Romance Novels

The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, these novels are commercially in two main varieties: category romances, which are shorter books with a one-month shelf-life, and single-title romances, which are generally longer with a longer shelf-life. Separate from their type, a romance novel can exist within one of many subgenres, including contemporary, historical, science fiction and paranormal.

One of the earliest romance novels was Samuel Richardson's popular 1740 novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, which was revolutionary on two counts: it focused almost entirely on courtship and did so entirely from the perspective of a female protagonist. In the next century, Jane Austen expanded the genre, and her Pride and Prejudice is often considered the epitome of the genre. Austen inspired Georgette Heyer, who introduced historical romances in 1921. A decade later, British company Mills and Boon began releasing the first category romance novels. Their books were resold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry the books.

In North America, romance novels are the most popular genre in modern literature, comprising over 50% of all paperback books sold. The genre is also popular in Europe and Australia, and romance novels appear in 90 languages. Most of the books, however, are written by authors from English-speaking countries, leading to an Anglo-Saxon perspective in the fiction. Despite the popularity and widespread sales of romance novels, the genre has attracted significant derision, skepticism and criticism.

Origins

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.

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.

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.

Source and additional information: Romance novel