Isn’t it Romantic?

No - no, it isn’t.

As I have recently been taking a deeper dive into understanding the nuances of certain genres, I decided to attend a workshop about romance editing. After all, ‘tis the season of Hallmark romance movie marathons, right? Also, I have a few clients who are romance authors, and I thought it would be nice to get more information about that genre in particular.

For the most part, I know the basics about what components go into a romance story, but there was one thing that surprised me in the discussion by the Hallmark editor leading the workshop. She said that not one of the people in the central couple can die in a romance story. That prevent the happily-ever-after (or happy-for-now) resolution play out.

Wait! What? Isn’t Romeo and Juliet a romance? But they both die. So - it’s not a romance. It’s a tragedy. Obviously, it makes sense that death is not a very romantic scenario, but in my head, I just always considered that play a romance since the love story is the central element of it. Turns out Shakespeare’s play is a tragedy “with romantic elements.” Many stories are actually categorized into another genre but have romantic components. That was news to me.

So if you plan to write a romance novel, remember that being dead is NOT considered romantic.