The 2016 Joan Hessayon Award finalists. Guess which one is me.
Love makes the world go round. However, it is a truth universally acknowledged that romance fiction authors tend to be women. I am delighted to introduce you to a male romance writer, R. J. Gould, and let him tell you why men can write romance.
I suppose I am a rarity, a man writing in the Romance genre. There aren’t many of us; less than one percent of the membership of the Romantic Novelists’ Association are male. How did I fall into that genre and sign up to that organisation? Well, a fellow member of the local Cambridge Writers suggested that what I wrote was “sort of” romance and that I should put my novel forward for the New Writers’ Scheme. I got in, received a positive review, was a finalist for the Joan Hessayon Award (yes, the only male), and was taken on by an indie publisher after our RNA annual conference meeting.
Covers for one of my first novels. They’re OK but they’re not me.
At the next annual conference I played the ‘I am a rare male’ card and presented on ‘The Man in RoMANce’, this followed by a commission to write a feature for Writing Magazine. Meanwhile Part One, my publisher was going flat out to produce ChickLit/Romcomesque covers that I have never been comfortable with. Meanwhile Part Two, having fought off an agent’s suggestion that I use a pseudonym to attract my predominantly female target readership, I did adopt the cowardly compromise of using ‘R J’ in place of Richard.
“This tale of self-doubt, adultery and forgiveness is shot through with humour and compassion.” David Lister, The Independent
I appreciate why I was placed in the Romance genre: I write about relationships. Based on many conversations, I can see why there aren’t more males writing, and for that matter reading, Romance – it’s the word itself and often the book covers that put men off. What a pity because this diverse genre can offer deep insights, thought-provoking takes on life and top-rate humour in addition to escapism.
My writing covers second-chance relationships, the tragi-comic journeys of the protagonists impeded by having to carry cartloads of baggage. For Mid-life follies starting point is a man taking early retirement and excited by the opportunities this presents. By contrast, his wife, several years younger, panics and flees the family home. One question stayed with me as the essence of the novel as I plotted their contrasting responses to ageing: ‘When you look in the mirror, do you see someone young and vibrant like you used to be,’ Liz asks her husband, ‘or old and decrepit like you’re going to be?’
The serene beauty of night time Cambridge
I decided to set the novel in Cambridge, the place where I now live. It was a good choice, not least because it got me walking around, notebook in hand, to check on the old haunts and new places that my lead characters visit. This picturesque and serene city seemed the ideal location for my solidly middle class protagonists to discard rationality and academia and compete for who can have the most embarrassing midlife crisis.
I want the RNA to continue to be brilliant in all the ways it already is – supportive to new writers, friendly, welcoming and a real voice for professional commercial authors.
As a Leeds lass, I had to discover more about the dynamic Yorkshire woman who is Chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. I invited Alison May to chat about the RNA and her writing.
Jessie: It is wonderful to finally meet you. Tell me, who is Alison May, the writer?
Alison: I’m a total control freak (which is helpful for writing novels – you basically get to invent a whole world and be god of it). If it was socially acceptable, I would live on toast and chocolate the whole time. And I have an uncontrollable tendency to take on one thing more than I have time to do – at the moment that one thing is ‘being Chair of the RNA’ so quite a big time-consuming thing!
Jessie: Chair of the RNA is a prestigious role and such an honour. What does your role as Chair of the RNA involve?
Alison: Essentially everything that goes wrong is my fault, and everything that goes well is down to the brilliant and inspirational management committee and volunteer team I have around me. On a practical level being Chair involves, hosting RNA events, chairing management committee meetings, representing the RNA at industry events and meetings, and, responding to whatever crises come up unexpectedly. And the start of 2020 has brought more crisis that any of us was expecting, so at the moment I’m mostly working on ways that we can respond to the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown and support our members virtually.
And I also write collaboratively with Janet Gover under the penname, Juliet Bell. Juliet writes stories inspired by misunderstood classics…
Jessie: What is your vision for the RNA?
Alison:I want the RNA to continue to be brilliant in all the ways it already is – supportive to new writers, friendly, welcoming and a real voice for professional commercial authors. I want to see us develop the education and professional development opportunities we provide for our members. I want the RNA to be a critical friend to the publishing industry – it’s great for us to build close ties with romantic fiction publishers, but it’s also vital that we remember that we’re an author focussed organisation and authors’ interests and publishers’ interests overlap but aren’t always precisely the same.
I’d also like to see us become more inclusive. At the moment, like much of the publishing industry, we can be a bit white and straight and middle class. It’s really important to me that writers who have been under-represented in publishing know they have a place within the RNA.
