Romance novel

For the medieval genre see Romance (genre).

A romance novel is a novel from the genre currently known as romance. The genre has two strict criteria:

the story must focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people [1];
the end of the story must be positive, leaving the reader believing that the protagonists' love and relationship will endure for the rest of their lives.

If a novel does not fulfill those conditions, fans of the genre are likely to claim that it belongs to a related genre, such as women's fiction or chick lit, or that it is just a mainstream fiction novel.

Some romance novel readers would claim that the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the hero and heroine meeting early on in the story, to avoiding possible themes, such as neither hero nor heroine committing adultery in the course of their relationship developing. However, these are not hard-and-fast rules, and some writers deliberately write stories that may put off some readers in order to push the genre's boundaries.

Origins of the romance novel

The earliest English novels in this genre appeared in the 18th century. Pride and Prejudice (1813), by Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Brontë, and Jane Eyre (1847), by Charlotte Brontë are highly-regarded as classic romantic novels.

Romance novels can also trace their roots back to gothic novels, if not to the idea of the "roman" itself through the romance (genre), a heroic prose and narrative form of medieval/Renaissance Europe.

Ann Radcliffe's gothic novels influenced writers ranging from Jane Austen (who parodied it in her Northanger Abbey), Charles Dickens, and the Brontës.

Romance publishers

The publishing house Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, conventionally shorted to Harlequin, along with its British arm Mills and Boon, is best-known for publishing romantic fiction. Currently, there are several large houses publishing romances, e.g. Avon Books, an imprint of the HarperCollins publishing house.

Category and single title novels

Romance novels are divided into two sub-sets, category romances (also called series romances) and single title romances.

Category romances

The term "category romances" derives from the fact that the books are published in clearly delineated categories, with a certain number of books being published in each category every month. Their alternative name, series romances, came from the sequential numbers sometimes printed on the books' spines. Category romances are short (usually no more than 250 pages), and have a low purchase price compared to other fiction books.

Category romances are further divided among different lines. A line is a series of books with a distinct identity. The books in a particular line may share similar settings, time periods, levels of sensuality, or types of conflict. Publishers of category romances usually issue guidelines to authors for each line, specifying the unique elements necessary in to each line.

Category romances have a finite print run, and they stay on the shelf only until they are sold out or until the next month's titles within the same line take their place upon the shelf.

As of 2005, Harlequin is the only "major" player in category romance, though Avalon, Avon and other publishers are slowly gaining momentum, publishing dozens of titles per month in ten-plus different lines, ranging from squeaky-clean stories geared to the Christian reader, to super-spicy, semi-erotica. Some publishers of Regency romances and ethnic romances also publish in monthly series.

Single title romances

'Single Title' novels are any novels not published as part of a publisher's line. They are longer than 'category' romances and average around 350 to 400 pages.

'Single Title' is a publishing term, as authors frequently write several interconnected books ranging in number from trilogies to long-running series. Such sets of books often have similar titles. Publishers may release them over a shorter space of time for sales velocity and publicity reasons, but releases tend to average two titles a year per author.

The following are the largest publishers of single title romance novels, in term of the number of titles published in 2002:

Kensington - under its Brava and Strapless imprints
Penguin-Putnam - under its Berkley, NAL, Jove, Onyx and Topaz imprints
Dorchester - under its Leisure and Love Spell imprints
Random House - under its Ballantine, Bantam, Dell, Del Rey and Ivy imprints
HarperCollins - under its Avon imprint

Harlequin also publishes some single title romances under its HQN, Signature, Silhouette, and Mira imprints.

Romantic genres

There are a number of sub-genres of romance novel:

Contemporary
Historical
Futuristic
Fantasy
Inspirational
Paranormal
Regency
Romantic suspense
Time travel
Western

Sub-genres of romance frequently draw on other genres - romantic suspense draws on mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers, and futuristics are romances in a science fiction mode.

Romantica (a blend of romance and erotica) is often labelled as a sub-genre. The term can be applied to any of the other romance sub-genres, but is usually used when sexual aspects of the story take precedence over the others.

See also List of romantic novelists

Popularity of romance novels

Romance novels are most popular in the United States and Canada, where it is the best-selling genre. In North America in 2002, sales of romance novels generated US$1.63 billion and comprised 34.6% of all popular fiction sold - by comparison, general fiction comprised 24.1% and mystery, detective and suspense fiction comprised 23.1%. Over 2000 romance novels were published, and there were 51.1 million romance novel readers.

Genre slang

Like many other fan groups, romance novel readers have developed terminology to allow them to talk about the specifics of romance novels quickly and easily. Some common terms include:

duke of slut - promiscuous male aristocrat, usually seen in historical romances. (This term is one of many coined by readers at All About Romance)
fake rake - a man whom everybody presumes to be promiscuous (a rake), but who is not.
HEA - an abbreviation of "[and they lived] happily ever after", the phrase which traditionally ends fairy tales; it refers to the happy ending that romance novels must have.
H/H - shorthand for referring to the Hero/Heroine as a couple
TSTL - an abbreviation of "too stupid to live"; this usually refers to a heroine whose behaviour is so dumb that the reader finds it difficult to believe that she has survived so long, or that she will manage to avoid getting herself killed soon.

External links

Romance Writers of America
Romancing the Blog Home to RTB romance readers, reviewers, authors and editors who blog as RTB columnists about what's hip, what's now, and what's tomorrow in the romance fiction world. RTB has an extensive link collection of romance-related blogs.
Roundtable Reviews This site features reviews and interviews with some of today's upcoming and established authors.
The Mystic Castle-readers website. This site features authors interviews and chats, reviews, articles, listing of new releases to come, bulletin board.
Romance Book Cafe