#romance genre

[rookthebird]

"redemption arcs are toxic, you shouldn't try to fix someone!"

actually it is so important to me that being in community and experiencing human connection can save people. thanks

#reylo #snowbaird #redemption arc #romance genre #romance writer

[coffeetank]

Writing ROMANTIC TENSION!

When you're writing romance, you need to have TENSION. Your characters need to pull your readers into the story with not just their dialogues, but also their chemistry. What is tension, you ask? It's quite simple. When two people are attracted to each other, or like each other, or are in love with each other, it causes a certain shift in the air. When these two people come together, they seem to outshine everyone else in the room and make it just about themselves (in a good way ofc). This shift in the air which hooks you into the scene is called tension. The chemistry that your main characters carry, will infact carry the whole story --- if you're writing romance, i.e.

How do you write this romantic tension? Well, as someone who's been writing romance for 4 years now, here's a few things I do to show the chemistry between my characters.

Show, don't tell: This is probably the most common advice you'll ever receive. And spoiler alert: IT IS TRUE. Any scene that includes an emotion will require you to show it, visualise it for the crowd instead of just writing it down. Romance, love, is a sensitive emotion. The readers need to SEE it happening, instead of just reading about it. Eye contact, long stares, switching their gaze from the eyes to the lips & back to the eyes, coming close for a few seconds, banter-turned-flirting are some ways you can show the chemistry.

Intimacy is key: Proximity. Closeness. Coming together. Put your characters in situations where they have to work together. Show their differences/similarities in handling tasks and make them argue or slightly quarrel if there's any differences and show them rejoicing if there's an agreement. Intimacy lies in more than just the body, bring out a quality in your characters, preferably a good one, in your characters when they're together. Make that quality their strong suit that drives them closer.

Words are sexy: Dialogues can create tension better than anything else (in my opinion). Notice how every time your ships/pairings are bantering, one of them ends up saying something sexual or romantic in a frisky way and we end up blushing like crazy? Yep, that's the goal. We absolutely love it when the guy says "oh yeah?" or ends up calling the girl a cute nickname while bantering. Dialogues can reach out to readers in a more personal way because they are the direct interactions between your characters. Make your OTP interact and have fun (pun intended!)

Add restraint: Sometimes, when the characters are almost about to kiss and someone interrupts them, we feel like throwing the book away. But at the same time, we want more because we want to see our characters kiss, or confess, or even get down dirty ;). You have put your characters in each other's close proximities, given them a driving force and added a razzle-dazzle with the dialogues and flirting! Yet, something is missing and the romance feels too....predictable? Put a constraint. This is especially important for slowburns. Personally, I love me a slowburn - it creates higher tension, emphasises on a foundation between characters and makes the kiss/confession/sex even more hot (again, my opinion). I suggest, a hint of a barrier won't do any harm. When you've reached the level of tension where it's normal for your characters to kiss or make-out, your readers are more focused than ever. Adding a restraint will make them crave the romance more and hence, stay hooked into the story. HOWEVER, DON'T STALL THE PROJECT. Just because your characters got interrupted in chapter 7 doesn't mean they can't kiss till chapter 15 or something. If they don't kiss in this chapter, they kiss after maybe 2-3 more chapters. You want to delay the romance only by a tad bit, so that your readers are still interested.

That's all I have for today! I hope these help you guys! - ashlee.

#writer #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #romance #romance books #romance genre #writing #books #romancebooks #write #writeromance #writingromance #writingtips #writing tips #female writers #tips and tricks

[sailor-hufflepuff]

To tell the truth, for me the appeal of the Regency Romance Genre is something like:

-5% a single man in possession of a good fortune

-35% pretty dresses and bonnets and parasols

-60% a society with actual codified rules, that everyone knows and is taught, and never having to guess what the appropriate thing to say or do to not get labeled a Weirdo Who Can’t Have Normal Conversation. I would ROCK an interaction where I had a specific list of topics and duration of time, underpinned by how much I am allowed to share or not share about my personal life based on our relationship.

#regency #regency romance #romance #romance genre #bridgerton #Jane Austin #pride and prejudice #autism life #society #how to human

[alexa-santi-author]

Why the "Regency Era" is a fantasy realm

I've seen some interesting discussions back and forth about making historical fiction and particularly historical romance more inclusive, and I do think that there's some merit to the argument that merely inserting BIPOC as part of the ruling class erases many of the historic struggles people went through in terms of both class and race.

However, there's something that people don't seem to realize when it comes to the Regency Era: it's a fantasy realm that was primarily created by a single author.

Just as J.R.R. Tolkien published his Lord of the Rings books and created a world that would loom over the fantasy genre for decades to come, Georgette Heyer created the Regency Era in a way that I think people looking at the romance genre from the outside don't really understand.

