What IS a Romance Novel? Is it just about GETTING the guy, or can it be MORE?

amergina said:

For me, aside from the general RWA definition of "a central love story with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending," genre romances are about creating, building, and maintaining romantic relationships.

You can certainly write a romance about building and maintaining a romantic relationship after the first glow of creating it--and there are books that do that.

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What amergina said. Hell, I have two romances that start with married couples separating after 10+ years, and the story is them coming back to each other. As long as the relationship is the core of the story and the characters end up together...yeah, it works for me as a romance.

Brian P. White said:

Any other suggestions?

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If you're writing a hitman romance, check out the authors I mentioned, like Anne Stuart.

ETA : Or try this. Go to All About Romance and do a search through their reviews using the filter "romantic suspense". Read the reviews, then read the books that sound interesting to you.

Whatever you do, read a lot of romance (if you plan to write one).

I've thought it would be cool to write a romance about a couple that have been married for a long time and started to take each other for granted, and the story is about how they get the fire back. I confess I have no idea how one would do that.

I've read romances that are about couples falling in love with one another again, if that's what you mean.

And most romances I've read have a lot more going on than just the romance, both in terms of external goals and obstacles held by the protagonists, and in terms of their personal or internal problems. The developing relationship is intricately caught up in all this and related to the resolution of these other problems, but it's not the whole story. The romance being central to the story doesn't mean it's the whole story. Romances often involve adventures, intrigue, mysteries to be solved, suspense, political situations, mental health issues (I read one where the MMC was bipolar), family problems or drama, career and professional issues the characters are dealing with etc. They can take place in settings one associates with other genres too, like SFF or historical.

After all, there need to be things that are keeping the couple apart and competing for each of their attention.

I only have read one romance that was literally just about the developing relationship (as in every single scene after they met revolved around them taking long walks and getting to know one another). It bored me and I couldn't finish it. If these are the only kind you've read, you're not getting a good cross section of the genre, imo.

morngnstar said:

I've thought it would be cool to write a romance about a couple that have been married for a long time and started to take each other for granted, and the story is about how they get the fire back. I confess I have no idea how one would do that.

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I've read a few romances about couples who are (or were) married but who separated before the start of the book due to some major issue - alcoholism, cheating, domestic abuse, etc. This sort of setup isn't very common. It's even rarer to start a book with the couple together, but since they've lost the passion, they decide to rekindle it. Have you read any romances like this?

Some of the best romance novels I've read have been when the main female and male character have 'gotten' together during the first couple of chapters of the book and the rest of the book is about living life together and finding a way to stay together. It shows that life and love is hard and you have to make sacrifices and compromises to be together- every single day. And I love that. To me, that is what shows true love. When your happy ending is something you work for.

Brian P. White said:

This sounds like a dumb question, but I've seen and heard so many conflicting perspectives that I just have to ask.

Also, I want to introduce a novel into the Romance genre that isn't about getting the guy so much as KEEPING him, which is as often a worry in life for many women as getting him in the first place. Even in today's world where women are growing more independent, so many still worry about these two things and want to find comfort or hope (or at least escape) in the pages of Romance novels. Why can't a book about making a seemingly doomed relationship work actually be considered romantic?

Please, help me out.

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There ARE romance novels about married women who are unsure about their marriages reconnecting with their husbands. Even the most traditional Harlequin romance lines have had such stories as long as there is a fully HAPPY ending.

My impression of what defines a genre romance is:

1. The love story is a central element of the plot.
2. It has a Happily Ever After (or at least a Happy For Now) ending.

And that's about it, as far as requirements. Most romance novels focus on the process of the couple meeting, falling in love and getting closer, but I don't think that has to be the case.

Nora Robert's birthright is about a divorced couple getting back together after being hired on the same archeological project.

Romance novels are essentially novels of courtship. Be it marriage in jeopardy, reunited lovers, forbidden lovers, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, unrequited love, etc, the core element that drives a romance plot is the story of the protagonists falling in "forever" love (sometimes again). Novels about doomed relationships are not courtship...now you can write a romance novel about the protagonists reuniting and falling in love after the doomed parts happened, but if the novel ends with the protagonists parting, it's not a romance novel. It has romantic elements, but it's not romance.