Recently, I watched the third season of Bridgerton on Netflix. For those who haven’t heard—although that’s difficult to imagine considering how much press the series has received—Bridgerton is a Regency romance novel series (eight books) authored by Julia Quinn that has been adapted for television. The first season aired during the pandemic and blew viewers away. It was one of Netflix’s most original series, and viewers couldn’t wait for the next installment. Indeed, it was so popular that a spinoff, Queen Charlotte, was made.

Much has been said about the books-to-film adaptation—both positive and negative. However, this post is not intended to critique the novels or the series. Instead, it is to focus on a single aspect of the series that I found interesting and how that single element translates to the world of fiction writing.

First, for the purpose of this post, it needs to be stated that the series takes great liberty with the source material. In fact, some state that the novels serve more as guidelines than as scripts. Multiple characters and subplots have been added to the series that weren’t included in the book. Also, some characters with minor roles in the novels play a much greater part in the series. Deceased characters in the books are alive in the series, and genders have been swapped.

Second, Regency romances are set during the British Regency era (1811–1820) or early nineteenth century. When it comes to historical movies, one of the first (and easiest) criticisms frequently made is about the historical accuracy or authenticity, especially of the costume and speech. And this—accuracy—is the heart of this post. While much of the discussion can be applied to the novels, this post is mainly focused on the film.

Here is a fact. The Bridgerton novels are all fiction. Therefore, the series is also fiction by default. When a story is fiction, it means it has been created from the author’s imagination. Thus, a fictional story is not real and is not intended to tell a true story. In fiction, authors frequently use creative or artistic license. Creative/artistic license refers to deviation from or the freedom authors may take when handling fact or form for artistic purposes. At the beginning of Queen Charlotte, this is unambiguously stated by the following. “It is not a history lesson. It is fiction inspired by facts.” One would think that would be enough. Yet, the question about the Bridgerton series still comes under fire for its accuracy.

Well, let’s see. I don’t think the musical artists Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Ariana Grande, Nirvana, Madonna, or Rhianna were around in 1815. So, obviously, the screenwriters took some liberties with the musical score. Not only that, writers embraced inclusivity to create a non-stereotypic multicultural society. I dare to say that this approach helped set the series apart from other Regency series and make it the success that it was. It seemed to be a magic formula other Regencies have attempted to copy. So, why would anyone assume the writers wouldn’t take other liberties?

In a recent review of the series, the reviewer questioned the accuracy of the costumes. It seemed apparent that the choice of over-the-top costumes for some of the characters was intentional to add a bit of fun and provide a narrative. Yet, the reviewer discussed the choice as if it were a mistake. It would have been something different if the reviewer’s position was that he disliked the choice or that it was poorly done. No, his position was the clothing was not accurate to the period.

So, here’s the question of the day. Why must writers defend a creative choice? When a work is labeled as fiction, why does a disclaimer need to be made that the content may differ from fact? Why are deviations from facts considered and/or treated as errors? It’s fiction.

In the Mission Impossible movies, I lost track of how many countries Tom Cruise traveled to and almost got killed in a week. No one complained about this when it was raking in the millions. And what about all the movies where people get blown sky-high in explosions and walk away with only a few scratches on their faces? However, authors seem to be held accountable more than the movie industry. Yes, I know I was speaking of Bridgerton the Netflix series, but this review is what sparked the questions.

In the past, I’ve read many writers state how they’ve had to explain and defend their decisions to alter facts. One writer reported having been left a negative review because she changed the landscape of a well-known location. Another writer explained how he was informed that the fictional disease he created did not exist.

Anyway, it was food for thought. Now, for some exciting news. I’m happy finally to be able to announce the upcoming release of my contemporary M/M paranormal sports romance, Demon Rodeo, on September 5, 2024, and available now for preorder on Amazon. For video book trailers, visit my TikTok page. The full blurb is on my Instagram and Amazon.

Demon Rodeo is the first book in the Chasing the Buckle series but can be read as a standalone. It’s a friends-to-lovers romance set in the rodeo world. These are not your typical cowboys. It’s a widely diverse cast of characters and a mashup of genres that aren’t always seen together. If you’re looking for a palate cleanser, this may be a book for you. A cover reveal is coming soon. Also, expect a lot of goodies and giveaways. More information will follow in my monthly newsletter.

Preorder
⇨ Amazon: https://readerlinks.com/l/4174852
⇨ All Stores: https://books2read.com/u/bP8RG7

So, that’s it. What did you think? What is your take on the subject of creative freedom? Do you agree or disagree? Did you find this information helpful or informative? Did you learn anything new, or did it change your opinion? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.  If you like this post, please click the like button and share. Your feedback allows me to know the content that you want to read.

