From everything I’ve heard over the years this is one genre that has quite a few diehard critics on how it should be written. Must be written. If the romance story does not follow a certain ARC it’s no good. It’s wrong.
Must have the whole boy meets girl; boy and girl fall in love; boy and girl fight/conflict and split; boy and girl rediscover each other and live happily ever after. And, frankly, they all have to be “beautiful” people. Perfect stereotypes.
I think I’ve read one book, hmm, let’s say under five, where the female wasn’t skinny or athletic built. That means she was overweight but not obese and still attractive. Does this mean obese, plain, stringy thin hair, buck-tooth females can’t find love or are unlovable?
Whoa, before you all scream at me. Yes, most of us don’t want to read about “normal” everyday people we might run across in a local store. Yes, we might just be reading romance to escape to somewhere not real. And yes, I believe everyone is worthy of love and are lovable, so far I haven’t created a character that’s not somewhat stereotypical, think I will.
Will it be well received? Not based on my writing skill or story, but because the characters aren’t comfortable to look at.
Granted, my romance reading is the smaller percentage of my reading list; however, I’m not that blind to the genre. I hope.
So, here’s a different statement…Romance the biggest reading escape. That no matter what we feel we look like or how great our lives are, we want to escape. We want the fairy tale ending. It doesn’t matter who saves whom in the story, they save each other, complete each other. They may fight and runaway from each other but in the end they’re meant for each other.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. It fills a need, feeling, readers want. And that’s why I love books, they give me escape and can match the mood I’m having.
This is why this genre makes me nervous. I have characters talking inside my head that only fit relationship-type stories. They’re not solving mysteries. Not being hunted as/by vampires. Not floating in space. Don’t have wings or ride unicorns. They’re just like you and me.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone, but I’m nervous and this genre scares me. I can only hope I can write this genre as well as it deserves to be.