Romantic Historicals

So what is it they are? How are they non-formula, no happy ending? If you just mean not cliched there is quite a lot of conventional historical romance that manages to swerve around the worst cliches If they don't have romance as central are they more family saga or literary?

Hi Grace. One of my WIP's is a romantic historical.


Just poking my head in here to say hello....

Keep your options open

Rather than determine what ONE specific genre my novel fits, I've been trying to keep my options open.

I've been pitching my novel -- set in 1912 Peking, starring a young woman from New England and a former Imperial eunuch* -- as "a different kind of love story."

It's not a romance, per se, although the young woman does learn about love -- and the question of whether or not she will go through with the marriage arranged by her parents (to a cad in the American diplomatic corps) is central to the plot.

The focus of the novel, however, is the young woman's personal development -- from a conventional, obedient daughter to a strong and resourceful woman on her own.

So, I've been querying agents who deal with historical novels ... agents who represent romance novels ... and agents who go for "chick lit."

I'll let you know if/how I succeed.

*"former" as in "no longer in Imperial service" -- but, hey, once a eunuch, always a eunuch, no?

crossing genres

I'm in something of the same boat. Historical fantasy, with romance subplot. But there does seem to be a fair amount of border-crossing going on. The Sookie Stackhouse books (Southern Vampire) have horror, romance and detective elements, and nobody seems to mind. The question is, how do you pitch it?

There are several lines that are considered "female focused" fantasies. That means they are fantasies with romance thrown in (ie: LUNA). I've seen them popping up for years in historical lines, but I'm happy specific lines are being created. I know there is another big line, but I can't remember the house.

If you would like me to let you know what house it is (that is, when I remember) pm me.

ByGrace said:

I usually post over on other threads. In the genre list, there isn't one for Historical fiction. . . .

Click to expand...

To take this somewhat off-topic: there really should be a genre forum for historical fiction.

"Historical" may not be a genre in itself, but it is a genre-splitter: mainstream/contemporary vs. mainstream/historical, contemporary romance vs. historical romance, and so forth. Mystery, erotica, and horror all have their historical variants; there is, as has been alluded to in this thread, historical fantasy; almost all Westerns are historical; Bible fiction is a notable subset of Christian writing; sf time-travel stories often use historical settings; and so forth.

What I'm saying is, historical fiction is too broad a matter to be dealt with sufficiently by a thread or two in each of the genre forums, especially since, despite generic differences, all writers of historical fiction face the same challenge: to effectively portray a time and culture of which they not only do not, but cannot have any direct experience. The various ways in which to do this, the factual background of each historical period, and the differences (and surprising similarities) between different genres with historical settings, are all issues big enough to fill a forum of their own.