Until next time, happy reading and much romance. Laissez le bon temps rouler.

If you’re not following my blog, Creole Bayou, what are you waiting for? There’s always room at the bayou.

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Locker Room Love Series

• Out of the Penalty Box (book #1) One minute in the box or a lifetime out.
• Defending the Net (book #2) Crossing the line could cost the game.
• Ice Gladiators (book #3) When the gloves come off, the games begin.
• Penalty Kill (book #4) Let the pucker begin.
• Future Goals (book #5) The future lies between a puck and a net.

About the Author

Hi, I’m Genevive, a blogger and contemporary sports romance author. My home is in South Louisiana. If you like snark and giggles with a touch of steamy Cajun and Creole on the side, I may have your poison in my stash of books. Drop by the bayou and have a look around. The pirogues are always waiting for new visitors.

UPDATE: The winner is…Colleen C!
*~*~*

Hello Delilah!  Thank you for welcoming me here today!  I’m happy to share news about my latest anthology project.  Love on the Range has brought together a group of authors writing cowboy and cowgirl stories.

I admit, when I first heard of the project, I wanted to sign up.  My friend asked me if cowboys were my brand.  Naturally, I admitted, nope! I didn’t sign up for the anthology and I moved on.

A little niggle in the back of my brain kept poking up and saying: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).  I really wanted to be part of this project.  My mind started wandering.  What did I know about people who worked on ranches and farms?  What kind of farms are there in my area? (I have a series based near where I live — I like to keep things simple.)  Then I remembered I had created a therapy ranch in my town, where clients spent time with the horses and the therapy dog and started to open up about their struggles and issues.

Okay.  My lead therapist and her sister, the manager, dressed in jeans and ran a ranch…but this wasn’t the type of ranch I assumed other authors would write stories about.

Then it hit me – what if someone who worked on a range visited my “ranch?”

I had my story.  I had a therapist living a very happy life.  She was good on her own with her (sort-of) therapy dog, Rex.  She had friends.  She considered her coworkers at the ranch like family.  She didn’t need someone in her life…but then she met Will.

Will’s a real cowboy.  He works on a ranch in Alberta.  He’s visiting his sister in Mission City, British Columbia, at Christmas, which also happens to be the anniversary of his beloved wife’s death.  A misunderstanding lands him in therapy at Healing Horses Ranch.  Now, he’s not Avery’s client, but there is a spark nurtured by Avery’s friends.  A party brings the two together, and Christmas magic happens.

This is a cute story where a misunderstanding leads to love.  I sent it to the anthology people.  They had space.  A Touch of Cowboy had a new home.  Will doesn’t give up being a cowboy — just in case you’re worried.  Sometimes, life can take us in a different direction, and it’s amazing.

Anyway, I hope you snag a copy of Love on the Range as it’s available only for a limited time.

Thanks for hosting me, Delilah.  I’d love to give away a $5 Amazon gift card to one lucky commenter.  What’s your favorite setting for a book?  Or, what setting would you love to see more of?  Random will select one commenter for a prize!

Love on the Range

From Montana mountains to Southern plains, there’s nothing more romantic than a lonesome figure and the girl who can tame a wild heart…or is it the other way around?

From mountain men to wild child women and snowed in cabins, read these stories of courageous hearts fighting for each other through harsh odds…and always finding each other.

Authors:
Wynter Ryan
Amy Stephens
Angelica Kate
Sophia Vincent
TB Mann
Harper Michaels
S L Hollister
Bonnie Poirier
Cynthia Terelst
Chele MacCabe
Francis Black
Jane Poller
Annee Jones
Heather Scarlett
A.R. Bell
Sonja Flowers
Sofia Aves
Anna Allen
Ellis Worth
Gabbi Powell
T S Simons
Chelle Pimblott

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc2024loveontherange
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CP25J549
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202756938-love-on-the-range

Gabbi’s story: A Touch of Cowboy

Avery Stinson’s work at Healing Horse Ranch has been her lifeline against loneliness, whether it’s the counselling she does, or training her rescue dog, Rex. Sure, she sometimes dreams of finding her special person, but if her work’s going to be her whole life, it’s at least valuable and fulfilling. She loves seeing their clients leave with more confidence and hope than they thought possible.

