This was my second Love is Murder conference. It was fun. I met some new people: Jamie Freveletti (who said lovely things about my appearance, so you know she’s a woman of discriminating taste and judgement), Carolyn Haines 
(who owns a husky, so must be a fabulous person with patience galore), and John Helfers (who admired my hell hound twist, so obviously brilliant). I reconnected with people I’ve met before Joan Johnston (who is switching from historical western romances to romantic thrillers). And saw old friends (way too many to list).
Love is Murder is a mystery conference. This year Tess Gerritsen was one of the guests of honor. And there were a number of romantic suspense authors in attendance–Ann Voss Peterson, Patricia Rosemoor and Sherrill Bodine (plus others). Since Tess started with 
Harlequin Intrigue and there was such a presence of other Harlequin authors, I found it even more startling (than usual, there was some last year too) to hear romance and Harlequin-specific bashing. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t every panel, but it was there. And some of it wasn’t bashing so much as misconceptions. But it was still disturbing.
The worst was a male author who was sitting next to Tess Gerritsen on a panel when he refered to Harlequins as being “formulaic” writing, then snickered. What was incredibly mind-boggling about this (aside from the fact that he was sitting next to Tess who started with Harlequin Intrigue) is the fact that his most recent book seemed to be targeted to women–had a female protagonist. And I actually heard more than one reference to the fact that women are the biggest buyers of books, and 
authors (outside of romance) are trying to figure out a way of getting a piece of the pie. I have a free tip for anyone wanting to get into the female market–don’t denigrate what we read/write. Oh, and few less mentions of breasts might be a good start too. (same male author)
While he was pretty blatant, there were other examples. I could see the expression in one man’s eyes when I talked about my books–the laughing oh-yeah-you-think-you-are-legit look. Comments that romance had “rules” or a “formula.” Most times these comments weren’t even meant to be insulting. They were stated as fact. At one point I had to ask for someone to outline this formula for me because I’ve been writing romance for a number of years and I’ve yet to be handed any kind of guide or directive.
Perhaps the problem is that apparently a number of years ago, Harlequin had some list of things they didn’t want to see in some of their category books. And some of those guides still generally hold (heroine/hero shouldn’t be married to someone else or have sex with someone other than each other in the book), but these things are not hard set rules and no different than the unwritten expectations of other genres. There are themes that are believed not to sell as well in suspense (so editors may avoid those), and in mysteries you usually need a murder, and the crime solved by the end. But for some reason for romance this has been translated to mean that there is a “recipe” for a romance, that the writing isn’t real, that the skill is not the same. And that my friends, is B.S.
For a slide show of all my pictures from Love is Murder 2008 go here. And let me end by saying that even with a few misconceptions/prejudices Love is Murder is a great conference and one I will probably return to.
Lori –
It was great to meet you at LIM. Great blog. Too bad some authors think so much of themselves, right? And he was making those comments with Tess on his panel? If that was the Saturday afternoon panel I left it because I was exhausted and couldn’t really hear from the rear. Probably a good thing for Mr. Snark, whoever he was.
By the way, I, too, blogged about LIM this morning at IntrigueAuthors.com.
Hope to meet up with you again.
Patricia
by Patricia Rosemoor February 4th, 2008 at 1:41 pmI was telling someone at the conference about the incident and they did say, “Was Patricia in the room?”
by Lori February 4th, 2008 at 1:51 pmWhat seems so mind-boggling to me, Lori, is that Tess Gerritsen didn’t hit the guy over the head with one of her books. Perhaps she is an extremely peace-loving person? Actually I might have expected you to tackle him at the first opportunity and knock some sense into his poor brain. I applaud your restraint.
by Sally MacKenzie February 4th, 2008 at 4:52 pmHi Lori It was great meeting you at LIM - loved your blog! Sorry I wasn’t there to stomp on the poor fool’s foot with my stilettos.
Looking forward to seeing you in New York next month.
by Sherrill Bodine February 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pmHi Lori:
You had good audience comments at the romance authors panel on Sunday too. I was so inspired by hearing that group. I’m sorry I missed this panel, so I could have made a comment on this kind of ridiculous input. What an idiot!
I did hear a few sexist comments (from only one person) at another panel on police mysteries also, so it’s not limited to romance, sadly. We know who is right about this - 1.37 billion dollars stands behind the romance industry!
by Amy Alessio February 6th, 2008 at 8:09 pmThanks, Amy. It’s funny that old stereotypes hold so well. I think the part that bugs me the most is that whoever is saying it usually thinks it’s a “safe” comment. Meaning either true or that no one around them could possibly be associated with the genre. Even when it’s pretty darn clear from the list of attending authors that a number of people are–and aren’t even slightly embarrassed by that fact.
by Lori February 6th, 2008 at 9:30 pmI also wonder if that 1.37 billion doesn’t make it worse. Anytime something has mass appeal it tends to get looked down on–strange as that is (to me at least).