I'm taking a class on the Brontë sisters this semester. I talk about Jane Eyre a lot in general - my first tattoo is a reference to my favorite quote - and I've been dying to read the rest of the Brontës works. We kicked off the semester with Wuthering Heights.
And you know what? Wuthering Heights is a love story. It is not a romance.
And I think that line gets blurred now, not just in how people see Wuthering Heights, but in how people see all love stories and romances.
A love story is a story about two people falling in love and about their love. A romance doesn't have to be the whole story - it can be part of a story. A love story can be romantic. A romance can be the basis of a love story.
A love story doesn't have to be romantic. Romance doesn't have to be the entire story.
I'm going to use Wuthering Heights as my first example here. While undoubtedly a love story - the entire plot focuses on Heathcliff and Cathy's love and obsession with each other - there isn't much romance involved. There's a lot of dead people and beating and storms and other various terrible things that don't lend themselves well to romance.
Yet I see people calling it a romance, and I hear people wanting a Heathcliff because of how they perceive the love story - it's love, so it must be romantic, right?
Not necessarily. Not all love is healthy. Take the plot of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries right now and Lydia's relationship with Wickham. She may love him, but what they have is not something I would define as a romance. It is a love story, but it is one where Lydia's character is suffering for it. (Katherine wrote something about this over at Feminist Fiction.)
Stories can also have romance without being a love story. The Bloody Jack series has two characters who fall in love and spend the entire series trying to be together, but the series itself isn't a love story; it just happens to have romantic aspects. The same applies for a story live Divergent or The Hunger Games - while both have romantic aspects, the story is ultimately a dystopian narrative where people are trying to survive.
I think it's really important to note the difference, because so often we take a romantic part of a story and sensationalize it to make the whole story a love story. (The marketing for The Hunger Games movie, anybody? Team Peeta! Team Gale! That's not what the book was about!) And we also take what may be a love story that doesn't have any romance and say that it has to be romantic because it's love or a relationship, like fans that ship Lydia and Wickham in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Let's keep things what they are. Love doesn't mean romance, and romance doesn't make a love story. Both things can be the other, but they don't have to be.
That's one of the issues I have with marketing of YA books nowadays. If there's the slightest hint of romance in the plot, it has to be made bigger and grander so that it can be a love story. But why does it need to be? I love romance. I also love other things. And everything can be balanced.
Why are all paranormal stories now romantic love stories? Why can't we have a story with paranormal creatures and some romantic scenes? Why can't we have a love story of an angel and a human and recognize that their relationship may not be romantic?
Have you seen any books you'd classify as romance-but-not-love-stories? How about love-stories-but-not-romances?
I am so glad to see someone write about this Nicole! Because I get so frustrated myself trying to explain to people (fellow writers included) the difference between "romance" and a "love story". And I love your point about marketing nowadays because it's so true (and I'm wondering if it's something we should blame Twilight for...? Lol). Anyway, this is such a great post and I will be passing it on. :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wonder about too is society's underlying obsession with love and romance, and if that doesn't contribute to how much we advocate (and in some cases, exaggerate) romance/love stories in books, TV, and movies.
I didn't really think of this issue before but this is a really interesting post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment on marketing. I've read a few books that on the front cover proclaim that the story is 'romantic' when in reality the romance plays a very small role in the story. And the whole team thing is really annoying.
Hey Nicole! Great post! I recently talked to a bookseller and asked this question since I wanted to write a novel about a paranormal friendship, which is difficult to find. The bookseller told me there aren't any published because it would be difficult to place that book on a shelf.
ReplyDeleteWith the market as it is, stories about friendship are considered 'contemporary fiction' and there's an entire separate area for 'paranormal romance.' Even if such a story was written, no publishing house would want to buy that book because there simply isn't a place for it on a bookseller's shelf. Which sucks, but it is what it is. With the boom of YA franchises, the sub-genres are more specific which makes crossovers difficult to publish.
What do you guys think?
I'm big on thinking about whether or not things sell because people buy them or that they sell because that's what's being put on the market.
DeleteI'm very much a fan of books that focus more on friendship than on a romantic love plot, and that doesn't mean that the love plot is nonexistent, either; it's just not the focus, and there's nothing wrong with that. And I know plenty of other people who would be interested in reading a book like that - Harmony from Radiant Reads was posting about that the other day! But because there's nothing for it on the shelf, or the few books there weren't pushed because it wasn't the trend at the moment, we say it won't sell.
Yet in the next breath, we say that there's always a market for good stories that stand out.
A paranormal friendship story sounds great! And you know what? Just because there's a paranormal romance section doesn't mean that there's an entire other general fiction section, or that it can't be shelved nearby. (I'm thinking of my B&N, which has 'paranormal romance' and 'everything else' for it's Teen section. Sigh.)
I think it could sell. But that's also because its' something I'd want to read.
Have you read "Pearl" by Jo Knowles. It has just a little romance, but it's mainly about other relationships, so it doesn't fall in to being an out-and-out love story. I also love that the entire book is set within about 3 blocks, it's wonderfully claustrophobic.
ReplyDeleteGosh this is so interesting. The difference in love story and romance is something that I have probably never given any thought to. Honestly, the more I'm sitting here thinking about it, the more I'm really making myself confused because it is really hard for me to grasp - because I think I've just lumped it all together like a ton of other people.
ReplyDeleteAnd OH! the marketing aspect that you mention - YES. You're so correct. Particularly with movie adaptations of books!
You make such great points in this discussion post, Nicole!
Great post! The distinction can be subtle at times (or obvious at others, haha) but it's not made nearly as often as it should be.
ReplyDelete