by  Joyce Lavene & Jim Lavene (Everything.com)

• Romance novels sell more than any other genre
• Romance readers are loyal & dedicated
• Romance novels always end happily ever after

Romance is the crowning jewel of all novelistic genres. It outsells all of its competitors and has the greatest number of books published each year. Romance readers are loyal and dedicated. It’s not unusual for a person who reads romance to go through three to five books a week! The only prerequisite to writing romance is that every book has to end up with the man and woman living happily ever after.

Contemporary Romances

As the name implies, contemporary romances feature boy meets girl in today’s world. Dialogue is usually witty and occupies a large portion of the book. Today’s men and women are looking for love both seriously and humorously.

These books are the lighter side of the genre. Length is anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 words. They range from “sweet,” where the couple exchanges only a few kisses, to “erotic” where sexual encounters are hot and heavy. The stories take place in every country in the world. But background and plot take a backseat to the basic concept of the hero and heroine and how they come together.

Historical Romances

Real history was never the way romance novels portray it. But this subgenre flourishes on an idealized vision of history. In these books, pirate captains bathe frequently and are always tall and handsome. They are bad, but in a good way. They might do terrible things to other people, but when they meet the heroine, it changes their lives forever.

The heroine is usually a feisty but demure virgin. And usually, we find at the end of the book that the pirate captain is really a duke or the prince of a small country in Europe.

These books can be funny or serious. They range between 60,000 to 100,000 words. Sexual encounters are usually mandatory; most are erotic, although a few publishers have “sweet” lines.

Paranormal Romances

Witches (both good and bad), demons, and werewolves inhabit the pages of this subgenre. Anything can happen. Paranormal romance goes from handsome ghosts who beckon to hapless young women to futuristic worlds where couples are not of the same species. It’s difficult to put any specifics to these books. But if the romance doesn’t fall into one of the other subgenres, it probably belongs here.

Paranormal romances may be funny or serious. They range from 85,000 to 100,000 words. Sexual encounters vary from book to book. The only important thing to remember is that the romance takes precedence over the story, whether it takes place on Saturn or in a castle ruled by a vampire.

…from The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel.

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