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A romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. To be considered a part of the romance genre, a novel should place its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."[1]
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."[1] 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.[1] Bestselling author Nora Roberts sums up the genre, saying "The books are about the celebration of falling in love and emotion and commitment, and all of those things we really want."[2] These books differ from women's fiction (including chick lit) in one major way -- in a romance novel the relationship between the hero and heroine is at the core of the story, while in women's fiction the heroine's relationship with her family or friends may be equally as important.[3]
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 centered on the firm requirement for a happy ending, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre. Some readers admit 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). Others believe the definition should be more strictly worded to include only heterosexual pairing. While the majority of romance novels meet the stricter criteria, there are also many books that are widely considered to be romance novels that delve from these rules. Therefore, the general definition, as embraced by the RWA and publishers, includes only the focus on a developing romantic relationship and an optimistic ending. [4][5]
As long as a romance novel meets that twin criteria, it 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.[1] Even very controversial subjects are addressed in romance novels, including topics such as date rape, domestic violence, addiction, and disability.[6] The combination of time frame, location, and plot elements does, however, help a novel to fit into one of several romance subgenres.[1] Despite the numerous possibilities this framework allows, many people in the mainstream press claim that "all [romance novels] seem to read alike."[7]
Romance novels are sometimes referred to as "smut" or female porn.[8][9] While some romance novels do contain more erotic acts, in other romance novels the characters do no more than kiss chastely. The romance genre runs the spectrum between these two extremes.[10] Because the vast majority of the romance novel audience are women, most romance novels are told from a woman's viewpoint, in either first or third person.[11]
Others believe that all romance novels are similar to those of Danielle Steel, featuring rich, glamorous people traveling to exotic locations.[12] Many romance readers disagree that Steel writes romance at all, considering her novels more mainstream.[13]
Romance novels are divided into two sub-sets, category romances, also known as series romances, and single title romances.[1] Many authors write only within one of the formats, but others, including Jayne Ann Krentz and Jennifer Crusie, have achieved success in both formats.[14]
Category romances are short (usually no more than 200 pages).[15] The books are published in clearly delineated categories, with a certain number of books published in each category every month. In many cases, the books are labelled sequentially numbered within a category.[1] These novels have widespread distribution--often worldwide--but a finite 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.[14] Writers for the largest publisher of category romance, Harlequin/Mills & Boon, can find their novels translated into twenty-six languages and sold in over 100 international markets.[16]
Category romances are further divided among different lines, which have a distinct identity, and 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 elements necessary for a novel to be included in each line.[17][18] Depending on the current market and current 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.[19]
The publishing house Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, conventionally shortened to Harlequin, along with its British arm Mills and Boon, is best-known for publishing romantic fiction. As of 2007, Harlequin is the largest publisher of category romance, releasing 500 titles each month in 25 different languages, representing every major market in the world.
Other publishers, including Avalon and Avon are also releasing category romance novels, usually several dozen per month. Some publishers of Regency romances and ethnic romances also publish in monthly series.[20]
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 around 350 to 400 pages.[15] 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.[3][21]. Single-title novels remain on the booksellers' shelves at the discretion of the store.[22]
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.[23]
Currently, there are several large houses publishing romances, including Avon Books, an imprint of the HarperCollins publishing house. The following are the largest publishers of single title romance novels, in term of the number of titles published in 2002:
Because the definition of a romance novel does not limit the types of plot devices, time frames, or locations that can be included, the genre has grown to encompass a wide variety of material and spawned multiple sub-genres. Sub-genres of romance are often closely related to other literature genres, and some books could be considered a romance <subgenre> novel and <another genre> novel at the same time. For example, romantic suspense novels are often similar to mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers, and paranormal romances use elements popular in science fiction and fantasy novels.
