As a preteen in the mid-‘80s, I loved soap operas. We lived in Canada back then, and the nighttime American soaps were the best, especially Dallas, Dynasty, and the Colbys. The nuances of the storylines went way over my head. Only the bluntest of plotlines made sense. So I knew that JR, Alexis, and Sable were bad, while Bobby, Krystle, and Fallon were good. And I understood the various pointy angles of the love triangles. (Team Jeff all the way! Sorry, Miles).
But what fascinated me most about these shows was how gorgeous everyone was and the opulence of their lifestyles. Whether or not what they were saying made sense to 11-year-old me, the visuals were spectacular. The beautiful faces, big hair, power suits and shimmering gowns made these shows fun to watch.
Then, in the late ‘80s, my mother’s job transferred her (and us) to Belgium. The English language TV content was sparse, and included the BBC, beaming across the Channel from the UK. The Brits love their soap operas just as much as North Americans. But I noticed straight away that these UK soaps differed greatly from their Hollywood counterparts.
Instead of wealthy, physically stunning characters living in luxury, the British soaps had people who looked like the folk we see every day across the street, at the supermarket checkout, or standing in the bus line. Normal people like the rest of us with acne, bad hair, and imperfect bodies draped in cheap clothes. Rather than plotting multi-million-dollar takeovers, these guys were scrambling to pay their rent.
When I first saw the flagship BBC soap opera Eastenders, I was taken aback by the total absence of eye candy, yachts, and private jets. But when I got past that, I realized the stories were just as entertaining. We had villains whose antics entranced us, and good guys and girls to root for. There was unrequited love, secret babies, and underhanded dealings.
Bear with me: I do have a point dredging up my pre-teen soap-watching habits!
A few years ago, when I started writing seriously with the intention of being a published author, I gravitated toward romance. Love stories are wonderful, they make me feel good, and I wanted to write fiction that uplifts and edifies.
I read a lot in my genre, and found that many of the stories had more in common with the American soaps of my teen years. All the lead characters were gorgeous, and they were either wealthy or living in pleasant locations, such as picturesque small towns or beautiful ranches. Almost no romance novels were set in grotty down-at-heel neighborhoods.
A pretty main street in a picturesque smalltown.
And when I wrote my own stories, I made most of them fit in with what I like to read. Attractive people who, whether or not they’re wealthy, live in good neighborhoods or cozy towns.
So, I ask myself, is there anything wrong with enjoying stories where people are either rich, beautiful, or living in paradise? Are consumers of contemporary Christian romance most comfortable reading about settings we recognize or would like to escape to? These settings tend to include wealthy or at least middle-class Western characters who have decidedly first world problems.
I don’t think it’s problematic that most books remain in familiar territory, but at the moment I’m indulging in navel-gazing as I interrogate my own reading and writing preferences.
I will very likely continue to write books that fit the generally preferred framework, although I want to try and push against the edges. I’m currently developing a story where the main character has a physically unattractive trait, and I guess that’s what has sparked this train of thought.
What do you think? Can you name any Christian romance, preferably contemporary, where the characters aren’t either wealthy, good-looking, or living in a great location?
I write fiction that reflects my Christian faith. I love happy endings, heroes and heroines who discover sometimes hard but always vital truths, and stories that uplift and encourage. My family and I live in the east of England where we enjoy rambling in the countryside, reading good books and making up silly lyrics to our favorite songs.
Good question. I know for me I don’t identify with the rich socialite character and don’t read those books as much due to that issue. I do like the smaller towns I know a few of Janet Tronstad’s characters in her Dry Creek series with LI are not wealthy and have different issues. At least one heroine had a child and was basically homeless. Others have had family issues. The location is somewhere nice to live.
I remember one book I forget the author but dealt with a heroine losing her high powered job and ending up homeless and in a women’s shelter.
I like the idea of non perfect people as sometimes the thin always exercising or constantly watching what they eat when they are already think gets annoying. It adds to the stereo type that women should be thin or a certain way to be beautiful. I like the idea of someone with a scar or issue who overcomes.
I think maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I’m trying hard to come up with any CCR that’s just the rich and the beautiful and I’m failing.
Valerie Comer has normal, white and blue collar working folks on farms or in the city.
My books are normal, white collar working folks (although mostly in the DC suburbs)
Tara Grace Ericson has normal, Midwestern small town people or family farmers.
