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All romances have two basic elements:
1. A central love story
2. An emotionally satisfying ending
Beyond that, however, romance novels can be set in any time or place, entertain any number of plot elements, and convey moods from light and humorous to dark and suspenseful.
A Central Love Story: In a romance, the main plot involves two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. The conflict in the book centers on the love story. The climax in the book resolves the love story. A writer is welcome to have many subplots and those subplots can have many subplots as long as the relationship conflict is the main story.
An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: Romance novels end in a way that makes the reader feel good. Romance novels are based on the idea of an innate emotional justice - the notion that good people in the world are rewarded and evil people are punished. In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love. Once the central love story and optimistic-ending criteria are met, a romance novel can be set anywhere and involve any number of plot elements. These settings and distinctions of plot create specific sub-genres within romance fiction.
Romance Novel Formats:
There are two formats for romance fiction:
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