Research Paper on:
Karen Van Der Zee's 'A Secret Sorrow'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
know her as Mona Van Wieren as well. An accomplished romance writer, Van Der Zee embodies all the aspects of the romantic novel genre. Theme, structure and sparkling dialogue give  evidence to her formulaic abilities to tell a satisfying romantic tale. Most romance novels follow a closely bound structure in which certain elements occur at predictable intervals. This, if done  well, is not readily evident to the avid reader, but does tend to culminate in a satisfying reading experience for the fan. Of course, A Secret Sorrow being a romance,  has two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. In fact, even if there are other conflicts in the book, they all tie in to the  central love theme in the book. This is completely evident in A Secret Sorrow. Anyone can throw a few sentences together, it  can be argued. So, what makes a good writer? Quite frankly it is a combination, one might consider, of an artists eye for detail, a psychologists questioning mind, and the  courage of a skydiver. In other words, the writers own unique voice is something that no matter what the plotline or the characters, the story will be different from anyone  else who contrives to tell the tale. This is part of the use of language by an author. The other influence on voice, it can be said, is the authors  life, itself. What has he or she experienced in his/her lifetime that has contributed to this unique perception and turn of phrase. It can be said that just about  any attribute one can ascribe to a character can also be used to describe certain settings, or vice versa. A setting can be calm, at peace with itself, or seething,