Sarah: Recently, Freebird had a really interesting homework assignment. He had to list the things that influenced him from most to least – things like parents, friends, the internet, etc. Then Hubby and I had to do the assignment, too, and list the things that influenced us when we were his age.
Of course, when he and I were kids, there was no internet. Both of us listed “books” as the thing that influenced us most When We Were Young
This got me thinking about what influenced me as a romance reader. What books or shows or other things influenced my tastes as a reader?
So what influenced you guys?
Amanda: Barbies.
I’m not joking.
Redheadedgirl: Cinderella.
Amanda: That and my nana watching her “stories.”
Redheadedgirl: The Little House books. History and how people lived and romance and family and adventure.
Elyse: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
Redheadedgirl: YES
Elyse: Gothic castle. Redemption of a beastly hero. Everyone deserves love.
Cinderella too. And Sleeping Beauty. Basically Disney owns my soul.
Redheadedgirl: Also he gave her a library as a grovel gift.
THAT GROVEL IS SUFFICIENT
Sarah: Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
I was the only one who knew how to program the VCR to record things while we were out of the house, and so I amassed quite a collection of Scarecrow and Mrs. King episodes on a big old stack of VHS tapes. I loved that show. I loved the mysteries, but I really loved the very slow burning, unresolved tension between the leads. I also liked that Mrs. King was an ordinary divorced mom who didn’t let anyone give her any crap about her life.
The theme to Scarecrow & Mrs. King still gives me the shivers, too. Like my inner 12 year old perks up and gets all eager to grab some Triscuits and ginger ale and head for the couch.
(All spies wear sweater vests and beige turtleneck sweaters in a size too small, right? Of course they do.)
And Beauty and the Beast — the TV show. BaTB was my first fandom obsession, before there was the Internet, which nurtures fandoms as part of its DNA I think. I had graphic novels. I had the soundtrack – and I bought a used CD copy off eBay last year because my original was a cassette. It took me awhile to realize that the episode descriptions were all about the mystery but the episodes themselves were also romances, too, with a tenuous possibility for a happy ending. And in my headcanon, she doesn’t die, though I was still introduced to Dylan Thomas’ poetry.
(That 80’s dress when Linda Hamilton first appears on the balcony was to young Sarah the HEIGHT of glamour.)
The X-Files was a similar influence, but only the romantic parts. Once I found a listing of all the shipping moments in various episodes, I’d watch them and fast forward through some of the “too scary” parts and get to the fragments of schmoopy parts. (That page still exists! IT IS ON ANGELFIRE. Oh, helloooo, nostalgia.)
So my biggest influences were tv shows that were romances disguised as something else, be that mystery or crime drama. I think my love for those shows matches my intense dislike of insta-love (slow burn! SLOW BURN. WORK FOR IT, DAMMIT) and my frustrating affection for very slow-building attractions that builds in tiny moments amidst everything else.
Redheadedgirl: Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
Forreal.
Sarah: Oh HELL yes.
Redheadedgirl: As an introduction to the glory that is Alan Rickman, that was a good one!
Sarah: It was like two different movies because of Rickman. There was Costner and Morgan Freeman just emo-scowling everywhere, and then there was Rickman, who was clearly in some other film
Redheadedgirl: Forever Knight was the first show that got me interested in fandom.
OH MY GOD
HOW COULD I FORGET HIGHLANDER?
Sarah: HIGHLANDER OMG.
THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.
Redheadedgirl: The movie is okay, but the show? THE SHOW WAS A GLORY OF EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING!
Sarah: Mystery wrapped around a romance – hellooooooo catnip. Wait, there was a show? I never saw the show!
Redheadedgirl: Oh lord, Sarah
Sarah: Hello eyebrows.
Redheadedgirl: Have a look at all of these.
The show was everything great about 90s adventure shows.
I mean that genre in general. No wonder I love the old skool crazysauce: it’s what I consumed during my adolescence.
