Let’s Talk About Vocab

In introducing the new titles coming to the Odegaard Library, I used a myriad of terms to classify Sub-Genre that are specific to the Romance community and folksonomies in reader communities.

The Sub-Genres I noted in my original acquisitions proposal are viewable in my Excel spreadsheet on the Literature Review section of this website. However, the definitions of these categories live here:

Contemporary Romance: 

Contemporary Romance takes place in the modern day, every day. The protagonists and settings are relatable or, at least, identifiable by the reader in the context of their own world. There's always a HEA (Happily Ever After), but that doesn't have to mean the main characters get married.

Sex is included as part of the character's journey towards understanding themselves and their developing relationship.

Historical Romance: 

Historical Romance features characters from the past and is stereotypically associated with Regency or Victorian era England. Common themes of this sub-genre include The Ton (the aristocratic social scene), the need to find a husband to secure young women's future, and the strict nature of men/women relationships (especially the requirement for chastity in women before marriage). All of these books also feature a HEA but almost all of them include marriage as a part of the HEA.

Sex is included but carries the weight of social and cultural consequences of the time and often leads to pregnancy. The loss of virginity is a staple of many of these books. There are two "skools" of Historical Romance as outlined by the Smart Bitches blog: Old and New Skool Romance. Old Skool belonged to the 1970s and 80s and featured many of the "heroes" that give Romance its bad reputation. These men are aggressive, focused on women as property, and approach sex from a sexual assault lens. New Skool Romance focus more on the heroines and establishing a story that celebrates romantic relationships of more equal attraction, pursuit, and communication.

Paranormal Romance:

Paranormal Romance incorporates supernatural elements like werewolves, vampires, witches, and other like creatures. Though there has been an uptick in "tamer" stand-alone novels, traditionally Paranormal Romance happens in a series format with each book cycling through a different set of characters in the same world. Because of this, there are typically two HEA's: one small one for the romantic couple in question, and a larger one when the series is resolved of the main tension (usually between two supernatural groups).

Sex is included in these books similar to how it's used in Contemporary Romance. It should be noted that there can be different anatomy included in these books depending on which supernatural creatures are included. While there can be monstrous elements to some of the characters, the main focus is typically not the anatomy but rather the political and social consequences of being supernatural. Monster romance is it's own category, though elements of these genres often bleed together.

Love Story:

There is a lot of debate within the Romance community on what constitutes as a Love Story and whether this should be its own category at all. I feel like there's enough distinction between the books that find their way to this descriptor and other Romance to be of note. A Love Story is more a sub-genre of Literary Fiction than a child of Romance. The story is typically less linear, includes morally grey characters and plot devices, and grapples with love, desire, and pleasure as meta concepts with the romantic relationship serving as a setting for these conversations to play out. These books tend to be philosophical in nature.

Sex, if it's featured as part of the story, is typically not explicit in language and works as a vehicle for characters to reflect on the nature of intimacy, the messiness of affect, and the carnal desire that the human body can hold. There are very few, if any, concrete descriptions of the intimate acts taking place. The HEA is not guaranteed in this genre- if there is one, it may be in the form of a self-revelation rather than a steady relationship.

Chick Lit:

Again, some facets of the Romance community abandoned this term in the 2010's as old news and never looked back. When not being used as an insult or derogatory term, Chick Lit works quite well to address many books from the early 2000's- they have a specific flavor to them that fall into this category. To lump them in with Contemporary Romance would do a disservice to readers. Chick Lit usually follows a woman on a journey to self-discovery or reinvention. She's quirky, harried, and making her way in a corporate work setting. She has an eclectic group of friends that she's out for cocktails with or calling on the phone constantly.

Sex works more as an anecdote for the protagonist to relate later rather than being featured on the page. There is almost no explicit content except for the cheeky innuendo that functions as a staple of her conversations. A note of caution: these texts, while often easy, breezy, and fun to read, purport a form of feminism that's not quite developed. While these women are making their own way and exploring their sexuality, these books (often) also include off-handed out-dated ideas about weight, patriarchy, and romanticize hustle culture. These books always end with an HEA even if it's unclear how realistic the romantic pair might be in an elongated timeline.

Women's Fiction:

If you're browsing in a bookstore, these books are often filed under General Fiction. And in many ways, these texts follow the plot, character, and pacing conventions of generic fiction titles. What sets these books apart is that they're written by women, for women and feature women protagonists. Typically the women in these books are older and are dealing with Big Life Things with their love life as a through line. This is similar to the Love Story but more plot and character focused than philosophical.