She really hopes Will Dupont, a new arrival seeing one of her colleagues, can have that kind of success because the man’s heartbreak is almost palpable. When they find themselves together at the Christmas party, Will opens up about his personal tragedy, and Avery’s drawn to the brave, quiet, stoic cowboy. He’s not her patient. Getting closer isn’t really against the rules. As day follows night and Will begins to heal, Avery begins to wonder, can they have a happily ever after this Christmas, or will the call of the wide-open range a thousand miles away prove too strong for Will to resist?

About the Gabbi Powell

Gabbi Powell has been a lover of romance since she first put pen to paper in the eighth grade to write her first romance.  She writes her novels while living in Beautiful British Columbia with her trusty ChinPoo dog a as companion.  She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and contemporary dark erotic BDSM novels as Gabbi Black.

UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*

Cue “End of the Road” by Boyz II Men to play in the background.

Besides writing romance, I am an avid reader. I try to read a book every two days.

Now, before you credit me with being a speed reader, I will admit that my husband and our bossy mastiff fall asleep early, so I have about three hours to read. I usually pick out a book and start after dinner with interruptions, and after the males are quiet, I can get my reading groove on.

Eighteen months ago, I decided to clean out my Kindle. I had books from 2012 that I had never read. So, I made a deal with myself:  read one old and then two new (published in 2023 or later) to make a dent in the TBR list.

For years, I finished the book no matter what. After I started publishing, I felt like I had to hang in and finish a book as a sign of commitment to the writing community.

However, life is too short for bad books.

I felt guilty for not finishing. I’d message my friends and defend my decision not to finish as if the “Kindle Police” were going to report me for having DNFs (Do Not Finish).

Then, I started to notice more people talking about not finishing books. What once had been a somewhat taboo topic was discussed openly.

I have reasons for not finishing. The first is if I find five proofreading/editing mistakes within the first three chapters. Authors are taught that the first three should grab the reader’s attention. So, misspellings, incorrect word usage, or poor grammar causes me to stop.

Recently, I’ve come across three published books where I believe the authors forgot to tap “Accept Changes” before uploading the manuscript and pressing “Publish.” These were not intentional cross-outs—no, they were unnecessary extra words. Again—DNF.

This is a hard rule for me—if the pet dies. I won’t finish and most likely won’t read anything else by the author. True story:  I almost dumped a friendship because she sent me a book where at the end, the dog died. I still feel upset about the poisoned pet, and I never read another book by that author.

Excluding Dark Romance, another stopper for me is when a main character is written to be so ugly and hateful that I can’t believe that they are worthy of love. There are times that I think that authors intend to create a strong, outspoken character and instead, they read as a total jerk. I try to keep toxic people out of my life, so I’m not letting them in my reading.

Filler. I accept that some stories are shorter than others. What makes me quit a book is when the author stretches out the tale with multiple-page passages in another language, recounts a prior scene two or three times, and repeats the same reasons for why the couple won’t work. I have a running joke with a friend about a series that we both love. In each book, the couple has officially committed and marching to their HEA. The author adds a final kidnapping, an explosion, or a car chase. Those events don’t add anything else to the story except an action scene and another deep kiss. If I discovered the series today, I might be annoyed by the “one more” to consider DNF-ing.

That brings me to the most difficult to explain—I didn’t connect with it. There are times that I just don’t like the book. It could be that I had figured out who committed the crime too early. A character is too stupid to survive in the real world. I will admit that as my years increase, I find myself getting irritated by characters in their early twenties who run crime syndicates, are running billion-dollar, large corporations, or find the answer to a problem that people have been working on for years.

The great thing about reading is that there is always another book to read. With the explosion of Monster Romance and Alien Romance shorts, I can devour two a night, and that makes me feel accomplished.

Now, I’m curious- What causes you to DNF? A Winner will be chosen at random to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

About the Author

Melanie/M. Jayne is the teller of tales of the Novus Pack and an Amazon Bestselling Author. See Me was a finalist for the Holt Medallion. In 2022, the Duchenne Vampire Series enriched her portfolio. She loves reading, luxury handbags, watching sports, and the Bravo Housewives. Learn more at www.readmelaniejayne.com.

UPDATE: The winner is…Anne Marie Flamini!
*~*~*

Okay, so you’re probably thinking my topic is kind of weird, but hear me out.

Coming up with topics on a daily basis isn’t always easy. Yes, I can talk about books, but doing that every day…? Boring. I have guests, so that changes things up. When I’m reaching for a topic, I love to check the calendar for weird holidays because I love an excuse to celebrate. Today’s holiday was VCR Day, and I thought about it, but got nothin’. So, I moved on. Then I thought about the History Channel’s website. Every day, they have a “This Day in History” post, so I headed on over to steal some ideas.