Heyer wrote several historical romances and mystery novels prior to 1935, but it was with Regency Buck that she introduced her version of the Regency Era, a version that has actually been far more influential in popular culture than that of Jane Austen. (Most of the Austen adaptations pull more from Heyer than people realize, especially in terms of manners.) Heyer's world is all polite society heroes with a stiff upper lip and perhaps a tinge of rakishness, spirited yet virginal heroines, and a cast of supporting characters that range from younger brothers to elderly aunts.

There are very few hints that anyone outside the aristocracy is of any consequence, or even knows how to behave themselves, even when the middle-class daughter of a rich "Cit" marries an impoverished aristocrat in A Civil Contract. Sex exists, but only behind firmly closed doors and, for the heroines, only after marriage.

And what about the minorities that we know lived in Great Britain during the Regency Era? Not just the racial minorities that included Black citizens and former slaves as well as Indian immigrants, but also religious minorities? They pretty much don't exist in Heyer's world, apart from a few anti-Semitic stereotypes of rapacious Jewish moneylenders that make modern readers cringe when they stumble across an unbowdlerized edition. There are a few jokes and whispers about "unmanly" men, but that's about it for LGBTQIA+ representation as well.

Given what we now know about the Regency Era -- and we know a lot more than Heyer did when she was writing almost a hundred years ago -- we know that her view of Regency society was as artificial as Tolkien's world. Despite her use of historical sources, her romance novels are set in a fantasy world that melds the fashions and historical events of the Regency with the Victorian morals and mores that Heyer herself was raised with. The Regency Era was the late Georgian Era and was far more vulgar and free-wheeling than Heyer was willing to admit. She left out the people who didn't fit into her vision of the Regency, which showed an Anglo-Saxon ruling class that deserved to rule because of their natural superiority.

So my opinion about TV shows and films like Bridgerton and Mr. Malcolm's List that show an inclusive aristocracy in the Regency Era is ... well, it's all fantasy anyway, isn't it? Why not make the fantasy inclusive since the whole era is Heyer's illusion dressed up with a few historical details?

And if you want to try and argue that Heyer was historically accurate about everything, be prepared: I have sources that Heyer either ignored or did not have available to her. Look up Benjamin Silliman's 1803 journal of his trip to Great Britain sometime.

#mr malcolm’s list #historical romance #regency romance #historical romantic fiction #romance genre #diverse romance #bridgerton #georgette heyer

[lurkingshan]

Shan! Question for you. You are a foremost expert in knowing what makes a romance successful. Do you think there are any remarkable differences between how Asian vs. Western dramas “do” romance? If you think there are differences — what are some Asian dramas you’d recommend as particularly successful from a continental lens?

In the words of Omar Little, oh indeed. One of the primary reasons I got so into Asian media was because of its radically different treatment of romance as a genre compared to Western media. Asian media actually respects romance and treats it as a valid and worthy part of the human experience, where Western media looks down on and belittles it as unserious (as with most things that are seen as the domain of women). Most Sophisticated Dramas in the West have little to no romance in them. We rarely get romance-focused dramas in the West, and when we do they are full of misogyny, abuse, and SA (*glaring at you, Outlander*). Asian dramas, on the other hand, cater to the romance audience in a way the West sneers at, and I found it completely revelatory when I first started watching them.

In terms of recommending good Asian romances, the beauty is that there are just so many. Any style or tone or flavor you want, they got it. You want a big sweeping epic? Crash Landing on You or Descendants of the Sun. Want it to be historical? The Rebel Princess or Love and Redemption. A fun and flirty romcom? Semantic Error or An Incurable Case of Love. Romantic tragedy? Eternal Yesterday or The Red Sleeve. A straight up fairytale? Legend of the Blue Sea. How about a dark and twisted fairytale? It's Okay Not to Be Okay. Maybe you want a cozy friends to lovers? Romance is A Bonus Book. How about a painful one? Theory of Love. Slice of life? What Did You Eat Yesterday? Workplace romance? Her Private Life or Old Fashion Cupcake. Second chance romance? Lighter & Princess. Or perhaps you want to play with gender and sexuality crisis? Coffee Prince.

I could go on and on and on, but you get me. I have actually already compiled a list of my favorite romance pairs here.

#asian drama #romance genre #shan answers

[dreamtydraw]

Yk what I’m collecting data, you’re all my subjects now- People who enjoy slice of life romance / soft romance. What are your favorite tropes ? I’m taking notes for science ( literaly i’m testing the water for my own game cause i feel like i don’t know what people generally like- )

#visual novel #dating sims #dreamty’s ramble #slice of life romance #romance genre #soft romance #stranger to lover

[geekgirles]

At the risk of sounding basic (then again, I am a basic bitch) fluff with eventual smut fics are like pumpkin spice. It might take a while to get to the spice, but when it does, it's the perfect blend of spicy and sweet you just can't get enough of.

