Historical romance
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[edit] Historical Romance
A romance set in a past time which the author did not live through may be considered an historical romance, since the research necessary is the same as for any historical fiction. However, most houses define what they want as "before 1900": before music on the radio, automobiles being common, airplanes, too many telephones. Many, to avoid the pagan world with which readers are uncomfortable, also set a back wall: after 1000 CE, except for Viking romances. Ancient world stories can be difficult to market: many publishers return them as soon as they catch the date, otherwise unread.
They are marketing to a reader who wants to escape to a simpler time when clothes were gorgeous, choices were simpler, and the world wasn't crowding in every minute, but that wasn't completely alien. Outside of Western/frontier/colonial Australian stories, which emphasize the opening of the land under crude conditions by grit and wit, publishers generally suggest that writers emphasize the "pageantry" of the period, what made it glamorous, not the icky nitty gritty, not the horrors, not the politics and warfare. Concentrate on the relationship developing for at least half the storyline; for the rest, while accuracy is good in setting, no one is here to be lectured on the politics, strategy, or sociological problems of the day.
[edit] Subgenres
Some eras are so frequently revisited that they may be considered subgenres:
- Western romances
- Regency romances, no longer the bastion of sweet romance, many of these are now steamy romances or at least spicy romances.
- Viking romances, so much so that publishers will make them special allowances despite being pagan.
