(This is not a think piece) About The Romance Genre

Every once in a while, you have an aha kind of moment. I love those.

Recently, I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole after reading something one of my favorite authors wrote wherein she talked a little about the Romance publishing industry. Well, my curiosity and want to learn more about the industry (something I knew next to nothing about prior to reading her book) eventually led me to the Romance Writers of America website, where I read this quote:

“All romances have a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. Beyond that, however, romance novels may have any tone or style, be set in any place or time, and have varying levels of sensuality. Romance fiction may be classified into various subgenres depending on setting and plot elements.”

Hold the phone.
You mean SHIFT is a romance? Yep, a YA Paranormal Romance.
You mean Augury is a romance? Yes ma’am.
They’re also lots of other things: Contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, etc. But do they each have a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending? Yep. And, according to RWA, that’s all that’s required.

Huh. Well, okay then.

So that’s how, after years of writing and publishing books, I realized that maybe I’m a romance novelist.

Who knew?

Now, you may be saying, “we all knew, Elle,” but, I figured if this was a revelation to me, it might be to some of you as well. Not just about my books, obviously, but about the genre in general. There are a TON of books this description applies to—many of which that aren’t identified as “romance”.

So, am I nuts? Was this no surprise to you whatsoever? Or were you as pleasantly surprised as I was?

Let’s discuss!

Bonus note: In my my research, I found this tweet and picture, which made me smile, so I’m sharing it with you all. Herein lies the reasoning for the title of this blog post. 🙂

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