Shopping for the perfect valentine for my husband was an almost impossible task. No one card could have possibly included everything I wanted to say.

I thought about writing my own valentine, like we often did when we were kids.

That got me thinking about writing romance novels.

I was curious. Just what is genre ROMANCE?

Here’s the breakdown:

Historical Romance– story takes place in the past.

Contemporary Romance– story takes place in the present. (Humorous Romance and Romantic Suspense are often listed as sub-genres.)

Regency Romance- This is shorter than Historical Romance, set in the Regency period and emphasizes society and dialog.

Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal- These stories take place on other planets or in imaginary lands, or involve creatures such as pixies, ghosts, werewolves, or genies.

Time Travel Romance– Romances involving time travel.

Gothic Romance– In the past, this was a separate sub-genre, but currently most of these are being published as Romantic Suspense.

Romantic Suspense- Stories with plots involving drug dealers, serial killers, smugglers, etc.

REMEMBER: If you write in another genre, you will probably find that your story is much more interesting when you infuse your books with a little romance here and there…