I Don't Wanna be a Sheep

Sheep in Wyoming, courtesy of my crappy little camera

No, I’m not a rebel or a renegade or someone who strikes off in a wild new direction. That’s not me. BUT, I figure there’s no sense being a sheep either.

I picked up a book this weekend – a romance novel the name and writer of which I won’t reveal – and within the thirty some odd pages I read, I realized the book was quickly going down a path that so many romance novels do. The main character had been born into a wealthy family – and I don’t mean successful dry cleaning business wealthy, I mean billionaire tycoon wealthy – and the author described a setting, without a trace of sarcasm, full of mansions, polo ponies, BMWs, Land Rovers, designer fashions and servants. And of course the hero of the story was impressed by the uber-rich heroine’s sweetness, generosity, backbone and spunk. She was, in a word, perfect. Completely without flaws, too good for this world…and her only real challenge in life was deciding which polo pony she wanted to ride that day.

It was quite funny.

For whatever reason, this kind of decadence is more tolerable in a historical piece. At least for me: I’d rather read about kings and queens than wealthy contemporaries. But regardless, I think it’s a trend in romantic fiction that isn’t relatable to the average reader, and it’s certainly not relatable to me.

What about characters with REAL struggles? With broken washing machines and dwindling paychecks? With fields that need sowing and lawns that need mowing? With crappy jobs and cars that don’t always start? But characters with good friends and strong families too, with depth and flaws and self-doubt. What about them? Why does a character have to be extremely wealthy and unquestionably perfect in order to be interesting? Why does he or she have to be a brain surgeon or a lawyer or a politician in order to have merit?

No one is perfect, no one’s life is perfect, and that’s what I want to write about. Real people with real problems, not millionaires with trust funds and kinky bondage issues. And I have to believe that there’s a market out there, that there’s room in romance for a touch of country and a dash of everyman, that there are readers who want representative fiction that isn’t complete fantasy.

That’s what I want to read, anyway, so that’s what I’m putting out there. Do what you love and love what you do…all that sort of stuff.