How I Established My Romance Novels Subgenres

How I Established My Romance Novels Subgenres How I Established My Romance Novel's Subgenres Barbara James lives in New York, and is an avid romance reader and a former academic writer. In this article, she breaks down her latest romance novel's subgenres - sweet, contemporary, new adult - and explains the characteristics and importance of each one. How my novel is â€Å"new adult†New adult is for readers who have graduated from the young adult category, but who face different conflicts and questions than the rest of the 30+ adult group. They are still in the early stages of their lives, grappling with identity, relationships, and career.In Starting Over, Annelise is more conservative than most of her peers: she hopes to be married by the time she graduates university, and to become a stay-at-home mom by the time she’s in her mid-twenties. This is a more â€Å"old-fashioned† life plan than many people in their early-twenties have today, so Annelise struggles with how to fit in with her peers, and is constantly questioning her life plans and decisions.When my novel was finished and I was ready to start working with a professional editor, I knew I wanted someone who was a clear fan of the romance genre.Working with a development editor who also loves romance novelsA developmental editor can be instrumental in either helping you define your genre or tailoring your novel more to your chosen genre. And this was absolutely the case with my editor, Mary-Theresa Hussey. She worked for over 25 years as an executive editor at Harlequin, so she really knew her stuff. A developmental editor can be instrumental in helping you define your novel's genre. One way she challenged me fairly early on was with respect to age differences. Annelise could have been older, a graduate student, about 22–24 years old or Rick could have been younger, 24–25 years old. Ultimately, I made Rick ten years old, 28 to Annelise’s 18, because I wanted him to be ready to handle the responsibility of being the husband of a younger, stay-at-home-wife. But Mary-Theresa’s suggestion that I re-think their age difference helped me more firmly establish why the ten-year age gap was important to the story, strengthening each character in my mind.As her work history clearly suggests, Mary-Theresa is a fan of romance novels herself. Working with an editor who has a preference from romance novels was as important to me as their professional backgrounds, which is why I was so happy Reedsy permitted me to search for editors with specific keywords.Starting Over is available in paperback and on Amazon Kindle.Please share your thoughts, experien ces, or any questions for Barbara James in the comments below!