Romance Tropes and Feminism
This workshop will address some common romance concepts through the lens of how romance novels can help support positive relationships among women. Where does our writing fall into unconscious patterns that perpetuate harmful ideas? Jealous “other women,” slut shaming narratives, even the careers we choose for our protagonists all affect the way our novels are perceived in today’s market. We’ll discuss how to avoid these tropes and how to develop conflict without relying on the narrative that women are always in competition for a man’s affection, The workshop will also address body positivity in romance, how to write convincing women of a variety of sizes without body-shaming and why these characters are important.
Bio:
Elia Winters has always been a New England girl, despite having spent much of her childhood in Florida. She holds a degree in English Literature and teaches at a small rural high school where she runs too many extracurricular activities. She balances her love of the outdoors with a bottomless well of geekiness.
Elia dabbles in many genres, but erotic romance has been one of her favorites since she first began sneaking her mother’s romance novels. In high school, she kept her friends entertained with a steady stream of naughty stories and somehow never got caught passing them around. Her erotic fiction and poetry have been published online at Clean Sheets and Scarlet Letters under a different name. Elia currently lives in New England with her loving husband and their odd assortment of pets, where she writes geeky, kinky romance.