This question has as many answers as there are writers in the universe. Because EVERY writer who pours his/her soul onto the pages of a story and allows the world to judge their work, is a GREAT writer,in my humble opinion.

But, this is a romance blog. So, I want to address romance authors. When I hear “people” say that “romance authors are mediocre talents, who turn out formulaic stories” I see RED! Yes, most romance novels have a Happily Ever After, or at least A Happy For Now ending. But, that doesn’t make the romance genre formulaic, any more than a crime novel will have the bad guy caught in the end. We don’t want to read a book that doesn’t end. And knowing that the story will have a satisfactory ending doesn’t mean we know how the characters will get there, or what they will face along the way.

In case it’s slipped the mind of those “intellectuals” who poopoo the romance industry, Shakespeare wrote romance.

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Tennessee Williams wrote romance

“Don’t you just love those long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour – but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands – and who knows what to do with it?”
― Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Robert Frost wrote romance

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
― Robert Frost

If those same Nay Sayers tell me that “modern romance” does not have the same impact, I say they should READ before they JUDGE!

For I have seen some amazing prose in “modern romance”

One of my favorite quotes

“I carry this thing between us, like a weight. A good weight, in my pocket. I reach out and hold it from time to time like a wonderful secret. I will always have that. I will never feel this way about another woman, ever. My heart will be yours forever, no matter who shares your bed, no matter whose children you bear. I’m here.” He tapped her chest. “And you’re here.” He tapped his own.”

A poetess in prose, Thea Harrison

“He poisoned her with affection and compassion, and he taught her what it meant to play again. He gave her hope and tore down her past, all with a fierce laugh in those remarkable eyes. He had already taken her soul on an impossible moonlit flight. She might as well give him her shredded, useless heart too, since she hadn’t been using it all these years.”
― Thea Harrison, Serpent’s Kiss

“It was turning early evening. Icarus had once again caught fire and was falling to the western horizon.Outside mist from earlier had burned away. What was left behind was a heavy haze that blanketed both land and sea, and turned the peaks of the Golden Gate Bridge into unearthly spires.” Serpent’s Kiss

“Once he had thought they lived such small lives…Now he realized how big their lives really were, because their lives were everything that mattered. They were the only thing that mattered, The joyous surprise in each discovery they made together was more precious than the treasure of kings, more suspenseful than the most spectacular of car chases, more beautiful than the most exotic of landscapes.” Oracle’s Moon

Jo Leigh, tugs your heartstrings

“Here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to give me that doubt. You’re just going to hand it to me, and I’m going to hold it for you. I’m going to keep it for as long as you need me to. For the rest of our lives. I will be your safe place. The place you get to be soft. Right here, just like this. When you leave my arms, you leave whole. Because you already are.
You’re not broken sweetie, you’re human. You’re incredibly strong. You’re a wonder. You’ll return to your team as the warrior you’ve always been. And you’ll know that at any time, you can come to me, and you’ll know my arms are strong enough.”
― Jo Leigh, SEAL of My Dreams

Jacquelyn Frank paints a picture in your mind

“You are my heart as it beats within my chest, my soul as it moves through my mind. The breath in my body that so fascinates you is your essence pouring in and out of me in a wave that drowns me over and over again until I cannot breathe for wanting you. Needing you.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Elijah

“She had told him that she loved him. He had known that, but hearing it in the traditional phrase had affected him in new and blinding ways.
Ways that made him believe that he could do anything.
Anything she needed or wanted him to do.
Because her loving him meant so much more than him loving her.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Damien

and last but not least the fabulous Sherrilyn Kenyon

“Life isn’t finding shelter in the storm. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, Acheron

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon

“She didn’t understand that. “How can anyone be afraid of love?”
“How can they not?” His face was completely aghast. “When you love someone… truly love them, friend or lover, you lay your heart open to them. You give them a part of yourself that you give to no one else, and you let them inside a part of you that only they can hurt—you literally hand them the razor with a map of where to cut deepest and most painfully on your heart and soul. And when they do strike, it’s crippling—like having your heart carved out. It leaves you naked and exposed, wondering what you did to make them want to hurt you so badly when all you did was love them. What is so wrong with you that no one can keep faith with you? That no one can love you? To have it happen once is bad enough… but to have it repeated? Who in their right mind would not be terrified of that?”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, Devil May Cry

I could go on for pages! Touching, funny, beautiful, evocative… Romance.

What Makes a Great Writer? Great Writing! Today’s romance novels are full of it! And don’t let ANYONE tell you different!