Romance as a Genre: information from our library science students
Defining the Romance Genre
Romance genre fiction includes two specific elements: a central love story around which the main plot revolves and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending for that love story (Romance Writers of America, n.d.). While other genres may also include romantic storylines, the romantic relationship is the focus of romance books, with any other plot point serving as a secondary focus. The romance genre receives a lot of criticism because of its optimistic and hopeful endings, despite its ability to have depth and more complex themes. Emotional language and descriptive characterization of main and secondary characters are significant in defining important milestones of the relationship in a romance storyline (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019).
Common tropes:
Enemies to lovers consists of two main characters who are antagonistic to one another but discover that they have romantic feelings for each other in the end. Forced proximity often falls within this same group as two characters are pushed together for reasons outside of their control or preference (MasterClass, 2021).
Friends to lovers tropes involve characters that have had a platonic relationship for a long time before developing feelings for one another. Since they have already established an emotional connection, the story allows them to build onto that relationship. (MasterClass, 2021).
The fake dating trope involves one or two characters who make up a story about dating the other, either to get people to stop asking about their love lives or to benefit from certain aspects of being in a relationship. More often than not, fake dating gets the characters thinking about what a real relationship might be like (MasterClass, 2021).
Love triangle tropes involve multiple love interests who have to fight for the attention of the main character. Readers might cheer on one relationship over the other, and the plot builds tension as the protagonist has to come to a conclusion in the end (MasterClass, 2021).
Elements of appeal:
Romances appeal to the readers’ emotions by using expressive language and dialogue, and they tend to have satisfying endings. They rely on the detailed characterization of all important characters to tell the story, and focus on the relationships and struggles between characters. Milestones within relationships are well-defined in order to drive the plot, which is often fast-paced through the use of dialogue (Wyatt & Saricks 2019)
Contact us
These lists and genre information are brought to you by the MLIS 7998 students in our Genres for Adult Readers class in the Master in Library and Information Science program. Thank you for sending in such good books, materials, and information. I hope you had a good time with this project!
If any material listed is problematic or you would like to suggest future recommendations and themes please contact Crystal Miller at crrichardson@valdosta.edu! They would love feedback, or just to talk about books!
