30 Days of Writing Questions – Day 16

Yes, I know I skipped a day. Day 15's question asked for me to share another writer whom I admire. There's way too many of them out there to do it justice!

16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? ;)


In my short stories I rarely write about romantic relationships, however my novels are a different kettle of fish. Since most of the novels I write are romance, I think it’s safe to say I write romantic relationships. :-)

How do I do with those? I think you’d be better off asking someone who’s read my work how I do with them. I didn’t start out writing romance, I wrote fantasy (mainly), but a romantic element always seemed to creep into them. It’s hard to have a romantic element without having a romantic relationship, so eventually I just caved and let the muse have his way.

How far am I willing to go in my writing? When I first started writing romance I found the hardest part for me was letting my characters have physical contact. Staring at each other with longing? Fine. Hand holding? Okay. Hugging? Well, if you must . . . Kissing? Now I was starting to leave my comfort zone.

I don’t know what changed over time, but the more I wrote about the physical side of romantic relationships, the more comfortable I became. My characters are young and healthy and they usually like having sex. Sometimes lots of sex. Nothing kinky mind you . . .well, maybe a little kinky, but not too kinky. . . well, maybe some of them are a little, um, inventive, but not all of them. So in answer to the question, how far am I willing to go in my writing? Much farther than I’m willing to go in real life. ;-)

If you'd like to take part, or just see the whole list of questions, go HERE