Dear Lewis, Normally, I like to keep our letters private, but this month I needed to move your letter to the homepage. Life as a serial monogamist must have been exciting. I can respect a man who likes marriage. Unfortunately, marriage and romance don’t have to go together. In preparation for the Romance Writers of America Conference in Atlanta this July, I thought I’d give you a refresher course on romance and why it’s almost better than baseball. Romance: overcoming internal and external adversity that leads to a committed relationship. Or simply put, people fall in love. Romance has lots of sub-genres. This is means fun for everyone. Here’s a brief list of sub-genres to look out for. Time-travel: Typically, hero from past travels forward in time or heroine from present travels back in time. Then they fall in love. I am too distracted wondering if that twig of parsley really makes the hero’s breath fresh. Romantic Suspense: People try to kill people, while other people fall in love. SciFi/Fantasy: People are seven feet tall, ride spaceships or dragons while falling in love. Chik Lit: Heroine is self-deprecating. Heroine has job she hates. All while falling in love Women’s Fiction: No one has to fall in love, but if they do, the heroine’s sisters, girlfriends, and neighbors have a lot to say about stupid stuff while she falls in love. Lady Lit/Hen Lit: Someone’s mother falls in love. Inspirational: Just like every other genre, except God is watching and hero doesn’t get “know” anyone, like in the biblical sense. Historical: Castles, sword fights, cowboys, fancy dances, corsets. Otherwise, known as how we used to fall in love. Young Adult: How we fell in love in high school. Series: Not just how one guy falls in love, but how all the guys in his family fall in love. Often includes a handy-dandy family tree. Erotica: Lots of sex happens. I would say more, but this is a PG website… Paranormal: Sex happens, but they don’t both have to be present. Or human. This is the genre where werewolves and vampires fall in love. Now inside all these genres are stock situations that newbies to romance should be aware of: Marriage of convenience: Hero or Heroine is forced to marry for some ridiculous reason to someone they hate or don’t know. Not surprising this often leads to love. Evil boss: This is less seen in America, but the hero is powerful and the heroine is young and naïve. But she's also smart, therefore, he must have her. They fall in love. Faux cheater: Heroine loved hero, but left him because he was cheating on her. Later she finds out he was only hugging his sister, and now the heroine has to fall in love with him all over again. Secret baby: Heroine runs away from hero without telling him she’s pregnant (maybe his rich family tries to buy her off, but she would never take the money), only to be found by him years later. They fall in love. Best friend: He’s her best friend, then oops one night heroine accidentally sleep with him. Too bad he is so hot, kind, and sexy. Now that’s what I call friendly. Oh, no. Their friendship is in danger, but it'll be okay. They're about to fall in love. Bad boys: These heroes are brooding, mad, bad-asses. Heroines falls in love easily, hero pushes her away. He's just too darned bad for her. Oh, well. They fall in love anyway. Snowed In: I almost forgot this one. The heroine is stuck in a secluded cabin with a somewhat irritating, but also attractive hero, so she might as well get some nookie until the snow melts. By then they’ve fallen in love. Lastly, for those of you who don’t read romance: You are wondering if all the stories are the same. They are not. What if I told you to stop eating chocolate, because it was like the piece of chocolate that you ate yesterday? If you like chocolate, chances are good that you might still eat chocolate again. Exchange chocolate for romance novels and the axiom is the same. Lewis, this really isn’t a good week to talk about the Braves. Are you watching World Cup from heaven? I’m guessing you wouldn’t go for France (but I might, um, my new boyfriend is Zidane). Italy is it, then? Please don’t say soccer is boring. These footballers are magic. It’s just like romance. Olé, olé, olé, Nicki |
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Advanced Course in Romanceposted Feb 16, 2009 7:34 AM by Nicki Salcedo [ updated Feb 16, 2009 7:58 AM ] |