Amanda: I think the whole nana watching her soap operas and me with my Barbies were deeply connected. She’d babysit me while I was younger and had a ton of romances with Fabio covers, by the way. But she’d sit in her chair and watch soaps and then I’d go home and I’d use my Barbies to act out whatever crazy shit happened.
But I also liked how Barbies could be whatever the hell they wanted and honestly, all of my “storylines” with my dolls had a romance central to the plot. As I got older, I actually started watching soaps. Shout out to General Hospital. They’re so addicting. When you first catch an episode, you have no clue what’s going on, so you have to watch the next day and then the next one and the one after that to fully grasp all the storylines. If I ever see GH on TV, I will try to avoid it like the plague or else there go all my afternoons. And come on…everyone is in love with everyone on soaps.
My mom also worked a lot, so she’d drop me off to “before care” at school and I’d stay for “after care” once school let out. In the mornings, they’d play Sailor Moon in the cafeteria for all the kids to watch while the ate breakfast. And while Tuxedo Mask was a mysterious hunk, I was all for the bad guys (see our villains post), Alan and Prince Diamond.
Sarah: And in soaps, they only get ONE episode to be happy. Maybe two, using the L shaped sheet that covers her but leaves him naked all the way south to the thin part of the treasure trail
Y’all. Can you imagine the reaction if before-care breakfast at school had television on, let alone Sailor Moon?!
Amanda: It was super depressing, haha. I would be at school before the sun came up and then was there until around 6pm.
And the cafeteria at 6am was always freezing and eerily quiet.
Sarah: That makes me sad. I mean, working means that happens, but wow.
Amanda: My mom worked far away, so she had a heavy commute in South Florida. But I got to hang out with this awesome woman, who I think was a teacher’s aide and her name was Mrs. Moxie!
Sarah: That’s a GOOD NAME
Amanda: And she’d help me put cream cheese on my bagel because for some reason, they always gave me a damn spoon to put it on with.
Sarah: WTF
So before-care, Mrs. Moxie, and Sailor Moon: formative influences! That’s rad.
What about you? What influenced you as a romance reader? Can you see any parallels between the shows you loved and the books you love now? (And should I re-watch all the episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King? I shouldn’t, right? No, I shouldn’t.)
Add me to the list of crazy in love with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, though my love of books when I was a baby. My mom always read to me. When I was younger I read Nancy Drew, Lurlene McDaniel books, Gone With the Wind, Anne of Green Gables, The Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley High, Richie Tankersley Cusick books, etc. etc. My first romances were by Johanna Lindsey & Victoria Holt.
On the movie side, Dirty Dancing, Footloose, 10 Things I Hate About You, Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: PoT made me swoon. Soaps: Days of Our Lives, Passions, Swan’s Crossing. I loved (still do) Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series, I ship Rogue and Gambit so hard. Buffy was my gateway to online fandom, I still love it as much as I did when it premiered nearly 20 years ago (God, I feel old.)
So despite my bitchy exoskeleton, on the inside I am a big old marshmallow & a die hard romantic. Bad boys (with good hearts) will forever be my catnip.
I never really thought about it before, but pretty much everything I watched on television as a kid in the 90’s was a giant precursor to my love for romance novels. Like Amanda, I was addicted to soaps from a very early age. One of my first memories was seeing Dr. Maria Santos Grey strutting around Pine Valley Hospital. I was sitting on the living room floor playing with my Barbies and looked up to see Maria wearing the exact same shoes I’d just put on Barbie’s feet. I stopped watching soaps almost two years ago, but I will still watch the Nurse’s Ball when it airs this year. I love watching people who don’t usually sing do their thing. It was always my favorite part of General Hospital growing up.
The Nanny was a favorite in my house. Fran Drescher was so funny–and she went to the same college as I did. The relationship between Fran and Max, and later CC and Niles, was just so good. Plus, as a girl from Queens, I loved the idea that I could fall in love with a gorgeous, rich, British guy.