#fanfiction #romance #romance genre #pumpkin spice #ao3 #archive of our own #fanfiction.net #tropes #fluff #smut #eventual smut #writers #writers on tumblr #fanfiction writer #fanfic #fic #nsfw-ish

[sea-owl]

Saw a tiktok about a guy having a breakdown over some romance books that have like 1-3 sex scenes in them. Calling them porn and saying romance readers have a porn addiction.

First of all sir those are not the porn books. I can give you a porn book, I accidentally picked up a supernatural erotica once during a buy a box of books sale. It was actually pretty good, WLW monsterfucker erotica.

Second of all, just because someone likes romance books or even the sex scenes in those books doesn't mean they have a porn addiction. Practically every scene in a book, especially traditionally published books that go through round after round of editing, serve some sort of purpose to the overall story, and yes, that includes the sex scenes. Whether it be good, bad, downtime, stakes raising, comparison scenes, or even showing readers the physical and / or emotional connection, it has a purpose.

Third of all, just because you see people reading their romance books in public doesn't mean they aren't reading other things. My romance books are more travel friendly. But at home I'm also reading a book on how Victorians were the original true crime girlies, a book on poisonous plants, the history of poison, and an art history book on tue works of Alphonse Mucha.

Fourth of all who cares?! The romance genre has been around forever and so has the love for a love story. Let people enjoy things damn. They're not doing anything to you! They mind their own business with their book boyfriends and girlfriends.

And my final point, well advice, stay off AO3 and fanfiction sites sir. You would not survive.

#books #romance genre

[chloeseyeliner]

my (very nice and cool aside from the story) professor today asked us, as an introduction to the next thing on syllabus, what our names were (it's very few of us there) and what we like in this life.

when my turn came, i told her i liked reading. she asked: "oh, that's great! what kind of books? do you like the mystery genre?", to which i replied: "not much, to be honest, haha; i actually prefer romance novels and historical fiction."

WHAT was i SUPPOSED to admit right there? that the gayer and more diverse in general the book the better? that i have read rwrb five-six times by now and every time i read dear thisbe, i wish there weren't a wall. love, pyramus, my throat feels tight all of the sudden? that i cry over poetry and i was one of the only people that read the iliad for fun after the school year ended when i was fourteen and get chills when consuming queer and poc history non-fiction books, or that i recommend books that shatter my heart and rip it right out of my chest with their bare, cold, bloody hands? hm?

(anyway, despite this fun fact thing combined with my social anxiety, she is actually such a wonderful professor, fucking finally if you ask me)

#thank god we were not many people in this classroom it was stressful lol #i am not going to say what the subject was for privacy reasons #university shenanigans #red white and royal blue #rwrb #books #the iliad #historical fiction #poetry #romance genre #also for a person who consumes so many historical facts or words that lead to facts through books and documentaries every day #i for sure remember shit #and i am actually truly ashamed of that #i could be a history nerd #but instead chose to be this and let school destroy my love for history forever lol #anyway #i hope it is not forever

[joannerenaud]

Sylvia Baumgarten (aka Sylvia Halliday, Louisa Rawlings and Ena Halliday), 1933-2024

My friend Sylvia Baumgarten died on the morning of February 1rst. Our friendship began in the 1990s, when I wrote her a fan letter about one of her early Harlequin historicals, Wicked Stranger, and she wrote back a long type-written letter about her influences and research and sent me a copy of Stranger in My Arms as well. I interviewed her for my old blog in 2011-- sadly, that interview has been lost. But we also met in 2016 for dinner, and she sent me her collection of books about the French Revolution. She was a great talent, as well as witty, opinionated and immensely generous. I will miss her very much.

She graduated from Brown University in 1955, and from 1982 to 2015 wrote for a variety of publishers, including Pocket Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., Harlequin, and Diversion Books. She was also a President of the Romance Writers of America/ New York City Chapter, and her books were nominated for multiple awards. Forever Wild was a finalist for the RWA/Golden Medallion award, Best Historical Romance (1986). Stolen Spring (which I reviewed for Dear Author) received a Romantic Times nomination as Best French Historical (1988), while Promise of Summer [archive.org link] received the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award as the Best Historical Romance set in France (1989). Wicked Stranger had also been nominated for a Rita Award by the Romance Writers of America.

Baumgarten's papers are available in the Manuscripts Division of Brown University, and include press kits, book reviews, news clippings, public relations material (including photographs), interviews, correspondence about her books, and the manuscripts of Stolen Spring and Dreams So Fleeting.

She also blogged extensively about her observations and experiences selling wedding dresses at Macy's in New York.

