Hi all! I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!
In exciting, personal news, my partner and I are moving in together. Our lease was supposed to start April 1st but things happened and now we’re moving March 1st. The next Links post will be compiled from our new place! Definitely equal parts excited and stressed.
It’s also supposed to get icy in New England. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but late February and early March always has a way of reminding me that winter isn’t quite over. I remember one year it snowed on my birthday, which is mid-April!
How is everyone else? I would love to hear any exciting news you all have on the horizon.
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We are overjoyed to hear that the HarperCollins Union has ratified their contract. If you’re curious what the contract entailed, you can find it outlined in this Twitter thread.
https://twitter.com/hcpunion/status/1628095098427695104
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Dr. Jo Coghlan and Lisa J. Hackett, researchers in Sociology at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW, Australia) are conducting research on romance novels and have asked for our help!
We are currently conducting research into authenticity in romance novels.
The title of our research is ‘Locating authenticity in contemporary romance novels: Perspectives from international readers and writers’. This research is partially funded by the Romance Writers of America (RWA) through their Academic Research Grant.
The aim of this research is to investigate how readers know that the inspirational romance novel they are reading is authentic. It will examine this from the perspective of both readers and writers.
As part of this research, we would like to post an invitation on your group for members to complete the survey. The post would invite members to follow a URL link to survey to complete it. All participants will be required to give consent before completing the survey. It will take approximately 20 minutes for them to complete the survey. The forum post is given below.
Participants will not be identified, and no information will be sourced from posts on your site. Participants will not be required to provide any sensitive information regarding your site or themselves.
This research has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of New England (Approval No HE22-161 Valid to 3 November 2023).
Surveys by genre:
- For historical romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9NQNk8mn8ni1bT0
- For crime romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cMiIOZXI5bsbOd0
- For royal themed romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3qjPA2jTRUF4D5Q
- For paranormal romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3azcOigxBaTLkPk
- For medical romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_abdW6OgBRcBbuzc
- For inspirational romance readers and writers – https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6X1y6GML84txBVc
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Persuasion, as performed by actress Florence Pugh, is on Audible! And, if you didn’t know, there are other wonderful classics performed by British actors available.
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Elyse: The Neighborhood Fiber Collective, a Black owned yarn company is looking to raise money for a new space. They are one of my favorite dyers. They’re selling a special dye color to raise money and they also have a GoFundMe campaign.
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
That yarn is to die for. If only international shipping didn’t cost an arm and a leg!
Authentic?? Don’t we all know that small towns are full of families that feature five single smoking-hot brothers where one’s a fire fighter, one’s a vet, one’s a mechanic, one raises livestock, and one owns a construction company (and has a sad backstory because he’s a widower struggling to raise his young son by himself)? You can’t get any more authentic than that!
/I would read that series in a heartbeat!
If anyone has participated in the survey(s) linked above, could you describe what the researchers mean by “authenticity”? I find the description of the project — The aim of this research is to investigate how readers know that the [insert subgenre here] romance novel they are reading is authentic. — offputting, confusing, and intriguing.
I mean, what is “inauthentic” romance? Romance written by AI? Or even — to be less the future is now — those tropey, marketing-driven cash grab romcom series with the blob-faced illustrated covers?
I wondered about their definition of “authentic” as well. Romance readers look for different levels of “realistic-ness” in their reading. I, for one, tend strongly toward the “unrealistic” in terms of storyline and characters. Maybe they mean authentic in terms of the diversity of the characters?
FYI, here’s the “Aim of the Research” blurb from the Paranormal Romance section of the survey: “This research aims to explore how reader and writers negotiate authenticity in paranormal romance novels, e.g. romance novels that contain an element of the paranormal, such as magic, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, the gothic, etc.”
I dunno. I mean, how authentic are werewolves?
The late, great film critic Roger Ebert once said that a work of fiction “does not need to be accurate, but it does need to feel authentic.”
@DDD – So, I read a little further and found this: “Questionnaire We would like you to complete an online questionnaire about accuracy in the romance novels you read and/or write.”
They seem to be using accuracy and authenticity interchangeably?
@MaryK: Hmmmm. Perhaps someone with experience in methodology and survey design can give us more perspective, but I would think a person who has earned a doctorate in Sociology and is spearheading a serious analysis of romance reading/writing would include strictly-defined terminology.