The primary subgenres of the romance novel include:
Contemporary romance, which is set after World War II.[24] Chick lit often falls under contemporary romance. Over half of the romantic fiction published in 2004 (1468 our of 2,285 books) were contemporary romance novels.[25]
Contemporary romance novels have twice been chosen by Kelly Ripa to be featured in her Reading with Ripa book club.[26]
Historical romance is set before World War I.[24] 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. The contemporary market usually see 4 to 5 times that many hardcovers. 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 hardcovers, which prevent historical romances from being sold in some price clubs and othe rmass merchandise outlets.[27]
In 2001, historical romance reached a 10-year high as 778 were published. By 2004, that number had dropped to 486, which was still 20% of all romance novels published. Kensington Books claims that they are receiving fewer submissions of historical novels, and that their previously published authors are switiching to contemporary.[27][25]
Romantic Suspense involves an intrigue or mystery for the protagonists to solve.[24] 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.[28][29] By the end of the novel, the mystery is resolved and the interaction between the hero and heroine has evolved into a solid relationship.[28] These novels primarily take place in contemporary times, but authors such as Amanda Quick have broadened the genre to also include historical timeframes.[30]
Paranormal romance includes urban fantasy, futuristic, and time-travel themes.[24] The romance may take place between two humans or between a human and another being, such as a vampire, ghost, or werewolf.[31] These novels also contain many elements from the other romance novel subgenres. Paranormals can contain elements of mystery or be humorous contemporary novels.[32]me paranormals are set solely in the past, and have many elements of a historical romance novel. Others are set in the future, often on different worlds. Still others have a time-travel element, in which either the hero or the heroine travels into the past or the future.[5]
Paranormal romances usually spend less time creating the specifics of the alternative world than traditional science fiction or fantasy novels, and instead place more of their focus on the underlying romance.[30] It is still important to make the alternative world or paranormal elements believable, and the world must have rules. A hero or heroine who can overcome any obstacle and has no limits strains the credibility of the book and negates any suspense or tension in the story.[32]
This genre has become much more popular since 2000. Between 2002 and 2004, the number of paranormal romances published in the United States doubled to 170 per year. A popular title in the genre can sell over 500,000 copies.[33]
Inspirational romances contain spiritual themes, most often Christian in nature.[24] In 2004, 167 novels were published in the inspirational romance subgenre.[25] These novels typically do not include gratuitous violence or swearing, and the central courtship is very chaste. Sex, if it is in the novel 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."[34] Themes such as forgiveness, honesty, and fidelity are common.[35]
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.[36] The first line of multicultural romance novels, Arabesque, was launched by Kensington books in 1994. BET Books purchased the line in 1998, and the number of new authors that they publish has continued to expand each year. BET has also developed some of the Arabesque novels into made-for-television movies.[37]
Although romance novels featuring African-Americans and Hispanic protagonists are becoming more popular, those featuring Asian or Asian-American characters are rare. Author Tess Gerritsen believes this is due to the fact that there are fewer Asian-American women who read romances; "We read romances because we want to feel good about love...in order to do that, the reader must identify with the heroine." [38]
Romantica (a blend of romance and erotica) is often named as a sub-genre; the term is a trademark owned by growing electronic publisher Ellora's Cave. The common non-trademarked term for the sub-genre is erotic romance. Erotic romance includes romance novels from all the other romance sub-genres, as these books are predominantly romance novels that are characterized by strong sexual content.
