Genre - Romance

1. A broad definition

A romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."

Through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, these novels are commercially in two main varieties: category romances, which are shorter books with a one-month shelf-life, and single-title romances, which are generally longer with a longer shelf-life.

Separate from their type, a romance novel can exist within one of many subgenres, including contemporary, historical, and paranormal.

2. A more specific definition

According to the 'Romance Writers of America', the main plot of a romance novel must revolve around the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship together. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplots that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."

3. Restrictions within the genre

A further definition of the genre states that romance must make the "romantic relationship between the hero and the heroine ... the core of the book."

In general, romance novels reward characters who are good people and penalize those who are evil, and a couple who fights for and believes in their relationship will likely be rewarded with unconditional love.

Some romance novel authors and readers believe the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the protagonists meeting early on in the story, to avoiding themes such as adultery. Other disagreements have centred on the firm requirement for a happy ending, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre.

Some readers will accept stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love between the two main characters (e.g. Romeo and Juliet).

4. Content

A romance novel can be set in any time period and in any location. There are no specific restrictions on what can or cannot be included in a romance novel. Even very controversial subjects are addressed in romance novels, including topics such as date rape, domestic violence, addiction, and disability.

5. Subgenres

Subgenre % of market
Category romance - 40%
Historical romance - 17%
Contemporary romance - 16%
Paranormal romance - 9%
Romantic suspense - 7%
Inspirational romance - 6%
All others - 5%

a. Category romance

Category romances are short, usually no more than 200 pages, or about 55,000 words. The books are published in clearly delineated lines, with a certain number of books published in each line every month. In many cases, the books are numbered sequentially within the line. These novels have widespread distribution-often worldwide-but a single U.S. print run, remaining on a bookseller's shelves until they are sold out or until the next month's titles are released and take their place. Writers for the largest publisher of category romance, Harlequin/Mills & Boon, can find their novels translated into 26 languages and sold in over 100 international markets.

To write a successful novel of this length, the "author must pare the story down to its essentials." Subplots and minor characters are eliminated or relegated to the back story. Nonetheless, category romance lines each have a distinct identity which may involve similar settings, characters, time periods, levels of sensuality, or types of conflict. Publishers of category romances usually issue guidelines for each line, specifying the elements necessary for a novel to be included in each line. Depending on the current market and perceived reader preferences, publishers frequently begin new lines or end existing ones. Most recently, erotic and Christian lines have been introduced while traditional Regency romance lines have ended.

b. Single title romances

Romance novels which are not published as part of a publisher's category are known as single-title novels. These novels are longer than category romances and average between 350 and 400 pages. Publishers may release the novels over a shorter space of time for sales velocity and publicity reasons, but on average authors write 1.5 novels per year and have one each year published. Single-title novels remain on the booksellers' shelves at the discretion of the store.

Despite their name, single-title novels are not always stand-alone novels. Some authors prefer to write several interconnected books, ranging in number from trilogies to long-running series, so that they can revisit characters or worlds. Such sets of books often have similar titles, and may be labelled as "Number 1 in the XXX Series", but they are not considered series romances because they are not part of a particular line.

c. Contemporary romance

Contemporary romance, which is set after World War II, is often what people mean when they refer to a romance novel. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels are set in the time in which they were written and usually reflect the mores of that time. Heroines in the contemporary romances written prior to 1970 usually quit working when they married or had children, while those novels written after 1970 usually have, and keep, a career. As contemporary romance novels have grown to contain more complex plotting and more realistic characters, the line between this subgenre and the genre of women's fiction has blurred.

Most contemporary romance novels contain elements which date the books, and the majority of them eventually become irrelevant to more modern readers and go out of print. Those which survive the test of time, such as the works of Jane Austen are often reclassified as historical romances.

d. Historical romance

Historical romance is set before World War II. This subgenre includes a wide variety of other subgenres, including Regency romance. Historical romance novels are rarely published in hardcover, with fewer than 15 receiving that status each year, less than one-fifth of the number of contemporary romance novels published in that format. Because historical romances are primarily published in mass-market format, their fortunes are tied to a certain extent to the mass-market trends. Booksellers and large merchandisers are selling fewer mass market paperbacks, preferring trade paperbacks or hard covers, which prevent historical romances from being sold in some price clubs and other mass merchandise outlets.

This subgenre includes a wide variety of other subgenres, including Regency romance.

