Nora Roberts spoke on 'Women Who Win' at 2003 Romance Writers of America conference

In delivering the keynote speech at the 2010 conference of the Romance Writers of America in Orlando, Fla., Nora Roberts may find it difficult to top an address she made seven years ago at the organization's 2003 conference in New York City. On that occasion Roberts spoke on the topic, "Women Who Win."

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not

In her 2003 speech, Roberts depicted her struggle to publish her first book despite initial rejections as a battle she herself was determined to win.  "You can't win if you quit," she stated. "So I kept writing. I wrote, in very large part, for myself . . . Whatever we aim for, it has to be for ourselves on some level, or the victory isn't nearly as sweet. And when I sold my first book, I won again, and it was incredibly sweet."

Describing herself as a writer of "relationship novels" that focus on romance, Roberts added that such works are about winning, too. Their writers win by establishing a connection between the reader and the heroine. Because of that connection, as Roberts remarked,  "The reader should want her to win whatever goal the heroine has set for herself, and through her relationship with the hero . . . want them to win each other."

Roberts tackled detractors of the romance novel several times in her speech. To their charge that romance novels promoted dangerously "unrealistic expectations" for women, she had this response:

I wonder why, in the third millennium, women, as a group, would be considered so weak-minded, so foolish, so ineffectual, and so easily influenced that we are perceived as being unable to tell the difference between reality and fiction, between life and entertainment. Most of us grew up on fairy tales, but we don't expect to end up one day with a prince and a pumpkin. It isn't, and it should never be considered, unrealistic for us to expect to win. Not if we put ourselves in the game and play it hard."

Roberts also connected the concept of winning with the conventional happy ending of the romance novel. She reproached those who dismiss happy endings as mere "fantasy."  "Happy-ever-after isn't a fantasy," she said:

It isn't a shining brass ring beyond a woman's reach. The books we write illustrate again and again our core belief in just that. If we want something, we need to work toward it and pick ourselves up when we fall, or take that helping hand. If we trust ourselves and follow our hearts, we end up with all the marbles at the end of the game."

The romance heroine who wins must, by definition, be a fighter, not a "delicate flower." "Keep your delicate flowers," declared Roberts, "and give me Bacall teaching Bogart how to whistle." She then added:

I'll take the stand-up gal who fights for herself, her man, her family, and, in some cases, the known universe. These are heroines to me in the true sense of the word. A woman to be admired and even emulated for her qualities of strength and endurance, for her heart. When these women win . . . I win. Because romance, with that standard borne by our heroines, gives us hope, shows us the value of love, gives us the security of commitment and the continuity of family."

Nora Roberts has, on several occasions, provided a strong defense of the romance genre. Her 2003 RWA conference speech provides an exceptionally persuasive example of the skill with which she accomplishes this goal. 

Source:  Roberts, Nora. "Women who win." (Transcript). Booklist. Sept. 15, 2003. Retrieved June 25, 2010 from accessmylibrary.