The earliest English novels in this genre appeared in the 19th 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.[3]
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. The modern romance genre was born in 1972, when Kathleen Woodiwiss's The Flame and the Flower, the first romance novel "to [follow] the principals into the bedroom," was published.[39][40] The success of this novel prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger.[6] The covers of these novels tended to feature scantily clad women being grabbed by the hero, and caused the novels to be referred to as "bodice-rippers." That term is now considered offensive to many in the romance industry.[39]
In the 1970s and 1980s, many romance novels were characterized by weak females who fell in love with strong alpha males who gave them orders.[41] Although these heroines had active roles in the plot, they were "passive in relationships with the heroes."[42] By the 1990s, the genre had grown, and today it is unlikely that a book which featured a man raping his future wife would be published.[41]
After almost two decades in that style, the romance novel began to expand into other areas.[43] In 1989, author Jude Deveraux became " the first mass market paperback original writer to write a romance novel and be published in hardcover and it became a natural bestseller." (with A Knight in Shining Armor).[3] Several authors found success writing single-title romances set in contemporary times, and publishing houses began to encourage the growth in the genre. Because the novels were set in modern times, they could include more of the elements that modern women could relate to, and soon began to touch on themes such as single parenthood, adoption, and abuse.[43]
By 2000, the covers had begun to evolve from featuring a scantily clad couple to instead showing a view of the landsape featured in the novel.[3]
As women have become more successful in real life, so have their fictional counterparts. In the earliest Harlequin romance novels, heroines were typically nurses and secretaries. As time as passed and women have entered the workforce in larger numbers, romance heroines have spanned the career spectrum.[44] Modern romance novels now feature more balanced relationships between men and women.[6]
Romance is the most popular genre in modern literature. In 2004, romantic fiction generated $1.2 billion in sales, with 2,285 romance novels published. Almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004 were romance novels, and this genre made up 39% of all fiction sold that year. Over 64 million people claimed to have read at least one romance novel in 2004, according to a Romance Writers of America study, a 26% increase over their 2001 study. Twenty-two percent of romance readers identified themselves as male, and the romance readers were split evenly between people who were married and those who were single. People of all ages read romance novels, with one percent of readers younger than 13, and forty-two percent of them have at least a bachelor's degree.[25]
Harlequin sells more than 4 books per second, half of them internationally. Author Heather Graham attributes this to the fact that "emotions translate easily." [45] Although romance novels are translated into over 90 languages,[40] the majority of authors of these works are from Great Britain, the United States, Canada, or, to a lesser extent, Australia.[46] Even in France, where over 12 million romance novels are sold each year, all of the books are translations.[40] This leads to a more Anglo-Saxon perspective in the fiction, which at times can be much less successful in a European market. Although Italy is the strongest foreign market for the chick lit sold by single-title imprint Red Dress Ink, in that country romance readers do not care to read books about cowboys, as this type of occupation was not common in their culture. The paranormal romance genre is not popular in countries such as Poland and Russia, although historical romance tends to be very successful.[46] Inspirational romance does not sell well in Europe, where romances that feature babies are very popular.[40]
Some publishing companies in Germany refuse to allow their romance authors to use their own names, fearing that the German audience will not buy a romance novel that does not have an American pseudonum. German readers enjoy reading more erotic romance novels,[46] and some German translations of English romance novels expand or insert love scenes into otherwise tame stories. The alternate scenario also occurs, as other German translators censor the love scenes.[47]
In 2004, sales of romance novels in Australia increased 28% over the year before. Between 1999 and 2004 there was an increase of 40-50% in the number of new titles released. harlequin received 20,000 unsolicited manuscripts each year.[48]
The romance genre is one of the few to have a "cultural stigma," with some dedicated readers even embarrassed to admit to buying or reading the books.[2] Fans of the genre often claim that the perceived stigma is due to the fact that romance is the only genre "written almost exclusively by women for women."[2] Critics point to a lack of suspense, as it is obvious that the hero and heroine will eventually resolve their issues, and wonder whether it is beneficial "for women to be whiling away so many hours reading impossibly glamorized love stories."[2] Another element of many modern romance novels that undoubtedly contributes to the stigma is the frequent occurrence of graphic, albeit usually romanticized, sexually explicit passages.
According to fiction author Melissa Pritchard, romance novels "perpetuates something slightly dangerous, that there's this notion, that they's this perfect love out there, and it can distract you from the work of loving yourself."[49] Romance novelist Jennifer Crusie counters that in the modern romance novel "a woman is rewarded with unconditional love [only] if she remains true to herself"[42], while novelist Susan Elizabeth Phillips believes that romance novels are popular because the heroine always wins, sometimes overcoming great odds so that she is no longer a victim.[22]
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