Pacey from Dawson’s Creek was everything. The way he took care of Andie when she had her breakdown was the sweetest thing my 12 year old heart had ever seen. Then, he fell for Joey, who honestly didn’t totally deserve him and didn’t treat him the way she should have–who dates one guy, claims to love him, and still really wants the dude with the worst cry face the internet has ever mocked?
Quantum Leap. I loved that Sam got to be someone else in every episode (except the two times he leaped into Jimmy) and that gave him the opportunity to fall for different people. I think my favorite pairing was from the second season episode, Good Morning, Peoria, where he was a DJ for a rock and roll station in the 1950’s and he fell for the station owner, played by Patricia Richardson. LOVED THAT EPISODE.
Last, I have to agree with Sarah on Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I re-watched that series just over a month ago and was so happy that I was able to buy season 3 on iTunes after I started working again. On the same level, I love Chuck and the romance between Chuck and Sarah was the same type of slow burn, although I don’t think they simmered quite as much as Lee and Amanda.
Count me in the SCARECROW AND MRS KING and REMINGTON STEELE camps.
One of the best parts of growing up to be a TV writer was getting to write for Bruce Boxleitner in TRON: UPRISING. Ladies, HE SPOKE MY WORDS!!! Swoon.
Oh god yes I totally forgot to mention Remington Steele. I adored the hell out of that show.
Enough that I mighta sorta kinda (by which I mean TOTALLY) had a specific season 4 Steele episode in mind, the two-parter where he’s in hiding in London and looking all scruffy and everything, as the visual template for Julian in the Rebels of Adalonia books.
But as long as we’re all talking TV–let me also give shoutouts to MacGyver for being my template for adoring heroes who demonstrated their awesomeness via brains, original-series Star Trek for first demonstrating to me that why yes hazel eyes CAN be pretty (I AM a Kirk fangirl), and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea for starting me on my lifelong love of Irwin Allen skiffy cheesefests.
Later on I also totally slurped up The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but those were both post-college, and I’m talking stuff during my formative years. 😀
– @scifigirl1986 – PACEY! Oh my god, I loved Pacey so much. Tell me you’ve seen Josh Jackson’s Funny or Die “PaceyCon” video!
http://youtu.be/Gx2G2yp6cU4
When I was six we got a vcr and my mother would tape old black and white swedish matiné movies on them for us to watch on rainy days because we only had public service. The most memorable and probably the foundation of my romance love was about the 17th century peasant uprising, a war with Denmark and the lovestory between a peasant woman and a officer in the Swedish military. It had it all! Daring redcues, a vampy female villaness, swordfights, secret conspiracies and a pasionate kiss before it faded to black. I know there were a lot of romantic commedies as well with slapstick and missunderstandings due to missed calls. Thank you mom!
When I was 10 I was given an abridged version of The Scarlet Pimpernell – cue my still fanatic love for spies, evil villans and daring doos. I also remember reading Anne of Greengables (3 first books) and the lovely slog burn romance that’s in them.
When I was 12 I found 2historical romances while wisiting a family friends cabin, and was given them as a gift on departure. I think it was the wife of one of my fathers colleges, thank you you brilliant lady! Then, 6 months later my great aunt started sending me her old harlequins and the rest is history. …
80s fantasy films like Ladyhawke and The Princess Bride are the biggest ones. I remember being read to as a child and Little Red Riding Hood and the French novelization of Peter Pan stand out. Especially Peter Pan because this particular French edition had such beautiful illustrations that captivated me as a child. Also anything having to do with mermaids, mythology, or the 1001 Nights. Also two animated films: Anastasia and an anime version of Swan Lake.
I think I’ve always been drawn to fantasy, fairy tales, and history in the things I read because of these influences. Wish I could get my hands on more fantasy romance.