Some of today’s offerings were…

• Muhammed died (632)
• Robert F. Kennedy was buried (1968)
• Apache chief Cochise died (1874)

Those are sacred dates, so I know better than to have fun with them. Then another one popped up.

• Ghostbusters released (1984)

I remember when the movie came out. I think I was pregnant/giving birth at the time, so I didn’t see it in the theaters, but back in the day, we had HBO and a new-fangled way of watching movies we wanted, whenever we wanted, called a VCR (see how I worked that holiday into here?!). Ghostbusters was one of the recordings we made so we could enjoy it whenever we wanted. When my family went with me to Germany for my second tour there, all those taped movies we’d made were sooooo important! Remember, that was before streaming, and sometimes, we only had one channel, AFN (Armed Forces Network) to watch. The library on post had a ton of classic movies (most in B&W) to check out, and I attribute my love of classic movies to that period. However, it was our library of movies recorded off of HBO that saved our sanity. There were many, many kids’ movies among them…

Anyway, Ghostbusters it is, and I did manage to find an image I could use without getting into trouble with a copyright, so enjoy the puzzle!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me what classic movies you might have seeing made into a puzzle.

UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*

Hello Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me here to discuss my newest release.  As your readers know, I love writing short stories for anthologies.  Especially charity anthologies.  I’ve seriously lost count of how many I’ve done over the past five years.  My little part to help contribute to worthy causes.  I have to say, though, that my favorite anthologies are the LGBTQ ones.  Might this be because they hit close to home?  Yep, I can say that for certain.  This year, Love is All Volume 7’s proceeds are going to a transgender charity.  I know several trans people in my life as well as having several friends whose children are nonbinary and trans.  That’s a hard road to go down, unfortunately.  The vitriolic rhetoric — and the outright lies told — hurt people I care for.  People I love.

Okay, so 10 authors have come together in this amazing anthology to bring you great stories of love across the LGBTQ spectrum.  This year, my novella is The Boyfriend Arrangement.  I admit, I had fun with this story.  I was given the trope of arranged marriage for another project that fell through.  In the end, I had started this cute little story that I decided to finish, keeping the anthology in mind.  This is the story of two young people, destined for marriage. Josette and Felix were born close together.  Their mothers are best friends.  Naturally, the two will marry.  And everyone’s just sort of gone along with this.  Felix has become an elementary French teacher.  Josette is an interior designer.  When Felix comes into his inheritance and buys a dilapidated old cabin, of course, Josette is going to do all the decorating.

There’s just the little step of renovations.

That’s okay, though, because Josette’s older brother, Jacob, is all about helping his younger sister and the guy she’s going to marry.  Okay, Jacob might’ve noticed Felix.  Their families are friends.  And, okay, Felix might have a crush on Jacob.  That’s… Yeah. A problem.  As he views his cabin with the woman he’s supposed to marry, he comes to the realization he doesn’t love her the way he’s supposed to.

I suspect you can guess the rest of the story — but I love the execution, and I hope readers will as well.  Love is All is a project close to my heart.  I thank you, Delilah, for letting me share it today.  I would love to give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commenter.  Easy one – what’s your favorite trope?  What will you one-click over and over again?  Leave a comment and random might pick you!

Love Is All Volume 7

Get ready to turn the page on love, acceptance, and making a difference with Love Is All: Volume 7!

This limited-edition anthology features swoon-worthy novellas and short stories by ten award-winning and bestselling authors, including A.D. Ellis, Chantal Mer, Gabbi Grey, Lee Blair, Piper Malone, R.L. Merrill, Skylar M. Cates, Sophia Soames, Susan Scott Shelley, and Xio Axelrod. Second-chance sweethearts, steamy encounters, and heartwarming friendships all await you.

All proceeds from the anthology will benefit Advocates for Trans Equality, an organization dedicated to protecting and empowering transgender individuals.

Love Is All: Volume 7 is only available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/LIAV7
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Love-All-7-Xio-Axelrod-ebook/dp/B0CTHRJ3GH
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-is-all-xio-axelrod/1145597032
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/love-is-all-volume-7
Apple:  https://books.apple.com/us/book/love-is-all-volume-7/id6502670886

The Charities

All proceeds from this year’s collection will benefit Advocates for Trans Equality.

