I find that romance is frequently the genre that does the most work to examine if villains are capable of change and worthy of love. Do people who have done terrible, depraved things deserve to be loved? Personally, I find it so much more interesting to watch characters work for redemption as opposed to attaining it through one heroic act that results in their death.
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while tropes are important to writing genre fiction, please keep in mind that mishandled tropes can easily become cliches. And then there are tropes that are so beyond cliche they need to be retired. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the romance tropes we could do without.
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Bridgerton has proven what we in Romancelandia have known to be self-evident for years: romance novels make for excellent entertainment. Now that Bridgerton has crossed into the mainstream and people are loving it, it’s time for more.
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I was in high school the night I woke up to the sound of an argument outside the house. Looking outside the window, I saw my mom’s boyfriend rushing down the driveway, his father, who was visiting for just one night, chasing after him. Curious, confused, but mostly nosey, I reached the living room just…
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Emotional abuse or past trauma is a frequent plotline in romance. And while something as serious as abuse shouldn’t be reduced to a plotpoint, it has nonetheless become a staple of the genre. Why? Because by and large, romance is the genre that most commonly addresses the issues real women face in their daily lives, including abuse.
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The age old question: can men and women really just be friends?
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You may have seen the term representation being thrown around more often lately, with what is going on in the news cycle. (If you have somehow made it to this post, but have seen nothing else of late please email me and detail the exact dimensions of the rock you’re hiding under. Then check out…
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Romance writing has long been celebrated for giving women a voice in literature. Yet, the genre is failing to do more, including show a range of body types.
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In the year 2019, if you google the phrase, “Jealousy in Romance Novels” you will be met with truly endless lists of books featuring the “perfect” jealous, possessive (read: abusive) hero…and that’s it. While this isn’t a shock, it is a bit disheartening to find that there isn’t one result that points out that this isn’t an ideal trait in reality.
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Three Houses Press 