Hannah Jo Abbot has normal (see the trend lol?) Southern small town people.
I could go on and on.
I feel like there’s this perception that lies along the lines of what you outlined in your post, and maybe with Traditional Publishing that’s more common – I don’t read a lot of Trad books. But I feel like the indie authors I know and read all write normal, everyday people. And there’s not a ton of focus on description of characters so they can look like whatever you want them to.
Maybe there aren’t a ton of books about the barely scraping by, living in the hood, one step away from living in the street – but I imagine that’s a marketing decision more than anything. Everyone says they read to escape – so poverty isn’t really going to be a go-to setting for that.
Other than that though, it always makes me sad when I see people slamming romance for being like a glossy nighttime soap – because in my experience it’s largely just not true.
I’ve read all kinds, and I have to say that Alexa Verde and Autumn MacArthur both have books with heroines that are overweight, and maybe not beautiful by some standards. I know there are others, I just read so many that these popped into my head first! Marion Ueckermann also had some books that are the same, too. I have read some Trad Published books that aren’t all the glitz, glamor, and “perfect” looks, too, though they are few and far between. I do like the ones that deal with “regular” people, so I’ll throw Rose Fresquez’s books in there, too, as hers are like that!!
I love to read all kinds of stories, characters, and settings but I honestly don’t find myself gravitating toward the poor little rich girl books.
I never really got into the Dallas and Dynasty stories. Yeah, the characters were pretty to look at but I couldn’t connect with the plots. Perhaps “Normal” varies depending on where you are. I grew up in a very rural area in a family that was cared for but not well-to-do. Stories set there would not include limousines and red carpets. Even on prom night. I now live in the suburbs and used to work in the aerospace engineering field. Stories set here would be a mix of white and blue collar, nicer cars, worries about big mortgages, long commutes and whether couples could pursue their dream on one income or two. What we are surrounded with becomes our normal.
I agree with the comment that reading is often for escape (or is that the norm because we are surrounded with romance readers?). As I think about it, other genres have other motivations. Mystery readers are drawn to the puzzle or the satisfaction of seeing the hero solve it. Thriller readers are drawn to the adrenaline rush. Horror readers are totally incomprehensible to me :). It reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 where he referred to movies as “feelies”. (I think I’m remembering that correctly. High school was a long time ago.)
Elizabeth Maddrey’s Peacock Hill series and her Baxter Family Bakery series both fit the bill of “regular” folks living life without terribly adverse circumstances. Personally, I prefer not having the conflict ramped up too much. Perhaps that’s why the high stakes and evil intrigue of the rich and fabulous didn’t appeal to me so much.
In the end, authors seek an eager audience and readers seek authors whose stories they like. It starts out as an utterly subjective search but settles into islands of appreciation and enjoyment.
Thanks for a thought provoking read today, Milla!
I’m with you, Milla. I grew up watching soaps with my mom. It always amazed me how Nicki Newman (Young & Restless) came down that staircase every day in a perfect, new, ridiculously expensive outfit, with her hair and makeup just so, to do nothing but argue with another character or whine about her problems.
I watched all the nighttime soaps too. I still miss big 80’s hair and shoulder pads. I was a hairdresser in the 80’s, so my hair is still kind of big. More like 90’s big, I guess. And I have big hips, so the shoulder pads evened me out.
I’ve never watched British shows. Maybe I need to. There’s usually a rich character in my books or they’re business owners. I guess I owe that tendency to soaps. But I remember early in my career, the writing guidelines saying characters need to be bigger than life, either rich or a business owner. So there’s that.
Hi, Jenny. I’d love to read that book about the heroine losing all her material trappings. Sounds like a fascinating story.
I do prefer to read stories with characters that I can identify with – in some way.
Oh dear, I hope I’m not coming across as slamming romance, because that’s not my intention at all! I’d be slamming myself, too, because my books fit the mold. I just felt as though most of the stories I read have attractive people living in nice places in fairly comfortable material circumstances.
Given the wide spectrum of Christians in every walk of life and living in every stratum of society, I was just wondering aloud why our stories seem to reflect a fairly narrow band. I suspect a big part of the reason, as you said, has to do with what people want to read. And I include myself among those “people” because I, too, read to escape.
I really enjoy Alexa and Autumn’s books, but I’ve not yet read about their plus-sized heroines. And I’ve read all of Rose’s books! Most of her characters are down-to-earth, though very good-looking, like mine, ha ha. :-)
I like reading about everyone everywhere, too! Just that I guess there aren’t really stories about “every” one.