Historical romance is the major subgenre of both the literary genres romance novel and historical novel. Despite the dates, many historical romances include contemporary attitudes, as, for example, the heroines often have far more education than was the norm in their time period.

This subgenre includes a wide variety of further subgenres, including:

 

i. Viking
These books feature Vikings during the Dark Ages or Middle Ages.
Heroes in Viking romances are typical alpha males who are tamed by their heroines. Most heroes are described as "tall, blonde, and strikingly handsome."
Using the Viking culture allows novels set in these time periods to include some travel, as the Vikings were "inveterate adventurers, founding and conquering colonies all over the globe."

ii. Medieval
These romances are typically set between 938-1485.
Women in the medieval time periods were often considered as no more than property who were forced to live at the mercy of their father, guardian, or the king. Always a lady, the heroine must use her wits and will and find a husband who will accept her need to be independent, yet still protect her from the dangers of the times.
The hero is almost always a knight who first learns to respect her and her uncommon ideas and then falls in love.
Heroes are always strong and dominant, and the heroine, despite the gains she has made, is usually still in a subordinate position. However, that position is her choice, made "the sake of and with protection from an adoring lover, whose main purpose in life is to fulfille his beloved's wishes."

 

iii. Tudor
These romances are set in England between 1485 and 1558

 

iv. Elizabethan
These novels are set in England between 1558 and 1603, during the time of Elizabeth I.

 

v. Georgian
These novels are set between 1714 and 1810 in England.

 

vi. Pirate
Pirate novels feature a male or female who is sailing, or thought to be sailing, as a pirate or privateer on the high seas. Pirate heroes are the ultimate "bad boys," who "dominate all for the sake of wealth and freedom."
The heroine is usually captured by the hero in the early part of the novel, and then are forced to succumb and eventually fall in love with their captor. On the rarer occasions where the heroine is the pirate, the book often focuses on her struggle to maintain her freedom of choice while living the life of a man. Regardless of the gender of the pirate, much of the action in the book takes place at sea.

 

vii. Victorian
These novels are set between 1832 and 1901 England, beginning with the Reform Act of 1832 and including the reign of Queen Victoria.

 

viii. Colonial United States
These novels are all set in the United States between 1630 and 1798.

ix. Civil War
Set in the former Confederacy, these novels cover the time period of the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

 

x. Western
These novels are set in the frontier of the United States, Canada, or Australia.
Unlike Westerns, where women are often marginalized, the Western romance focuses on the experiences of the female.
Heroes in these novels seek adventure and are forced to conquer the unknown. They are often loners, slightly uncivilized, and "earthy."
Their heroines are often forced to travel to the frontier by events outside their control. These women must learn to survive in a man's world, and, by the end of the novel, have conquered their fears with love. In many cases the couple must face a level of personal danger, and, upon surmounting their troubles, are able to forge a strong relationship for the future.

xi. 'Indian'
These novels could also fall into the Western subgenre, but always feature a Native American protagonist whose "heritage is integral to the story."
These romances "[emphasize] instinct, creativity, freedom, and the longing to escape from the strictures of society to return to nature."
Members of Native American tribes who appear in the books are usually depicted as "exotic figures" who "[possess] a freedom to be admired and envied."
Often the Native protagonist is struggling against racial prejudice and incurs hardships trying to maintain a way of life that is different from the norm. By the end of the novel, however, the problems are surmounted.
The heroes of these novels are often fighting to control their darker desires.
In many cases, the hero or heroine is captured and then falls in love with a member of the tribe. The tribe is always depicted as civilized, not savages, and misunderstood.

 

xii. Americana
Set between 1880 and 1920 in the United States, usually in a small town or in the Midwest.

 

e. Romantic suspense

Romantic suspense involves an intrigue or mystery for the protagonists to solve. Typically, however, the heroine is the victim of a crime or attempted crime, and works with a hero, who tends to be in a field where he would serve as a protector, such as a police officer, FBI agent, bodyguard, or Navy SEAL. By the end of the novel, the mystery is resolved and the interaction between the hero and heroine has evolved into a solid relationship. These novels primarily take place in contemporary times.