Founded in 2024, A4TE brings together the National Center for Transgender Equality (a previous LIA beneficiary), and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund — two powerhouse champions of trans equality.

About the Authors

Xio Axelrod

Xio Axelrod is a USA Today bestselling author of different flavours of contemporary romance. She also writes what she likes to call strange, twisted tales. Xio grew up in the music industry and began recording at a young age. When she isn’t writing stories, she can be found in the studio, writing songs, or performing on international stages (under a different, no-so-secret name). She lives in Philadelphia with one full-time husband and several part-time cats.

Chantal Mer

Chantal Mer is an author and optimist. Her stories explore relationships and what it means to be family. When she’s not writing about strong women, strong men, and strong love, she can be found walking her adorable dog, volunteering at her kids’ school (in the library, of course), teaching at the local university, and reading.

Chantal lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, kids, Toffee the Wonder Dog, and vicious cat, Gracie.

Susan Scott Shelley

USA Today bestselling author Susan Scott Shelley writes stories with heat and heart, where love always wins. Her romances give readers lighthearted and emotionally satisfying escapes into happily ever after. In addition to crafting stories, she is also a professional voiceover artist and enjoys lending her voice to a wide range of projects.

She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and is an avid fan of her hometown sports teams. Her favorite things include running (honestly, it’s more like jogging), sports (especially hockey), hard rock (but will listen to anything from heavy metal to show tunes), and writing about people from all walks of life finding their special someone.

Lee Blair

Lee Blair is a queer author from Oregon who writes low angst, funny, M/M contemporary romance. She’s constantly amused by the antics of her two ginger cats, considers daydreaming about future trips to Scotland a part-time job, and is obsessed with Schitt’s Creek to an alarming degree.

Piper Malone

Piper Malone is an award-winning author of sweet and sexy romance.

Dog lover. Reader. Foodie. Coffee, please.

Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

A.D. Ellis

A.D. Ellis is an Indiana girl, born and raised. She spends much of her time in central Indiana as a teacher in the inner city of Indianapolis, being a mom to two amazing teens, and wondering how she and her husband of nearly two decades haven’t driven each other insane yet. A lot of her time is also devoted to phone call avoidance and her hatred of cooking.
She loves chocolate, wine, pizza, and naps along with reading and writing romance. These loves don’t leave much time for housework, much to the chagrin of her husband. Who would pick cleaning the house over a nap or a good book? She uses any extra time to increase her fluency in sarcasm.
A.D. uses she/they pronouns.

R.L. Merrill

Whether she’s writing contemporary romance featuring quirky, queer, and relatable characters or diving deep into the supernatural to give readers a shiver, R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after closing the book. Ro writes inclusive romance for the Happily Ever After collective, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and pens horror-inspired tales and music reviews for HorrorAddicts.net. A mom, wife, daughter, and former educator, you can find her rocking out in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…

Skylar M. Cates

Skylar M. Cates loves a good romance. She is happy to drink coffee, curl up with a good book, and not move all day. Her novels feature strong and passionate men. Skylar loves to craft stories where realistic characters are challenged with emotional situations. Although lately the laundry room is the farthest place she has visited, Skylar loves to chat with folks from all around the globe.

Sophia Soames

Sophia Soames is a Scandinavian, UK based, Author of contemporary MM romance. She writes stories of everyday people with kids and families living real life fairytales.

Do you struggle to figure out what to read next? Not sure which spicy book to pick up?

Look no further!

Starting in July I’ll be sending out a “I want sexy excerpts” newsletter once a week.

What’s in each newsletter?

• A theme: Each week the newsletter will follow a theme. For example, shifters, vampires, fake relationships, holiday stories, etc. See below for a comprehensive list, so you know what to expect in each letter.
• Three excerpts: Each week will feature three hot, spicy excerpts from different authors.

If I like the excerpt, where can I buy the book?

The availability of the stories will be a variety. Some will be wide, some in Kobo Plus, some from Kindle Unlimited, some on Ream, and yes, some will be free.

This sounds awesome! Where do I sign up?

Right Here!

Are you an author interested in being featured?

Sign up now, but hurry, the spots are filling up fast!

Author Sign Up

Will this continue in 2025?

If it’s successful and in demand by both authors and readers, then yes. If the sign-up form is full, and you would like to sign up for 2025, watch my social media and blog, or sign up for the newsletter itself. When the 2025 sign up goes live, I’ll add it to the weekly newsletter.

