Friday Friend - Katheryn Lane

Please welcome today's Friday Friend, Katheryn Lane.

Katheryn has lived and worked all over the world, including the USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  As a result she has no clear idea of where she is really from!  She is currently working full-time as a teacher, mother and a wife, but somehow she also finds time to be a part-time writer as well.  ‘The Royal Sheikh’ is her first book, a contemporary romance inspired by her experience of living in the Middle East.  In her free time (on the rare occasion that she has any!) she loves to lose herself in a good book.

Happy Endings

‘ . . . and they lived happily ever after’ is the classic ending of any good fairytale.  It is also the classic ending to any romance novel and though it is phrased in more varied language, the meaning is the same: the boy gets the girl (or nowadays, the girl gets the boy) and they are united together in their love for each other after having overcome many tests and challenges.  But why is this?  Why do romances always have that happily ever after ending?

Firstly, romance stories are types of fairy tales in which good overcomes evil and love conquers all.  Both fairytales and romances have an enduring appeal because of this as they reinforce our hope that love will win the day and that despite all the hardships that are suffered, life is essentially good and fair.  Like fairytales, romances show us that despite the many trials and tribulations that are thrown our way (whether it’s the big bad wolf, or a simple misunderstanding between two people), the power of love will find a way to overcome these obstacles, beat the odds and enable us to find happiness.

Secondly, even though we know that life is often not fair, the guaranteed happy ending in romances gives us a bit of escapism.  In real life there are too many unhappy endings due to illness, death and divorce, not to mention infidelity, unrequited love and forced separation.  Reading a good romance provides us with a bit of fantasy and a pleasurable escape.  Even when we aren’t confronted with the bigger problems in life, romances give us an easy way to get away from some of the more miserable aspects of our existence such as the weather, having to get up at 5.00am for work (in my case!) and the price of the weekly shopping bill.  Romances have the power to bring some joy into our lives.  Without the happy ever after ending, a romance novel would turn into a tragedy and if that is what we wanted to read, we would pick up a copy of ‘Wuthering Heights’ or ‘The English Patient’ instead.

Thirdly, as we read a romance we become attached to the central characters and there is nothing like the satisfaction of seeing them, like good friends, coming together at last and finding true happiness.  Personally as a writer, I want my characters to be happy by the time I leave them at the end of the story and I would feel guilty if I didn’t.  If I left them apart at the close of the final chapter I would feel that my story was unfinished and I am sure that my readers would feel cheated.  In the same way, readers of an Agatha Christie mystery would feel cheated if Miss Marple failed to solve the crime by the end of the book and the mystery finished with her saying that she has absolutely no idea who did it.

I am sure that there are many more reasons why romances have that happily ever after ending, but for me these are the main ones and they are why I love reading and writing romance.

   

Katheryn, thank you so much for being with us today.  Having read and enjoyed 'The Royal Sheikh' while I was holiday last week, I don't think I'm giving too much of a spoiler by saying that of course it has a happy and satisfying ending!

‘The Royal Sheikh’ is available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052ZIQEK/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_alp_yp66nb1E1F8RJ

and Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/72684

Follow Katheryn online at Twitter: http://twitter.com/KatherynLane

Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KatherynLane.Author

Read what she’s up to at the moment: http://katheryn-lane.blogspot.com