Romancing an Era

I read something a few weeks ago.

I hear this from the critics of romance. And it makes me a little nervous about writing in certain genres. One, my time travel to WW2 and two, my contemporary military romance. I've heard people say it's too soon after WW2 to romanticize the events. If that's true, I'm in big trouble! 

There's always two sides to the story. Even today. When so many men are leaving their homes and some of those men are not returning, can we write the happy stories without feeling bad for the people living the unhappy ones, feeling as if we're betraying their sacrifice? That's what I wonder. Wanting to appeal to a certain audience is very different than actually appealing to them. Something tells me that the people who read military romance are not the people living military romance. I'm my own example! You ever hear of that show, Army Wives? I can't watch it.

Way. Too. Much. Drama.

On the other hand, I know Army wives who watch it...

So, maybe it's a crap shoot after all.

Captain Woolridge was right. War. It is what it is. But war is part of a bigger picture. Sometimes, life can be put into a different perspective. One a tad more hopeful. The end of WW2 is more than 60 years ago. Keeping the memory alive isn't about battles and dates and strategy, at least, not to a romantic. It's about the people and telling stories--partials, truths, even lies. That way we remember WHY we fought.

Guess that means I'll just have to put my stories down after all, even if they make people roll their eyes.