One of my very favorite sayings is - "Reality is nothing. Perception is everything." The more you think about it, the more profound the saying gets. Another saying I like is - "Don't ever argue with what someone WANTS to believe." The second saying is an indication of an excellent way you can waste your time. The first is battling a belief system or something someone wants to perceive.

We ran into that kind of belief system prejudice when we first aired our debut novel. We heard from people that "nobody" ever sets a romance novel in the Caribbean. How interesting. "Why not?" we asked. Because it isn't done we were told. Some answer! In fact, we searched the database of the Romance Writers of America and found one novel set on a cruise ship and another on a nameless island. So, of course, that meant we shouldn't use the setting we were most familiar with.

Of course, since we are not in favor in such unexamined biases, we forged ahead with our setting in the Caribbean which people are finding intriguing and it offered us a schtick for publicity. We simply couldn't imagine why the Caribbean could not be a romance setting since it is arguably one of the most romantic places on earth. But the more we looked at this bias the clearer we became about the basis of it. RWA has been so wedded to Harlequin and its various lines that if it had not been done in their books, it was considered unacceptable.

I guess we will just have to muddle through with our misguided perceptions of what will work in fiction. And maybe be able to engage in some creativity.