WORTHY with Sarah Maclean: Taking up space, fuming elegantly, and the power of romance novels

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Written By Vital Voice Training

Julie and Casey chat with romance novelist, columnist, and podcast host Sarah Maclean about the feminist bonafides of the romance genre, using your platform for good, and more diverse characters “stepping out from the margins.” Along the way, they dive into all kinds of ways to take up space and dare to thrive, and Casey tries and fails not to fan-girl too hard.

 

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TOP TAKEAWAYS:

  • There is enormous subversive power in characters who for too long have played the “suffer beautifully and die pitifully” roles stepping center stage, gaining love, sexual pleasure, and personal triumph. 

  • The ability to take space — with our voices, bodies, and ideas — often comes down to our own feeling of worthiness. As someone who spent her life being “a little bit too much”, the heroines of romance novels being loved for exactly who they were gave Sarah a path to imagine a world where no one said “couldn’t you just be a bit less.”

  • Writing romance is all about creativity within structure — the contract Sarah has with her readers is “happily ever after”, and she has a treasure trove of tropes to pull from. Finding her own voice and perspective within that structure while accomplishing “reader care and feeding”, is an incredibly applicable lesson for all of us who create. What does your audience want, need, and expect, and how can you deliver that for them with your unique spin? 

  • LESSON: Our bodies and our emotions are what separates us from the robots, and your “too much” is the most interesting thing about you. Dare to embrace them.

 

A life-long romance reader, Sarah MacLean wrote her first romance novel on a dare, and never looked back. She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romances translated into more than twenty-five languages, a romance columnist and the co-host of the weekly romance novel podcast, Fated Mates. A graduate of Smith College & Harvard University, she lives in New York City. Her new book, Knockout, will be released in August.

Website: https://www.sarahmaclean.net/

Instagram: @sarahmaclean

Twitter: @sarahmaclean

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