Online Class: Romance Writing

Courses Frequently Bought Together:

Novel Writing 101

Creative Writing Workshop

How to Write a Short Story

Course Motivation

Whether you've discovered a love of romance novels only recently, or you grew up reading them, romance is one of the most popular genres in the literary world. With thousands of romance writers all over the world and national charter groups dedicated to helping you perfect your craft, there's no better place to begin a journey into authorship.

History of Romance Novels 

Technically speaking, romance novels have been around for more than 200 years, starting in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Unrewarded is considered to be the "first" real romance novel, published in 1740, but most people associate the beginnings of the genre with the late Georgian era, when popular novelist Jane Austen did her work (ca. 1810-1830).  

Although the novels certainly adopted a different format back in the early years, the idea was basically the same: Romance novels were literature written for women, often by women, and with the primary goal of offering entertainment value.  

Jane Austen's works were certainly considered among this set of entertaining novels, but more important for the field of romance writing were many of the Gothic novels Austen satirized in her own writing. These Gothic novels, of which Anne Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolphois the most famous, had all the elements that thrill romance readers even today: emotional turmoil, dark mysteries, brooding heroes, crumbling castles, and as much sensuality as possible (at least, given the times). 

These Gothic novels also had something that romance novels today still have: a reputation as "bad" literature, regardless of the fact that they sold more than any other type of literature of the day. 

Today's Romance Novels 

Romance novels, as we know them today, didn't really appear until the 20th century. Some give the credit for the entire historical romance genre to Georgette Heyer. Heyer's first novel, The Black Moth, which was published in 1921, starting a long career in which heroines and their heroes parried around love and intrigue set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She developed a strong readership and even sparked a bit of debate in the publication world when other authors began to adopt her style and plots to create their own romance novels.  

Less than a decade after Heyer started writing, Mills and Boon (now a category of Harlequin Romance novels) began to release category romance novels in the mass market publications that readers now associate with the genre. 

The romance novels so many people fell in love with – the worn paperback books with steamy covers and bright, bold colors – came into being in the 1970s and 1980s. Although many of the books released during these years are now looked upon as substandard to those released today, these decades marked the real beginning of the romance boom.  

The Romance Novel Industry 

In all the years of its existence, the romance novel industry has grown steadily – no matter what the economy looks like at the time. Although the genre is continually picked on by critics and those interested in literature from an academic standpoint, romance novel sales account for more than half of all paperback fiction sales in the United States every single year. In fact, no matter what types of recessions occur or what is going on in the larger global community, romance novels continue to sell.  

Since 1998, the number of total readers of romance novels has risen an estimated 20 percent. In 2007, this reflected a total readership of more than 64 million Americans and $1.375 billion dollars in industry income. And while most of these readers are married women between the ages of 25 and 44, the romance industry reaches virtually every age group and demographic in the United States. In fact, an overwhelming 42 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher. 

These types of statistics mean good news for those interested in writing romance novels. Romance novel readership is so diverse, and so large, that there are good opportunities for first-time authors looking to break into the field. In 2007, more than 8,000 romance novels were published and released – not counting the expanding e-book options that many romance authors now rely on as a way to reach their fans.  

From Reading Romance Novels to Writing Romance Novels  

Before you get started writing that romance novel, you need to make sure you know your interests, your market, and your expectations. While hours of research can help you in doing just this, it's actually much easier than that. All you have to do is pay attention to what you like. 

In reality, the romance novel industry is fairly static in terms of what writers can and can't get away with. While there is always an exception to the rule, most aspiring romance novelists don't have the connections or the background to be able to start changing the way the industry works right away. This means that writers rarely get to "play around" with things like: 

• Novel length
• Point-of-view
• Central themes (the emotional love story)
• The ending 

But this doesn't mean that all romance novels are the same. There are typically no restrictions related to setting, time period, the gender of the protagonists, language, and the actual story line (as long as there is enough conflict to drive the plot and an optimistic ending), so the possibilities for innovation and originality are quite large. Of course, if you're writing just for yourself or to try and self-publish, you can also cast aside the industry standard rules, as well. Most of the "rules" are geared toward landing a deal with the bigger publication houses 

Romance Writing "Rules" 

Most of these "rules" are also self-evident. If you plan on writing a contemporary series novel like the most popular ones from Harlequin, chances are that's what you enjoy reading, as well. This means you probably already know the novels are typically short, centered almost entirely on the entanglement of the hero and heroine, and have steamy, but not over-the-top, sex scenes. If you're more into reading historical Regencies, you might already have an idea of the language of the time period, the liberties you can take in adding secondary plot lines, and how much additional length is typically required for this type of romance novel.  

Above all else, writing what you love is the most important part of romance writing. If you don't enjoy reading them, then writing them probably isn't right for you. If you don't enjoy paranormals, it's probably best to stick with realistic settings for your own work. After all, unfamiliarity with a subject matter or disdain for the genre is almost guaranteed to show in your writing. 

Before you start on your romance novel, consider the following: 

• What do you enjoy reading about the most?
• Do you usually only read romance novels from a single publisher or line?
• Can you write the full length of the typical novel in your genre (55,000 words for a series title, 90,000 for a single title)?
• Are you willing to research historical details, or would you rather write what you know? 

Once you have a basic idea of what type of romance novel you'd like to write, you can actually get started playing with plots and characters right away. If you aren't sure, however, you're in a good position to have some fun with romance writing. There are many different types of romance novels, and there is plenty of time for you to decide which direction is right for you.