I was a spooky kid. The Addams Family tv show, the short stories of Ray Bradbury, and Arthurian myth in all forms shaped my youth. Then I fell down the Tolkien rabbit hole. Viggo as Aragorn…sigh…I still love me some LOTR. But yeah, Gomez and Morticia!
@chacha1; Thank you for the reminder.
‘Marsh’s relationship through-story of Alleyn + Troy was always catnip: two professionals who respect each other? Yes please. And given that the books date from the mid-30s to the early 80s, they form a handy work-around to the notion of “conventional roles.” Yes, Troy is a wife and mother, but aside from that she is a world-traveling, world-famous artist.’
Oh goodness, yes! Troy and Alleyn met in Artists in Crime, didn’t they? There was a wonderful paragraph where she spots him, (coming aboard a boat?) and is struck by the lines of his face, and overcome by a desire to paint him. (Swoon)
And then, near the end ‘You so nearly love me, don’t you?’ (Double Swoon)
Oh, the things you remember from age 10. I had a paperback copy in green and white. Was it a Penguin? I bet it’s on Kindle somewhere!
For me, it was Sweet Valley High as well…then a series called Wild Hearts by Cherie Bennett. I mean, it was about teenage girls in a band being teenage girls with teenage girl angst! It was catnip for me because it combined my two things I enjoyed and well still enjoy 80’s rock music and romance! Yeah! Of course, then I discovered Harlequin series romances at the grocery store at 12 and became addicted ever since! General Hospital back in the day was great as well! How crazy sauce could the Spencer family be?? Tune in to find out!
@Eliza- OMG, Cherie Bennett’s Sunset Island was one of my favorites!! Never read Wild Hearts, but now I want to.
All right. Here it goes, in no particular order, because I’m not sure this question lends itself well to linear thought.
X-Files — this came out around the time I was 12. First, Mulder was hot, full stop. Then we had Gillian Anderson and her portraying a smart, capable, no BS woman. We can trace my love of things like Fringe, Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow (at least the first season) right back here.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — still my favorite show of all time. After it ended, I was bereft, because its style was SOOOO MUCH my thing and it really was a hard thing to duplicate. Impossible, really. It’s still not been done. Unfortunately, in my search to fill that void, I came across Anita Blake, which was okay and actually had some stylistic similarities in the earlier books, before it was all sex all the time. I actually gave the first few books to my dad (also a huge Buffy fan). That got weird later. On the upside, my love of that tone (and James Marsters) led me to the Dresden Files. MUCH BETTER.
Addams Family movies — specifically Wednesday, although I also severely love Morticia (such glamour, that one). I liked her deadpan sarcasm and her unwillingness to compromise and play nice.
Dirty Dancing and Ghost — never getting over that crush on Swayze.
Christopher Pike — this was the adolescent foray into horror. My aunt got me two box sets of books for Christmas when I was in 6th grade. One of them was Christopher Pike. I even remember which four books were in the set. Spellbound, Last Act, Scavenger Hunt, and Remember Me. I got hooked into horror quickly because of those bad boys.
L.M. Montgomery — the Emily Starr books were the other box set. I initially thought, eh, boring looking, but I started them anyway. They started a love of Lucy Maud that maintains to this day. (Yes, I did get to Anne Shirley later, and I love her too).
Jean Plaidy — here’s we can trace my love of historicals. She was the first historical fiction author I read. My favorite was probably The Dark Prince.
Fairy tales and Greek myths — this presaged my love of fantasy.
@ Vasha, that was “Forfeit.” I read it again not too long ago and I think it holds up well. The home relationship of a wife with polio was inspired by Francis’ own experience – his wife was stricken with polio as an adult, and fortunately recovered. “Forfeit” is one of the most suspenseful of all the Francis books, I think, because the stakes are really high. The love story is daring in several ways.
