I write 'Romances'. I also, like many of my fellow RWUers, write in other genres. I write stories that are fantasy, suspense, and what I think would be termed urban or futuristic fantasy. However, all of my works have a romance in them. But…and you knew that was coming, didn't you?…the tales I write in others genres are not 'Romance' stories. In my 'other' stories, the story arc is not about the relationship and romantic love between two people. I do admit they do have, mostly, an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Hey, I am a 'glass is half full' kind of person! (I should thank Wikipedia for helping me with a standardized 'romance' definition!)

Many, many 'main stream' and/or 'literary' novels, new and old, have romantic love in them. Nicholas Sparks is clearly an author who incorporates romantic love in his novels. As for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hello? What crib sheet doesn't list 'romantic love' as a main theme in The Great Gatsby? Anna Karenina, please, do we need to go there? Of course, not all these stories have the emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending a 'Romance' novel does. However, they *do* have one key element, a romantic love which enmeshes itself so firmly around the story line that the novel would not exist without it.

In other genres romance is also a frequent element. Fantasy novels are rife with 'life bonding', 'soul mates' and other pairings. In these stories the pairings are not the main thrust of the story arc. However, the romantic relationship (or forced non-relationship) between lead characters can intertwine intimately with the development of the plot. Here you more often have the second element, the 'happy ending', that you don't always with literary novels.

I could go on, but I think you see my point: within many 'non-Romance' genre books are romances. There exist outside our 'genre' stories where the relationship and the romantic love between two people impact the story line.

To that end, I'd like to share with you, and I hope you share with me, some favorite 'non-Romance' genre writers whose 'romances' you have enjoyed. Or at least found memorable. ;-)

My list to start us off:

Piers Anthony: Many of the Xanth Series

Kristen Britain: Green Rider Series (with only two out, I'm still on tenterhooks how the romantic element in this will be resolved!)

Julie Czerneda: Particularly the Species Imperative Series

Sharon Shinn: Particularly Summers at Castle Auburn

Mercedes Lackey: The stand-alone By The Sword

Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Elizabeth Peters: Any Vicki Bliss Novel, although as I recall all have a romance element

And, of course, Jane Austen (a preemptive strike to avoid getting sixteen posts about her :-) ).

I could go on, but what novels or authors would you list?

Labels: Britain, Czerneda, favorite books, genres, Romance Writing, romantic love, Sparks