of the 1st person single PoV + one couple over several books romantasy model. I would personally LOVE to read histrom-adjacent romantasy, like steamy Victorian with a straight-up gothic paranormal elements.

I definitely relate to what Herrera says about people not wanting to think about history atm. One of the reasons I shifted from writing histrom with a trad pub to writing romantasy with the plan to self-pub is because I just wanted pure, undiluted escapism and freedom to create a world of my own.

Literally no one can spent a lifetime only having "correct" opinions. It's a fabrication that stifles critical thinking, nuanced discussion and creativity. There are only three options: 1) post what you want and risk backlash 2) self-censor to appear virtuous 3) seldom or never post opinions.