Like all romances, romantic suspense novels must places the development of a relationship between the protagonists at the heart of the story. The relationship "must impact each decision they make and increase the tension of the suspense as it propel the story. In turn, the events of suspense must also directly affect the relationship and move the story forward." Romantic suspense novels tend to have more "clean" language, without the "emotional, intimate" descriptions often used in more traditional romances. Because the mystery is a crucial aspect of the plot, these novels are more plot-driven instead of character-driven.

f. Paranormal romance

Paranormal romance blends the real with the fantastic or science fictional. The fantastic elements may be woven into an alternate version of our own world in an urban fantasy involving vampires, demons, and/or werewolves, or they may be more "normal" manifestations of the paranormal-humans with psychic abilities, witches, or ghosts. Time-travel, futuristic, and extraterrestrial romances also fall beneath the paranormal umbrella.

These novels often blend elements of other subgenres-including suspense, mystery, or chick lit--with their fantastic themes. A few paranormals are set solely in the past and are structured much like any historical romance novel. Others are set in the future, sometimes on different worlds. Still others have a time-travel element with either the hero or the heroine travelling into the past or the future. Between 2002 and 2004, the number of paranormal romances published in the United States doubled.

As in the fantasy subgenre of urban fantasy, many paranormal romances rely on the blend of contemporary American life with the existence of supernatural or magically-empowered beings, human or otherwise; sometimes the larger culture is aware of the magical in its midst, sometimes it isn't. Some paranormal romances focus less on the specifics of their alternative worlds than do traditional science fiction or fantasy novels, keeping the attention strongly on the underlying romance. Others develop the alternate reality meticulously, combining well-planned magical systems and inhuman cultures with contemporary reality.

Time-travel romances are a version of the classic "fish out of water" story. In most, the heroine is from the present day and travels into the past to meet the hero. In a smaller subset of these novels, the hero, who lives in the past, travels forward into his future to meet the heroine. A successful time-travel romance must have the characters react logically to their experience, and should investigate some of the differences, both physical and mental, between the 'world' the character normally inhabits and the one in which they have landed. Some writers choose to end their novels with the protagonists trapped in different time periods and unable to be together--to the displeasure of many readers of the genre.

g. Inspirational romance

Inspirational romance, as the market exists today, combines explicitly Christian themes with the development of a romantic relationship. These novels typically do not include gratuitous violence or swearing, and the central courtship is chaste. Sex, if it is present at all, occurs after marriage and is not explicitly detailed. Many novels in this genre also focus on the hero or heroine's faith, turning the love story into "a triangle: the man and the woman and also their relationship with God." Themes such as forgiveness, honesty, and fidelity are common.

h. Multicultural romance

Multicultural romance typically features a hero and/or heroine who is African-American, although some multicultural lines also include Asian or Hispanic heroes or heroines or interracial relationships. The first line of multicultural romance novels was launched as recently as 1994.

Although romance novels featuring African-Americans and Hispanic protagonists are becoming more popular, those featuring Asian or Asian-American characters are rare.

i. Erotic Romance

Erotic romance, sometimes called romantica, is a blend of romance and erotica. Thesebooks are predominantly romance novels that are characterized by strong sexual content, but can contain elements of any of the other romance subgenres. Erotic romance novels tend to use more frank language, avoiding many of the euphemisms used in books with milder content. These novels also usually include more sex scenes, often focusing more on the sex act rather than being a more traditional love scene, and may include more unusual positions or acts. Despite a greater emphasis on the sex scenes, however, erotic romance is not to be confused with pornography. While pornography would concentrate solely on the sex acts, erotica novels include well-developed characters and a plot which could exist without the sex acts.

Erotic romances also tend to be shorter than single-title novels and are often only novella length.

Many of the publishers of erotic romance are either small press publishers or electronic book publishers. Writers often have more leeway in what types of erotic acts can be included when working with an electronic publisher than they would have working with a print publisher. Some subjects are still considered taboo, even with erotic romance.

j. Men's romantic fiction
Men's romantic fiction refers to any fictional portrayal of romantic love either in film, text, or other media and is usually either told from the male protagonist's point of view or taking particular interest in the romance as viewed from a male perspective.

Although generally concerning heterosexual relationships, men's romantic fiction also includes gay romantic fiction, romance dealing with love between men.
The genre of lad lit also has somewhat similar connotations.

k. Chick lit

"Chick lit" is a term used to denote genre fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties.

Chick lit features hip, stylish female protagonists, usually in their twenties and thirties, in urban settings (usually London or Manhattan), and follows their love lives and struggles for professional success (often in the publishing, advertising, public relations or fashion industry). The books usually feature an airy, irreverent tone and frank sexual themes.

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