I will make a quick note of a study that I decided wouldn't be good to go too deeply into due to its content. However, it is very applicable to our characters and needs to be mentioned. It was a study that looked at human sexuality. It was conducted by Masters and Johnson in the 60s. It explored a very important fact about sex and that is that it is as much or more a psychological experience as it is a biological one. It is also important to note that we may not use sex in our books but we need to use the romance in our books because that is a huge part of our lives. Every one gets a crush and falls in love. It is a great tool to get our readers involved and sympathetic to our characters. Romantic tension is one of the best ways to get a reader truly involved in our books.
How many stories have you read that had no romance in them? How can we ruin a book with romance?
Another thought along this line is who is more romantic men or women?
Tidbit: I am definitely the romantic one in my marriage :)
Adding a romantic element to a novel can add a depth to the character. There are definitely tropes that you may want to avoid. For example, Han and Leia are a cute romance that doesn't overrun the story. On the other hand: Anakin and Padme. Their romance is suppose to be important but I didn't really want to cheer for them because it didn't seem right.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the majority of the books I read have a romantic element. I can't speak for everyone, but the craving for affection and connection is so important to many. It's become a fairy tale ending that people crave or desire.
ReplyDeleteI would say a book fails in romance if it leaves the reader unhappy at the end of a book or series. My daughter read a book the other day and hated the ending because it lacked the happy ending.
Even minor crushes really spice up a book for me...
ReplyDeleteOh are you the romantic one? Haha, you really are!
Almost all the books I read have romance in them. All stories I write have it. Love, the tensions and all the things that come with it, fascinates me. It makes for great motivation, obstacles and fun. I think there are some stories that just go overboard and it's unrealistic or cheesy.
ReplyDeleteI think generally women are more romantic, but never discount a man! Just as you've proven. I am the romantic one in my marriage.
ENDER'S GAME comes to mind. No romance there. And it was excellent. No real romance in AMERICAN GODS either.
ReplyDeleteAs Joshua mentioned, there isn't any romance in Ender's Game--I can't really think of any others. Your post just made me realize how widespread romance is across all genres . . .
ReplyDeleteromance is one of those things that if you do bad will kill your story...
ReplyDeleteMaybe a book like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe--not much romance in there, right? Of course, middle grade may not count.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know about romance and gender--I'm more the more creative one, but my husband is definitely more cuddly and sweet. :)
In books I think the romance has to be between the 'right' people. In reality, I think some people are more romantic than others, regardless of their sex but marketing departments would have you believe that all women are desperate for it (in the form of roses and chocolates of course), and all men hate it. Personally, I think the fact that my bloke lets me put my icy feet on him to warm them is very romantic :-)
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