Loose Change

For many of you, this will not be news. However there are many authors and readers who don’t know this. I didn’t actually “know” what the structure of a romance novel was until well into my writing career. But I had internalized the structure by reading a lot of them.

Here goes:

Pamela Regis, in her A Natural History of the Romance Novel, defines a romance novel to be “a work of prose fiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines.” She continues by saying there are eight narrative elements of a romance novel: a definition of society, meeting, attraction, barrier, point of ritual death, recognition, declaration and betrothal.

An erotic romance may not require a hero or heroine (for example, two heroes will do just fine), or may require more than one of each. Courtship of some sort will occur but betrothal may not. However, most readers and most definitions of modern romance do require a HEA (happily ever after) or HFN (happy for now) ending which is the roughly the equivalent of a betrothal because there usually is some sort of commitment to the other protagonist(s).

The background/world of the story may not show up before everything else. It may (and I would argue is at its best) when it unfolds throughout the story. But the story needs to have a background/world where the story can be told. This world will have a structure and rules that the protagonists do/do not obey and which define what is at stake in the story.

Meeting: If your hero and heroine (the terms are used here for convenience) are having a romance, they must meet. The sooner, the better. Conventional romances say meet by the third chapter at a minimum. The meeting must be meaningful, whether the reader or the protagonists know it at the time. Preferably, though, the meaningfulness will be revealed quickly. If your readers don’t know who is important in the story, they won’t care about the characters.

Attraction: If you can’t do this in an erotic romance, don’t call it an erotic romance. Make it physical, emotional, spiritual (lots of physical) but make sure it’s there.

Barrier: What keeps them apart long enough to tell a story? External or internal barriers can keep lovers apart (romantic suspense where someone is out to kill the hero or heroine may have more external conflict while other stories may have more internal barriers) but the best stories have both. Ideally a character may think he or she is unable to be with the other(s) because of an external barrier but eventually discovers there was more of an internal problem to be overcome than something outside forces have imposed. External and internal barriers can and should work together to create conflict. The internal and external conflict continues to rise until—

Ritual Death or “Dark Moment”: The barriers seem impossible to crash. The protagonists are going to be kept apart forever.

Recognition, Declaration, Betrothal: Often come together quickly to form the HEA conclusion. The recognition that the other one(s) are the love object/vitally important to the protagonist(s) will help crush the barrier, create the declaration (“I love you” – declared, implied, whatever) and lead to the conclusion where the bond has been created and a new kind of world is formed.

Treva Harte
TrevaHarte.com

Counterpoint:
Margaret Riley
AKA Shelby Morgen

Oh, hey, while we're arguing -- err discussing -- Erotic Romance, I probably should mention, I have a book out. Well, a NEW book, to be specific. This one's an Erotic Paranormal/Satire, all about how NOT to write Erotic Romance. Mutiny in Chapter Three, now available at www.ChangelingPress.com