Thread: Love story.

I think this comes under research.

What do you expect from a romance novel?

That's all I want to know.

Thank you.

x

My personal taste doesn't run to romance novels but rather other genres that might have a romantic subplot. That aside if I were to read a romance I would want a really interesting story. I would demand that it go beyond 'girl meets boy, girl and boy hate each other and third person is in the way, girl/boy can't make up their mind, love overcomes all'.

I would like:

• Characters with depth and entertaining foibles
• A plot that puts demands on the lovers (or lovers to be) far beyond a rival even if a rival is involved
• Something unusual (paranormal events or mysterious happenings)
• Action. I don't care if it's a romance...add in some car chases, gunslingers, pirates, exploding space stations, dogfights, daring parachute drops or snowboarding...or all of the above!
• Intrigue, tyranny, or at least a rather nasty housing association
• Atmosphere, please, some departure from the beautifully decorated interiors.
• Put your characters through the wringer and see if they actually come out in love or not. After all if love is going to conquer anything, make it a worthwhile battle.

What do you mean beyond a rival? And nasty housing?

I mean I think what I am going to write meets a lot of your criteria as I think I'm going into it with the same mind, as in I don't want it to be boy meets girl simple. I am planning on putting the characters through hell, well they are already going through it when they meet.

Oops, sorry, didn't notice you were across the pond. Not sure the Housing Association thing makes sense there. Here there are suburbian housing plans have housing associations - a few neighbors who rule the tiny fifedom with an iron fist.

A plot that puts demands on the lovers (or lovers to be) far beyond a rival even if a rival is involved

A plot that is about more than a rival for the lover's affections.

Ah I see. Well He is a Prince of the Seelie Court, on the run because he supposedly killed his mother and She is a human from an abusive household whose life revolves around her little brothers and keeping her dad happy. That's pretty much the basics. I'm in the planning stages at the moment so there's a lot of tweaking going on. And its gotten to the point where I just want to know if there's anything missing, hence asking what people want from such a story. Thanks a lot for your opinion, made me happy as I think I'm on the right track =D

Glad to help.

I'll second interesting characters. And I tend to read fantasy with romance a big part of it. Women who are not classic beauties, but are rather interesting instead. I don't care if she has some tragic history to make up for her perfection, still meh. Give her something interesting, like buck teeth, or terrible vision. Open the story to someone that won't ever pose as a model, for instance, stunning in her own way, because it opens it to more readers. I get tired of characters that can open all doors with their good looks.

I third the interesting characters part. Perfect, gorgeous people who look like they've just stepped out of a fashion magazine are very boring and cliche in romances. They need to be flawed in some ways to make them real and to let your reader identify with them. To me, that means physically as well as humanly. Of all the romances I've read, the ones that have stuck with me are those who showed me their human flaws along with a great story. I also agree that something other than just the romance, makes for a better story.

The latest romance I've read was several years ago but I remember it because it was bittersweet. Beauty by Susan Wilson.

Summary
A painter,who unknowingly accepts a commission to paint the portrait of a grotesquely deformed New Hampshire aristocrat, finds herself slowly drawn to this lonely and intelligent man.

I picked it up on some odd whim and really enjoyed it.

That does sound good. The one that sticks with me and that I really liked was Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale. It's not a modern romance, the setting is England and the story centers around a Duke, who happens to be a genious and is living a terribly immoral life. He has a stroke and is put into an insane asylum. The romance is between him and Maddy, who is a Quaker of all things. It's the characters themselves who made this such a good book for me.

Okay so to make this good I need in depth kick ass characters that are horribly flawed and a storyline outside of romance.

I think I have the basis of that, the characters certainly aren't perfect. It's the outer storyline that is making this hard for me, I'm not a good weaver of plots. But I shall try!

x

LOL...just make it more well-rounded than the 'boy meets girl' thing and you'll probably be okay.