…Fiction with Romantic Elements?
Firstly, Fiction with Romantic Elements is a recognised RWA sub-genre. Thanks RWA! It means that writers like me are welcomed and able to benefit from membership and all the great RWA resources.
But is it understood as a sub-genre?
In a recent competition, my Fiction with Romantic Elements ms was marked down for not being romantic enough! The judge’s comments…
What could have been improved? ‘Romantic parts, more of romance in the story lines’
X Factor: ‘It would be a great story but not in the romance line.’
Reader enjoyability: ‘Story doesn’t sound like it has the real romance line, more like a biography fiction line.’
I write contemporary women’s fiction with romantic elements. But have I got it right? Seriously, I don’t know. I base it on the following:
• The romance is there – it’s just not necessarily the main plot line of the story.
• I don’t have ‘heroines’ – more everyday, flawed, warts-and-all women whose conflict is not necessarily with a hero/the love interest.
• The plot’s focus might be on social issues and themes about culture or society rather than a relationship.
• Rather than finding love/lust with another, my characters find personal fulfilment through self-acceptance/personal discovery and their HEA (happy ever after) comes about more from this internal growth/self-acceptance, rather than an external person/hero (although a relationship can be influential in helping them to reach/realise their dreams/goals).
I also question the requirement of a HEA in this sub-genre. If you study sub-genre ‘rules’, without a HEA it’s not a romance novel.
Yes, I like stories that leave you feeling optimistic. I won’t even watch a movie that has a sad ending: Eg The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, The Horse Whisperer- and don’t even get me started on Romeo and Juliet – not much of a HEA there! (If I do watch one of these, I turn the DVD off before the sad bit and make my own uplifting ending.)
But if the lack of a HEA means it isn’t a romance story, what is it?
I’d be interested in your thoughts.
What an amazing experience!
What the NaNoWrMo process has done is really brought that elusive ‘voice’ out in my writing. I did a basic outline at the end of October and talked about the idea with my writing buddy. Then, on November 1st, I started typing my new ms–House for All Seasons. Thirty days later I have a begining, a middle and an end. I love it! Here’s a sneak peak:
House For All Seasons
Former friends–Poppy Hamilton, Sara Fraser, Amber Bailey-Blair & Caitlin Wynter–haven’t seen each other since high school when a terrible muck-up day accident divided them, eventually driving them away from the small Australian country town of their childhood–Calingarry Crossing.
Now thirty-something, the women are surprised to receive instructions from trust company called Madgick & Associates. In order to qualify for an inheritance, the women need to spend a designated season each in the old Calingarry Crossing estate–the Dandelion House.
They have no idea how the season will change each of their lives.
Written in four parts–Tall Poppy, Surviving Summer, Amber Leaves and Wynter’s Way–going back home turns out to be just the magic each of them need.