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| photo by D'Arcy Norman |
On the other hand, I'm a bit dismayed. See the thing is RWA has made some changes to their rules and bylaws and such. There's a huge debate going on at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood website, HERE, and most likely all over the web.
I'm a member of RWA, my local chapter and the online chapter YARWA. I'm also a member of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI for short).
I will admit I read the cliffnotes version of the announcements RWA made at Nationals this past July. Meaning, I read the posts on the above website and on the YARWA loop. The gist of the announcement is that RWA is changing the requirements or the judging criteria for both the Golden Heart contest and the RITA award. Golden Heart is for unpublished and RITA is for published works of fiction. The new emphasis is on the romance. They've even eliminated the Suspence with Romantic Elements category. In fact, RWA (supposedly) has asked chapter presidents to go through their member roster to determine who in the chapter does not "officially" write romance and ask those member to degrade their member status to associate. That means paying the same membership dues as the other members but losing the right to vote, hold office or enter the GH and Ritas.
I write YA and I'm a sucker for a good love story. All my YA manuscripts have a romance, but that's not the plot. In fact for YA it SHOULDN'T be the plot at all. Many other YARWAians are outraged by the changes, because the last thing that a good YA novel should focus on is a romantic relationship. Case in point - the trouble with Twilight. I loved Twilight, don't get me wrong, but it really is nothing more than girl meets boy, girl loses boy so he won't eat her, and then girl gets boy back. And a lot of sighing and lip biting.
But I've heard so many other YA authors say that their stories are not just a love story but a real plot with romance thrown in. And these days, publishers are rejecting those "just young adult romances" too.
At this time, we don't know where we stand. Two years ago, it seemed like RWA was out to count-out and condemn the e-published authors because of small to no advances. Now, it feels like the witch hunt has turned to those of us who write stories where it's more than just falling in love, but a good plot with a sexy hero and beautiful heroine that know that if they fall in love they face even more obstacles. And it's the plot of the story, the adventure, the goals that keep the hero and heroine apart. It's not just a romance but a something more, only complicated by the attractions of the opposite sex.
And it's not just YA but suspense and mysteries.
And ... That's all.
