Romance Novels--What Are They?
Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.
A Central Love Story -- In a romance, the main plot concerns two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. The conflict in the book centers on the love story. The climax in the book resolves the love story. A writer is welcome to as many subplots as she likes as long as the relationship conflict is the main story.
An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending -- Romance novels end in a way that makes the reader feel good. Romance novels are based on the idea of an innate emotional justice -- the notion that good people in the world are rewarded and evil people are punished. In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.
Once the central love story and optimistic-ending criteria are met, a romance novel can be set anywhere and involve any number of plot elements.
These settings and distinctions of plot create specific subgenres within romance fiction. Click here to better understand the subgenres within romance.
Romance Novel Formats:
There are two formats for romance fiction:
Series or “Category” romances--shorter romances that are released in order and by month, with a series number on each title. These books are most commonly published by Harlequin/Silhouette.
Single-title romances--longer romances released individually and not as part of a numbered series - published by any one of nearly ten New York City publishers. |