Mostly though I want authors of romantic fiction to be proud of their genre and of what we create. There can be snobbery around commercial fiction, especially around commercial fiction that is often written and read by women. I am simply not at home to those sorts of attitudes. Romantic fiction rocks.
All That Was Lost is my most recent title writing solo as Alison May though.
Jessie: What are the essential ingredients of a great romance?
Alison: People who want to be together and a really good reason they can’t be.
Jessie: Why did you join the Romance Novelists’ Association and what has it offered you?
Alison: I joined the RNA in 2011 as a member of the New Writers’ Scheme. The NWS gives unpublished authors a critique on their novel in progress, but also means that you can attend RNA events as a member. In that first year I went to conference and the Winter Party and joined my local chapter. The conference was a two day whirlwind knowledge dump of a huge amount of stuff about how publishing works that would have taken years to learn without the RNA. Since then the RNA has become my village. Writing is incredibly solitary. A support network of people who get the emotional ups and downs of writing and publishing is essential. And I think the RNA provides the very best support network there is.
Jessie: It’s obvious you are a perfect ambassador for the RNA. I love the fact that it has become your village as I feel the same way. I am impressed you have written six books.
Alison: I’ve actually written 8 (I think!) – some of them were novellas though so are published separately and together which makes counting tricky! And I also write collaboratively with Janet Gover under the penname, Juliet Bell. Juliet writes stories inspired by misunderstood classics – most recently, The Other Wife, which was inspired by Jane Eyre. All That Was Lost is my most recent title writing solo as Alison May though.
Jessie: Capture All That Was Lost in one sentence.
Alison: One lie – told for a lifetime. What would that do to the girl you used to be?
Jessie: Can you tempt me with an extract from the book?
Alison: She’s stylish, but never threatening. She could be other mother of the bride at an elegant country wedding … but she’s not. She’s Patrice Leigh, the woman who’s built a fifty year career on the claim that she can talk to the dead.
Jessie: Wow! The final sentence evokes mystery. What did the readers say about the novel?
Alison: I am delighted with the responses. Readers really connected with the subject and the characters and loved the humour.
‘I love the touches of humour Alison writes into what is, in essence, a very sad tale.’
‘I am not going to forget Patience/Patrice any time soon. She is one of the most original characters in any novel I’ve read recently.’
‘I loved this book – couldn’t put it down. It was thought provoking and I am still thinking about it many weeks later.’
Jessie: How did you feel when you had finished writing your book, and did you miss any of the characters?
I think the characters, especially Patrice, from this book have stayed with me more than any other book that I’ve written. I don’t miss them exactly. I definitely don’t think I’ll ever write a sequel but they’re all still there inside my head.
Jessie: Who would you like to read your book and why? This could be another author, someone famous, a friend or a member of your family. Perhaps it could even be a friend or family member that has passed away.
Alison: The person I most want to read this book is Jack Thorne. He’s a playwright and screenwriter and I’m a huge fan of his work from The Cursed Child to National Treasure and lots of other things beside. I have a recurring fantasy where he reads All That Was Lost and adapts it for TV and I believe that if I mention this enough in interviews and online it might one day happen! (If I’m allowed a second person I also have a very similar recurring fantasy about Lin Manuel Miranda and a Broadway hip hop musical version.)
Jessie: What is the last sentence written in your writer’s notebook?
Alison: ‘If you change Alice back to Anna you can reuse the Annabel line.’
And it’s true. I can.
Jessie: What is the best advice that you have received as a writer?
Alison: ‘Work out what your dream is and follow it.’ Once you get to the point of having a completed manuscript there are a lot of people who will tell you that you ‘must have an agent’ or that ‘looking for an agent is a waste of time and you should self-publish’ or whatever else might have worked for them. And that’s fine but the right option for them might not be the right option for you, so work out what you really want and pursue that first.
Jessie: What do you when you are not writing?
Well at the moment a lot of my time is spent on RNA projects, but asides from that and writing, I also run a novel-writing tutoring and mentoring business. That means I work one-to-one with authors and also offer manuscript critiques and teach group workshops and lead residential retreats. I LOVE teaching. It’s basically my happy place. And I’m super-proud like a mother hen of all my past students. I have three shelves above my desk. One has my own published books on it, but the other two have books by former students. Those shelves are my absolute pride and joy!
When I’m not teaching, writing or working on RNA stuff, I love baking and reading and sleeping. Sleep is really excellent.
Alison joined the RNA as a member of the New Writers’ Scheme in 2011 and won the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy in 2012. All That Was Lost is the sixth novel, but she also writes as Juliet Bell, in collaboration with Janet Gover. Alison also runs writing courses and is currently offering virtual Book Doctor appointments on a ‘pay what you choose’ basis. I am impressed with her innovative approach to supporting others at this challenging time.