Sex is rarely a featured part of these narratives- if it's included, it's more of a fact of life than a defining moment of the protagonists' story. Family drama is usually a large component of these stories. Like the HEA for Love Stories, the nature of the ending regarding the love life of the protagonist is not guaranteed but there is often a resolution for the internal life of the main character.

Magical Realism Romance: 

The need for this category has been a slow burn but, with authors like Ashley Poston on the rise, there is an increasing number of titles that fit the bill. These stories are almost identical to the Contemporary Romance category. But! with a little bit of magic added in. The fantastical element is usually a one-off and not part of a larger magic system or proof of the supernatural. For example, there may be a ghost or a bit of time travel but the focus of the story isn't on understanding or navigating the strange occurrences. Rather, the emphasis is on the character's building their relationship and the magical stuff just happens to be a part of their meet cute.

Sex functions here the same way as Contemporary Romance unless the magical elements included pose another obstacle for the protagonists. HEA guaranteed.

Monster Romance:

Similar to the rules of Magical Realism Romance, Monster Romance is not necessarily indicative of a larger monster world like Paranormal or Romantasy novels would suggest. Unlike Paranormal Romance, there is no expectation that all parties in the romantic relationship are monstrous. It's fairly likely that there will be some combination of monster and human. These books, in addition to featuring a romance, explore what it means to call something a monster, what it means to love something deemed monstrous, and how desire transcends expectations of "normalcy." The degree to which conversations of these cultural, political, and societal definitions are made explicit vary greatly throughout the sub-genre.

Sex is typically fairly explicit in these stories and features non-human anatomy from at least one partner. HEA's abound here!

Romantasy:

This sub-genre has gained a lot of buzz in the years since BookTok exploded on TikTok. These are fantasy novels that emphasize a strong romantic plot. Unlike Paranormal Romance, books in Romantasy series follow a single romantic pair throughout the books. Or, if there's an especially large cast of characters, the books will feature multiple romantic pairs that are revisited in each book. Similar to Paranormal Romance, there are often two levels of HEA occurring: one for the romantic protagonists and one to resolve the larger plot conflict- usually of a political nature.

Sex is a large selling point for these novels (often referred to as smut or spice in the book community) but the degree of explicitness varies greatly depending on the author.

Erotica:

Erotica celebrates sex as the primary method through which the featured relationships' dynamics are explored. It's through sexual encounters and erotic exploration that character development, relationship progression, and self-reflection happens. HEA's are common in this genre though they rarely end in a traditional sense including the institution of marriage. This sub-genre is known for challenging boundaries and expectations of what a relationship can look like. There are many sub-genres contained within Erotica based on the types of kink or sexual relationship the reader is interested in pursuing.

Romantic Suspense Fiction:

This sub-genre revolves around spies, subterfuge, and political games. There is usually a mystery of high stakes in the work. To belong to the Romance sub-genre of this type of novel, there must be a strong through-line of romance between protagonists that has substantial impact on the development of the plot and character development. Very few novels written by men belong in this sub-genre, even if they claim an intimate relationship in their pages, because of their one-dimensional female characters and their lack of substantial bearing on the events of the book. Sex is usually vague and fade to black in these novels, though it is almost always included. Like Paranormal or Romantasy, there is the two-fold HEA here: one for the romance, one for the plot.

Crime Romance:

There are many similar elements in this sub-genre to Romantic Suspense Fiction. The main difference is the source of tension- the more common name for this type of book is "mafia romance." The stakes are high but the consequences are on a smaller scale than between countries or other international parties.

This genre is known for highly explicit sex and usually features darker or more dangerous types of kink play. Dubious consent plays a large role in this type of story.

Sports Romance:

As the name implies, this sub-genre takes place in the context of Sports culture. The stakes of the plot emphasize the relationship development but often parallel the sports story taking place as a means of providing situations for the characters to meet and interact.

Sex is expected and usually fairly explicit in this genre. The characters are typically athletic, classically beautiful, and their character conflict derives from some type of internal angst and/or the pressure to perform well in the sport in question.

Adventure Romance:

Similar to Sports and Contemporary Romance, this sub-genre follows many of the same conventions and plot progressions as these two. The only difference is an increase in travel as a method of plot progression and the subsequent different context for the development of the relationship.