The Basics of a Romance Novel

To be considered of the romance genre, a novel should adhere to the following criteria:
the story must focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people. The story in a romance novel must have an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending

If a romance novel does not fulfill those conditions, many fans of the genre are likely to claim that it belongs to a related genre, such as women's fiction, or that it is just a mainstream fiction novel.

Some romance novel readers would claim that the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the protagonists meeting early on in the story, to avoiding possible themes, such as neither hero nor heroine committing adultery in the course of their relationship developing. However, these are not hard-and-fast rules, and some writers deliberately write stories that may put off some readers in order to push the genre's boundaries.

Disagreements have surfaced regarding the firm requirement for a happy ending in a romance novel, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre. Some readers admit stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love between the two main characters (for example Romeo and Juliet). Although classic romance novels always have a heterosexual pairing, with the growing acceptance of same-sex relationships in mainstream culture, some might also argue for the inclusion of storylines featuring same-sex couples.

The earliest English romance novels appeared in the 19th 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.

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 romance novel usually issue guidelines to authors for each line, specifying the elements necessary in to each line.

Romance novels have widespread distribution--often worldwide--but a finite print run. 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 romance novel, though Avalon, Avon and other publishers are slowly gaining momentum, publishing dozens of titles per month in ten-plus different lines, ranging from clean stories geared to the Christian reader, to the semi-erotic. Some publishers of Regency romances and ethnic romances also publish in monthly series.

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