Weekly Themes:

• July 19: Beach Reads/Vacation
• July 26: Fake Relationship
• August 2: Wolf Shifter
• August 9: Vampires
• August 16: RH/Why Choose
• August 23: LGBTQ+
• August 30: POC Authors
• September 6: Teacher/Professor
• September 13: Billionaire
• September 20: Autumn
• September 27: Fantasy
• October 4: Dark Romance
• October 11: Masked Men
• October 18: Autumn
• October 25: Halloween/Dark/Spooky/Horror
• November 1: MC
• November 8: Mafia
• November 15: Forbidden Lovers
• November 22: Friends to Lovers
• November 29: Breeding/Pregnancy
• December 6: Holiday
• December 13: Fantasy/PNR Holiday
• December 20: Holiday
• December 27: Fantasy/PNR Holiday
• January 3: Poly Relationship

When most people think of types or subgenres of romance, they think of historical, regency, erotic, romantic comedy, inspirational romance, speculative romance, and suspense romance. This is expected as these are some of the most popular. There are others such as dark romance, steampunk romance, alien romance, and paranormal romance. But have you ever heard about rock romance?

Several years ago, I met an author who stated he wrote rock fiction. I was intrigued. While I had never heard of rock fiction, it made perfect sense. Most of my favorite romance movies have musical soundtracks. I write listening to a playlist. Many romantic evenings include music. So, why would it be farfetched to have music as a romance subgenre? But what does that look like exactly?

Over the months, as I spoke with this rock fiction author, I gained a clearer understanding of what this is. The name rock fiction sounds like a story about music. Well, it is, and it isn’t. Let me explain. Rock fiction is not necessarily about a character who is a musician or about music in general. For example, a book about Taylor Swift, probably wouldn’t be considered rock fiction if the plot was only an imagined account of her life. It would need to entail more than depicting her life and music. Rock fiction is more about the approach to storytelling and the inspiration of a story. It adapts the lyrics, concepts, and titles of a song, album, or an artist’s/band’s collection of work to a piece of fiction. The storylines, plots, and character arcs are taken directly from the music.

A close example of rock fiction would be the rock opera, Tommy, which was adapted from the music of the band The Who. The difference is that Tommy used film as a medium while rock fiction is in book, e-book, or audio form. Rock fiction goes beyond being “inspired” by music because the author incorporates much of the music in the story.

Using Taylor Swift as an example again, consider her song, “Fifteen.” I picked this song as an example because Taylor gives a clear-cut narration of a story. The song is about two fifteen-year-old girls who want to (and do) fall in love but have their hearts broken (or at least one of them does). A rock fiction story would have this as the plot and main characters. However, it would go a step further and include lyrics (maybe not quoted directly as that may tiptoe the lines of plagiarizing and sticky copyright violations) in the story. Some rock fiction stories may have obvious references or the references may be more subtle—nearly undetectable. Readers don’t need prior knowledge of the referenced musical material to understand or enjoy the story.

Additionally, rock fiction does not have to be “rock” music. It could very easily be country, rap, classical, bluegrass, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, or any other genre of music. As long as the author uses the music as a central base of the story, then it’s considered to be rock fiction. Since there are so many genres and subgenres of music, it’s practical to use “rock fiction” as a catch-all title. Otherwise, one would end up with all kinds of subgenres—metal fiction, folk fiction, alternative fiction, K-pop fiction, swing fiction, etc. The list would be endless.

Romance rock fiction is rock fiction with a romance at the heart.

And that’s it. Have you ever heard of romance rock fiction? Have you read any? What did you think? What is your take on the subject? Do you agree or disagree? Did you find this information helpful or informative? Did you learn anything new, or did it change your opinion? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Also, let me know if you would like me to cover more of these types of topics or dive deeper into this one. If you like this post, please click the like button and share. Your feedback allows me to know the content that you want to read.

Until next time, happy reading and much romance. Laissez le bon temps rouler.

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Locker Room Love

Locker Room Love Series

Are you searching for a sexy book boyfriend? You’ve come to the right place.

• Out of the Penalty Box (book #1) One minute in the box or a lifetime out.
• Defending the Net (book #2) Crossing the line could cost the game.
• Ice Gladiators (book #3) When the gloves come off, the games begin.
• Penalty Kill (book #4) Let the pucker begin.
• Future Goals (book #5) The future lies between a puck and a net.

About the Author

Hi, I’m Genevive, a blogger and contemporary sports romance author. My home is in South Louisiana. If you like snark and giggles with a touch of steamy Cajun and Creole on the side, I may have your poison in my stash of books. Drop by the bayou and have a look around. The pirogues are always waiting for new visitors.