Some Comments on PW's "It's Still Complicated; A Review of Romance Publishing

 I am the author of a book that is a literary critique of romance novels and Barbara Pym's books called The Subversion of romance in the Novels of Barbara Pym (The Popular Press/U of Wisconsin Press, 1998). A good friend, J.R., herself an author, recently pointed me to this article from PW: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b.... Among other things, the article's theme is that rape and rape fantasy as depicted in romances now require consent, and the author talks about "the Weinstein" factor among other things. I'm also a romance writer at times, and my book The Wild Horse Runs Free is on Good Reads, and Amazon. I would like to say that novels of all type are fiction, and many genres besides romance depict rape, especially murder mysteries, thrillers, and horror novels. It is just that, fiction. We make it up. It doesn't mean we advocate anything. I personally don't write romance any more because I don't like writing sex scenes, but that's me. The First Amendment should still apply to art, which is what creative fiction is. Publishers and editors are among the last great censors; we get it. They may reject anything, and can often tell writers to write or not write, anything. But putting a "consent" clause in a romance novel where one element may involve depicting rape, well, I just don't know. This is an interesting and well written article, and food for thought. I read The Flame and The Flower in college, and later, as research for my dissertation. I took this and Woodiwiss's other novels and read the whole, not stressing on plot details. If found the plot to move quickly, and her heroines to have some depth and personality. Her research was always very good. That's all I have to say. Read the article if you are a fiction writer.