OMG, now *I* want to go and rewatch Scarecrow & Mrs. King! And Highlander! I met my husband through the Highlander tv series. And my best friend, as well. This whole post made me so nostalgic! I see a weekend ahead of rewatching old favorites and getting nothing else accomplished!
I’m another one who was (and still am) a voracious reader. I read anything I could put my hands on: Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Sydney Sheldon, Valley of the Dolls, some hundred plus Barbara Cartland romances, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex, James Michener, Shirley Conran, Valley of the Dolls, The Godfather, and the list goes on and on.
No lie, I used to watch Ryan’s Hope with my mom after kindergarten and then I’d take my nap. I was so hooked. I watched it till it went off. Then i cross addicted to All My Children (Julia+Noah 4ever). i also loved Beauty and the Beast (Disney) and Sweet Valley High.
I’m from an older generation, so for me it was the old black and white movies we watched on TV as kids. All the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller, the Robin Hood version with Errol Flynn. Then at the movies, it was “The Sounds of Music”, “West Side Story”, “My Fair Lady”, “South Pacific”. And TV western series, when I was too young to even understand the sexual undertones, “Gunsmoke” and “The Big Valley”. I had no idea about there being a romance genre of books until I was into my 20’s.
My reading influences were (for kids) Madeleine L’Engle books (particularly Vicky’s series), the Little House books, and my all time romantic favorites, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare and The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. I counted down to when my mother would let me read Gone with the Wind (13).
I also found Scarecrow and Mrs. King complete catnip, and I discovered Elizabeth Peters in my teens and still reread Crocodile on the Sandbank with regularity — and the Vicky Bliss books gave me a taste for morally ambiguous heroes. I also discovered Jude Deveraux around that time and wandered in a bright haze of Montgomerys and Taggarts for a long while. But the biggest moment was discovering Dorothy L. Sayers’ Wimsey/Vane mysteries, with their frank discussions of what it means to love someone, to be beholden to someone, to navigate a relationship with responsibility and care as well as passion.
All things Disney. I was and am such a Disney fanatic. Shojo animes/mangas. 80s dance movies (thanks, mom). A&E Pride and Prejudice, Megan Follows’ Anne of Green Gables, and Kelly Martin’s Christy (thanks, Aunt Cindy). And all of the books.
Tamora Pierce. I devoured the Tortall ones and read them multiple times. It was also one of the only instances I could remember of a book explicitly for younger readers that dealt with premarital sex (and in a medieval society, no less!) in a real way without either a) pretending it didn’t happen, or b) being a full-on steamy romance which I’m not sure I would have really understood at age 11. But those scenes definitely paved the way for me to get into actual romance later.
In terms of TV/movies, from 3rd-5th grade I watched a lot of Xena Warrior Princess. And generally, a LOT of nature shows, even when I was only like 3 and I thought the narrator of the PBS show “Wild America” was my best friend.
I’m trying to remember what I would’ve really been into as a child, and all I’m coming up with is that I really loved sound of music and Grease, the latter of which I was way too young to be watching ,as a kid. And for anyone who remembers TV Land, I watched a lot of the shows they had when I was a teenager. I have particular memories of I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched, Green Acres, Andy Griffith, and Mash because dad was a fan. My parents were also introducing me to TCM. I have a particular memory of me watching a movie, and having a sense of deja vu because I had seen it before, and it turned out to be Yankee Doodle Dandy, the great 1942 where James Cagney played composer George M. Cohan. I also have a memory of dad turning on the TV and picking another movie from 1942, this one called Random Harvest. After dinner, I had to see how it ended and whether the lead couple were together. The thing was, I couldn’t remember it for a long time, until I stumbled across an article on film which linked to it. I clicked on the link, and knew this was the movie I had been unknowingly trying to remember the name of for the past few years. It has become one of my favorite romantic movies, and is one I recommend to people all the time. So I guess my influences were musicals, classic TV shows, and classic movies, along with Disney movies.