Great thoughts, Lincoln. I think you’re right about “normal” being relative. Perhaps because of the weird life I’ve had, my view of “normal” might be skewed. I spent a large portion of my life in Africa. Material comfort and cute, safe, pleasant neighbourhoods are not “normal.” The sorts of issues Christians deal with there can be a world apart from what we in the suburbs and small towns of the West come up against.
And you’re onto something about readers wanting to be transported away. Thank you!
Thanks, Shannon! I think the British soaps are an interesting phenomenon because so many of them deal with people with tough life circumstances, living on welfare in deprived areas. It’s definitely not the Britain of lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses.
I’ve often made my characters well-off because I don’t want the story getting interrupted by money problems, if that makes sense! Like, I’ll want them to be able to do a certain activity or go to a particular place, or not have to work all hours of the day, so it’s just easier to make them financially sound so I can focus on other parts of the story.
Same here!
Most of the CCR books I read are about ordinary people, so I was struggling to think of any glitzy glamorous ones. I guess I shy away from those storylines! I read a few Carol Moncado royalty type stories but never felt that they weren’t about ordinary people. I tend to focus more on the character development and plot more than the ‘trimmings’.
Oh gosh, no you didn’t! I meant more when I see this in reader groups that are kind of known for bashing romance and this is one of the reasons they get upset. And, to be fair, in the 80s, genre romance was totally the glam and glitz billionaire saves damsel in distress type book, so it’s not as if it’s unfounded. But TODAY, in CCR, I really do feel like we generally all do a much better job of having accessible characters.
Also, apropos of nothing, I love Eastenders (and really anything British TV that I can get a hold of. I grew up with BBC America as the most common channel on and now that BritBox is a thing, life is pretty good.)
Its the second book but I didn’t read the first one. Finding Jeena by Miralee Ferrell.
I also think Aussies are more like the Brits. While we watched Dallas and Dynasty we knew it was far fetched to a degree. Here in Australia we have a saying only in America and thats what those shows were to us. (meaning you wouldn’t see that sort of show at the time made here or would it be believable if made here)
We did get a couple of the British soaps but never actually watched them. The Aussie ones are also down to earth, Neighbors and Home and Away. But like EastEnders they were not the night time soaps.
Kaye Darcus is another who has slightly older heroines who have good jobs but in one of the books the heroine was overweight and although over 30 wasn’t looking for a relationship or to marry which is really refreshing.
Alexa’s Show Me series has plus-size heroines. You’ll love them!! I’ve read others where the characters weren’t super good looking, but I read so many it’s hard for me to remember! lol!
I am struggling to come up with any books with the characters you described. It is nice to read about how other people live. I cannot say that it matters to me about their wealth. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
Honestly no..I have only read in clean Christian or non-Christian romance about beautiful heroes and heroines … and I would say a particular type of beauty: girls with thick hair, nice skin and thin but curvy type. Tall men, of typically “manly” beauty, where is the thin boy without muscles and lacking facial hair? or the woman with a scar and a big nose ???
Or how about a millionaire guy who is nice but physically unattractive … or the millionaire girl who is not traditionally beautiful.
I would like to see that.
It’s a tricky one but I have a book about Natives like myself that is all the women & children taken to a special place & made to do the worst stuff every. It’s real life & glad my mom never had to go to it as a kid.
I’ve read ones about teenage girls who have got pregnant very young & there parents kicked them out of there home & some are true stories but not all. But they try anything to go to church & do regular stuff like school & have friends to help them have somewhere to live till they have enough money to rent a place. It’s sad it’s very true in this world.
When set around a small town, the characters seem to be closer to reality.
I think it is a matter of culture and aspiration. Also practically as most authors need to make their writing pay the bills. Also wondering how much is influenced by writing what you know/aspire to. Interesting blog,
I also prefer stories with the characters I can relate too-with real problems and struggles.
I’ve read books by Valerie M Bodden, Angela Ruth Strong, Camy Tang, Joanna Alonzo, and Anne Perreault who have normal every day people star in their stories. I’ve enjoyed each of their books. Personally, I don’t mind if a fiction book is set in a fantasy location or has unrealistic characters, since I enjoy an escape read. Variety is what I need, so I appreciate those who write real-to-life stories and those who write fantastical stories.