#sylvia halliday #louisa rawlings #ena halliday #obituary post #historical romance #romancelandia #romance fiction #romance genre

[whatmakesagod]

#romance #romance genre #my posts

[niennawept]

One thing I hate in romance stories is how they often end once the couple get together. Give me more? I want them learning to live together, learning to grow together, learning to love those little annoying habits they each have.

I want to see what conflicts they have, what personality clashes they must navigate, what makes them come back together again despite these things.

Love isn't the "will they / won't they" part of a slow burn, although that is delicious. Love is the act of choosing to love someone over and over, even when it's hard in the moment.

Show me the hard moments in your writing and I'll believe you that they are in love.

#writing #romantic fiction #romance genre #writing romance

[ladyofsnark]

I think there's something critical people miss when they're talking about historical romances and they bring up the old chestnut "It's always poor girls marrying wealthy men and not the other way around."

And there is a very good reason for this.

Because in the 1800s, if you were a woman with wealth and an inheritance and you could be self sufficient... marrying was probably the WORST thing you could do. Now, of course, rich women still married but LEGALLY it was a bad move.

Because as a wife you legally owned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING any more. Your inheritance, your money, etc all became your husband's property. Hell, even the wages a working woman earned with her own labor weren't hers. They were her husband's. Women owned nothing and were nothing until the Women's Property Act passed in the 1870s

So... yeah. It's poor girls marrying wealthy men. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#historical romance #romance genre #victorian era

[absolutebl]

In La Pluie, we know Lomfon has eyes for Tai. I was wondering if you knew similar BLs where someone from the secondary ships had eyes on someone from the main ship (bonus for some sweet sweet angst)

Alternatively, has it ever happened that the person from secondary ship successfully breaks up the main ship and gets the guy! Basically swapping ships lol

Yes, this is actually not uncommon, especially in the pulps. It's and OLD one.

But it's more a love triangle but one corner of the triangles gets a consolation prize boy relationship.

I don't love this one, frankly, so I don't really track it.

Here are a few off the top of my head.

someone from the side dish had eyes on someone from the main couple

2gether

2Moons2

(I actually love this one)

Brothers... kinda? We don't talk about it.

Check Out

(for like 5 seconds of hyung and we are MAD we didn't get more .. i speak for all of fandom in this matter)

Cutie Pie

Did you forget how TutorYim started?

Destiny Seeker

Another one I LOVED.

Enchante

En of Love series (if you count that style a lot of the sampler pack BLs have this like Y-Destiny)

In Gen Y 2 2 RIVALS GET EACH OTHER!!!

KinnPorsche

In his warped little way.

My Engineer

My Gear and Your Gown

Moonlight Chicken (kinda)

My Secret Love

Yeah, I would have chosen him instead, too. Who wouldn't?

Never Let Me Go

The Promise (last ditch attempt)

Tonhon Chonlatee (last ditch repair - the only thing I miss about this thow is Na + his sun glasses + hi boy toy)

Top Secret Together (oh whatever I don't remember the deets)

TharnType 2 (Fiat anyone?)

Many of these aren't as blatent as La Pluie, but these shows were all activating tropes passively without thought. La Pluie is explicitly examining the tropes themselves as part of its narrative journey.

Has it ever happened that the person from secondary ship successfully breaks up the main ship?

A case could be made for I Am Your King 2 in this matter. But this is rare because it messes with the core arcs of the romance genre so its watcher divisive and usually alienates viewers. IAYK2 did this to me.

Incidentally both IMYK are now on iQIYI. I do not recommend them, though.

And also this one favorite of mine in Love By Chance 2, but it's not the main couple its one of mame's MANY sides.

#asked and answered #bl side dishes #thai bl #romance genre #2gether #2moons2 #frankdrake #forthbeam #cutie pie #destiny seeker #kinnporche #La Pluie #my engineer #my gear and your gown #moonlight chicken #my secret love #Never Let Me Go #Tonhon Chonlatee

[none-shall-caricature-me]

Jessie x James (Rocketshipping) from Pokémon is miles better than all the romances in modern popular media.

#rocketshipping #jessie x james #pokémon #romance in media #media #hollywood #romance movies #romance genre #not bsd

[nikvella]

on the one hand i keep getting thoughts for a cute lil romance book. on the other hand i never READ romance books so like who the fuck am i to contribute to the genre?

#writeblr #potential wips #ok but fr though does anyone have any recommendations if i wanna read more romance #even if i don't end up working on this idea i still think that reading diverse genres is important to building myself as a writer #the only romance i've really read and enjoyed was you and me on vacation / the people we meet on vacation by emily henry #i have jane eyre on my bookshelves because i have been wanting to revisit it #i studied it for gcses and didn't enjoy it #but i was also an edgy little teenage brat so i want to see how my opinions have changed since then #romance books #romance genre #romance wips #romance book recommendations