Romance used to be so formulaic—boy meets girl, they fall in love, something threatens their relationship, but in the end, they marry and live happily ever after or the male rescues the damsel in distress, they fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after.
Some people still enjoy those types of romance stories, but romance has come so much further. Today characters can face issues found in current relationships: cultural differences, disease or serious illness, career vs. family struggle, etc. The story doesn’t have to end with the wedding and, as a writer, you don’t have to write a “happily ever after” ending. You can give your couple trials. You don’t even HAVE to have a “happy” ending, but most romance readers do prefer a happy ending. Finally, you don’t have to have the boy who meets the girl at the beginning of the story be the one who wins the girl in the end nor have the rescuer win the damsel’s heart.
The romance genre, like all other genres, has a diverse readership—women, mostly, from many different cultures and backgrounds who face many different struggles in their lives, and they’re looking for characters in romance stories that they can relate to—characters who face the same struggles. They want to see how such characters overcome their struggles. Seeing a possible solution, or just seeing someone facing the same struggle come through it, having found real love, can give your readers hope.
And that whole damsel in distress thing, that’s not so popular anymore. In the current market, strong women characters are quite popular. Women who can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, kick some butt, and still desire to be loved, supported, and cherished—in other words, tough independent women who can still be soft and feminine. These women can face the battles but still enjoy having a strong shoulder to cry on or rest on when the battle’s over.
As for the plot line, the conflict doesn’t have to be the woman having to decide between two men. The conflict can revolve around the struggle she faces or a circumstance that threatens their relationship. The plot line should still have a love interest, or two, as well as one or more struggles the man and woman have to work through together to show their commitment to one another, in addition to any individual struggles each may face. All struggles/conflicts can be internal or external.
Romance has come a long way and doesn’t have to follow a formula specific to the romance genre anymore. The romance genre has also expanded to include mystery/romance, romantic suspense, historical romance, sweet romances, and more. There is a romance to fit every type of romance reader and writer. So if you have an unusual romance story percolating in your brain or you don’t think your story will have an audience because it doesn’t follow the romance formula, take a chance, write it—there may be readers waiting for it!
Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.
You can find her online at:
Website: https://kellyfbarr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyb_26
Facebook: Kelly F. Barr, Writer
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