Seasoned Romance: A Great NaNoWriMo Project
Years ago, I read an article by a Romance author in her fifties advising her sister Romance writers that if they wanted to be published, they should create characters in their twenties. Shades of the Bronte sisters, forced to take male pen names! Fortunately, times have changed. With so many Romance readers past midlife, publishers have caught on and created a category called “Seasoned Romance.”
The Personal is Political
Ageism is not exactly news to anyone over fifty. And studies have shown that a positive attitude about aging helps us live longer and healthier. Telling stories about the vivid lives of people our age is essential. If we want to change the cultural narrative, we are the ones to do it.
Why Seasoned Romance?
By now, we have lived the role of romance character several times. We have known all kinds of people and witnessed their romantic fortunes. Autofiction was made for us: Mixing people, situations, and settings can lead to fascinating Romance.
Plus, you get to write about sex. And Romance novels tend to be on the short side—perfect for NaNoWriMo. Not to mention, Romance sells a lot—more than Mystery and Science Fiction combined.
Sex, money, and dishing your exes: what’s not to like?
How to Write Romance?
Not every story that includes romance is a “Romance.” The genre expectations look like this:
- Plot: The main plot in a genre Romance is the romance itself. There is an external plot—which would be the main plot in any other novel. But in a Romance, the back-and-forth in the relationship drives the story.
- Characters: Each of the two main characters has a character flaw that makes them ambivalent about getting involved. They may have conflicts in goals and values (like the bookstore owner and the chain bookstore developer in “You’ve Got Mail”). And each main character has a sidekick—a confidante to share hopes and fears about the relationship.
Three Act Structure: Here’s a typical setup for a Romance novel.
- Act One: Establish the lives of each main character before they meet. Engineer the meeting (the “meet cute”). Show the attraction and the conflict between the characters. Create an external situation that keeps them in each other’s lives throughout the story.
- Act Two: Lots of ambivalence. The characters take turns chasing and running away. The external plot adds complexity. The sidekicks weigh in, to encourage or discourage the liaison. What looks like a final breakup occurs at the end of this act.
- Act Three: Much soul-searching, resulting in each main character owning and resolving their character flaws. They bridge differences in goals and values, enjoy their mutual attraction (at mild, moderate, or spicy levels of heat), and begin a committed relationship.
- Happy-Ever-After (or Happy-for-Now): For decades, Romance novels were expected to end with a big wedding. A Romance novel still must end with the main characters happily together. Often there is an epilogue, where we see the happy characters years after the dénouement.
But wait—I hear you say: Isn’t that awfully formulaic? Sure, but so is a sonnet. Structure can be liberating.
Victorians were scandalized by early Romance novels because they highlighted female passion. Yet the genre became the stereotyped province of thin, young, white, able-bodied heroines. More recently, it’s broadened to include stories about LGBTQ+ characters, polyamorous characters, and characters of color (Stacey Abrams writes Romance under the pen name Selena Montgomery). And with the advent of Seasoned Romance, we Writers of a Certain Age can tell vivid stories about characters like us.
Stella Fosse writes stories of vibrant women and teaches about writing boldly after midlife. Her books include:
- Aphrodite’s Pen: The Power of Writing Erotica after Midlife (North Atlantic Books)
- A story collection, The Erotic Pandemic Ball: Tales of Love in Lockdown
- And her debut novel at age 68, Brilliant Charming Bastard