@DDD – Exactly. Very diplomatically put.
Not to disrespect Florence Pugh, but bitches who have the opportunity to hear Juliet Stevenson’s narrations of Austen’s novels will not be disappointed. I knew her first in Truly, Madly, Deeply, Anthony Minghella’s breakout indie film also starring Alan Rickman. She is a truly outstanding narrator with a real gift for dialect. Her Mr Collins and Lady Catherine have me in stitches and I do love her rendition of Persuasion as well. I was able to get them all on Libby through my library though I have subsequently bought P&P, Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility.
Considering the first blurb for the survey specified “inspirational romance”, I was thinking they were trying to see if the book matched lived experiences of readers who are part of the target religious group. “Is this an accurate representation of your faith group?” But since I see it also includes other genres, I’m not even sure now.
Like DDD pointed out, this is why researchers are supposed to define what they mean in using specific terms – so everyone is on the same page and aren’t talking about different things with the same vocab.
They also have a questionnaire about “medical romances” — is that even a subgenre now? Although the love lives of nurses were hugely popular in the early days of Mills & Boon, I never hear romances with medical settings particularly singled out these days.
There’ve been plenty of interesting discussions about aspects of authenticity in the comments on this site.
Plus, champagne toast to the union!
I took the paranormal survey, hoping that I would be able to figure out wtf they’re talking about. They actually want you to define accuracy for them, so… yeah. I did NOT say the opposite of this mess, but I thought about it.
Congrats on moving in together! 😀
I meant to post this Valentine’s special last Wednesday, but oh well, every day is a good day for romance, right? The podcast You’re Dead to Me did a Valentine’s special on Georgian (including Regency) courtship that I really enjoyed, as someone who mainly reads historicals. Maybe the most interesting thing I learned was that giving gifts doesn’t automatically mean that he wants her to be his mistress *gasp*!!! (Basically, men of all classes gave gifts to the women they wooed, but the gifts depended on their class status.)
Anyway, really fun stuff, this podcast in general is my absolute favorite and pairs comedians with historians. The latest episode about the medieval Papacy has me yearning for medieval romances with an 18-year-old pope who calls upon Satan and demons to win at gambling… Link to the V-day special: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/valentines-special-georgian-courtship/id1479973402?i=1000598924244
Amanda, all good wishes for you and your partner in your new abode!
@kkw Yep. I took the historical survey and have absolutely no confidence that any of my answers matched what they were going for because it didn’t seem like they knew either.
This is admittedly not my field, but this is easily the messiest survey purporting to come from academics I’ve ever seen. Hell, I’m pretty sure I’ve taken better surveys of the “what colour unicorn are you” variety, and I usually fail those.
When I saw the request for readers of “crime romances” I wondered if that meant romances involving mafia, outlaw bikers, and such; or police-crime-solving crossovers with romance; or what… From the survey, I suppose the latter, but they were criminally vague. And they kept asking if I thought I’d read romances that were “criminologically accurate”! I don’t have a degree in criminology!
I answered the questionnaire for historical romance. As I understand it, they are asking open-ended questions to see how readers define authenticity/accuracy, and to find out how important it is for them to have it in what they read. Then they will see where everyone’s answers fall, and where there is close alignment or a lot of disparity in the data. We each have a different line, after all! For instance, I have a difficult time reading contemporaries where characters in professions with clear ethical standards (medicine, law) are constantly violating these standards. I know it’s easier for me to “suspend disbelief” when I know less about a setting, so I gravitate towards authors that I feel I can trust to do research (like Courtney Milan).
Today’s bracket is not live–probably in two hours which will be ~2pm ET–but the #RomComBracket is pitting movies against each other on twitter. This will be the final round.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/RomComBracket?src=hashtag_click
Yes, that is an odd survey. Questions such as “What do you believe the responsibilities of an author are in regards to criminological accuracy?”. It felt like they were crowdsourcing their research topic. And questions where you can’t answer None or n/a. Also it kept crashing for me – other sites were fine. Would be interested to see the results when they get to that stage though.
@Vasha – Mills & Boon/Harlequin does still have Medical Romance category line.
@MaryK: Huh… So they do. I scanned through some recent titles and could only think that Romancelandia medical professionals have an astounding number of unexpected pregnancies. I worry for the patients of Romancelandia if all the doctors, who ought to be exceptionally responsible, are so much behind the ball.