"I think that if you want to write a standard romance--by which I mean enjoyable, escapist, fantasy fiction--the most important thing you need is an imagination. Real life details can be useful to work into the story, but real life is more…"

"I've thought a lot about why it's become so successful, because I've wondered if it was possible to repeat the pattern. I think that what gave it its first big push was word of mouth from the audience Sangay refers to--the Twilight…"

"Envious. Any writer who says he or she isn't is lying :) Encouraged. Apparently, there's a huge mainstream market for women who want to read sex scenes. I think the best line in the Newsweek article was something to the effect, if someone…"

"This is a great question, and there's at least some reason to think there may be a generational difference. Apparently, more than half of the readers of the 50 Shades trilogy are between 20 and 35. The real question is what they're reading…"

"OK, this is a very un-PC perspective, but let's assume that sociobiology and evolutionary psychology are largely correct in suggesting that we're hard-wired for strategies that will enhance procreation. Men: multiple partners, little…"

"It's hard to imagine it would sell (at least to the conventional romance reader) because the emotional payoff in mainstream "romance" is the happily ever after at the end of the book." "Romance" ((whether historical,…"

"Because romance novels are fundamentally fantasy, perhaps the best way they could help a woman's real life love life is if she can find a guy who's willing to read them and maybe bring more of the best parts into reality. Unfortunately,…"

"The formulas in the genre are mainly based in women's fantasies: bad boy who falls helplessly in love and goes from "cad" to "dad" as one commentator put it; domination fantasies (hence, Shades of Grey); healing the…"

"Have published a few nonfiction books and have started experimenting with erotic fiction (under a pen name). Have written one novel (working on another), a couple of novellas and a short story. Wouldn't mind finding a writers' group for…"

"Ellora's Cave announced a few months ago that they wanted to launch a line for men. But the way they described what they were looking for, I wouldn't say it fit the "romance" category. Think, "Penthouse Letters.""