Five Questions with Ranae Rose

by Julie Tetel Andresen | March 11, 2016 |

Five Questions Series

There are so many fascinating authors and bloggers out there, and I feel lucky to be meeting many of them through Twitter and blogs. This is the latest entry in my series of conversations with other romance authors, who join us to share about their creative process, their habits, their inspiration, and more. Our guest today is Ranae Rose, an author of more than thirty adult romances.

1. What initially attracted you to reading and eventually writing romance?

Ranae Rose: I wanted to write fiction ever since age five, but it wasn’t until I was in my earlier twenties that I realized romance was the genre I wanted to pursue. My love of reading romance started in high school when a classmate got me hooked on the Mars (romance) manga series by Fuyumi Soryo, and it spiraled from there. Years later, I decided to write it, too.

2. You like to write about “blue collar romance.” You also feature a lot of men in uniform, most notably police officers, and have described your husband as a man in uniform. What do you think is most unique about stories featuring “heroes who protect and serve”?

Ranae Rose: I think many readers associate law enforcement officer story heroes with character traits like bravery, protectiveness, competence, loyalty, strength and being down-to-earth. These are all very attractive qualities for a romance hero to have, and I think this is one of the primary things that makes this sub-genre shine.

You know what you’re getting (or at least expect to get some specific positive qualities) with a police officer hero, and I think it’s that unspoken promise that is most unique about these stories.

Of course … the uniforms don’t hurt either, and neither do the handcuffs that come with them. 😉

3. You and I have both recently written MMA romances. What was your attraction to writing about this particular sub-genre?

Ranae Rose: I’m an MMA fan. I’ve also been learning martial arts since I was a teen, and have been practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (my favorite) for years. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a really important component of MMA (it’s what you’re seeing when fighters go to the ground), so naturally a sport that this is vital to is interesting to me.

I write about things I really like and have some sort of experience with, so MMA romance is just a manifestation of that, like my other books.

4. Your *Hard Love* series features two books that tell the same story but each book is from a different character’s perspective. How were you able to coordinate those books so they felt cohesive and mirrored the experience of hearing a story from two different sides?

Ranae Rose: It was easy and fun. Usually, I write my books from dual (or more) perspectives. My Hard Love MMA books weren’t like that – each one was written from only one character’s perspective (heroine’s or hero’s). The other character’s perspective was there in my mind all along.

5. You like to write books with a real life flavor. Many people expect romance to feel a bit like a fantasy world. How do you balance the need for realism with the desire for Happily Ever Afters?

Ranae Rose: I can’t speak for others, but I don’t like romance novels to feel like a fantasy world. I like them to feel realistic, with the caveat that everything is guaranteed to turn out okay in the end. And that’s how I (in my opinion) write my books.

I think what a lot of romance readers want is an escape, and that doesn’t have to be an unrealistic fantasy. Example: a beach vacation is an escape from every day life, but it’s not a fantasy world.

Something that’s unbelievable and unrelatable to me is boring, so my characters are like real people whose relationships (eventually) work out happily. And I don’t think there’s anything really fantastical about that.