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  Most anthologies are commissioned by publishers who ask established authors to write the novellas, although some anthologies are proposed by one or more of the authors. Anthologies are not usually open to beginning authors.

  Word count: 25,000 to 35,000 for each novella

  See also Historical, Regency

  Chick-Lit: Builds on the success of television shows, movies, and general fiction about twenty-something women who are often more interested in building a career than in finding Mr. Right. In fact, many of these young women aren't even pretending to look for Mr. Right, but they're quite interested in Mr. Right Now—someone to date, maybe to live with, and perhaps to marry ... someday.

  The heroine is younger—usually in her mid-twenties—and less well established than more traditional romance heroines. She's more likely to live with roommates and work at a dull or entry-level job. Chick-lit stories break some of the other common rules of romance as well. The heroines might smoke, binge-drink, sleep with more than one guy, swear like a sailor—all things that aren't commonly associated with romance heroines.

  The ending may involve an understanding between heroine and hero, or the story may end with the heroine uninvolved in a relationship but more mature. The storytelling style is different as well. Many chick-lit books are written in first person, some are in present tense, and most are up-front, breezy, and less introspective than the average romance. Word count: 90,000 to 100,000 See also City Girl, Hen-Lit, Mom-Lit

  Christian: A common but mistaken term referring to inspirational romance. There is no Christian romance category as such, even though most inspirationals are based on Christian philosophy and belief. See Inspirational

  City Girl: A variation of chick-lit, featuring a heroine who is a little closer to the heroines of traditional romance. The city girl is not likely to smoke, drink heavily, or sleep with more than one man during the story. Like the chick-lit heroine, she may not be looking for a lifetime love, but she's more apt to find her perfect mate than the chick-lit heroine is. City girl romances are sometimes published as mini-series within an established romance category.

  Word count: varies, but usually shorter than chick-lit See also Chick-Lit, Hen-Lit, Mom-Lit

  Continuity: A group of books in which each volume stands alone but also advances a larger, more complex story. The books are written by different authors, each free to develop her own set of characters so long as she follows a "bible" that establishes the larger story. Each author must cooperate with the group to avoid contradictions or inconsistencies. An example is a murder mystery set in a small town; each book follows a different pair of characters and their romance while dropping clues about the crime, which is solved in the last book of the series. A typical continuity includes five to twelve related books, usually published over as much as a year.

  Continuities are most often originated by the publisher. An editor writes the "bible" and commissions authors to take on each piece of the story. An author who has sold two or three books to the publisher might be asked to take part in order to boost her career.

  Word count: varies by project, but each book in the series will be a similar length

  Erotic Romance: A story at the more erotic end of the romance spectrum, with detailed, explicit, and frequent sexual encounters between the main characters, but not usually involving anyone else. If a hero has a sexual encounter with another woman, it's typically brief, early in the story, and not emotionally meaningful; heroines are unlikely to share a sexual encounter with anyone but the hero. Also called romantica, this is a very sexy romance focused on the developing relationship between hero and heroine.

  Word count: 25,000 to 35,000 for novella; 50,000 to 75,000 for novel

  See also Erotica

  Erotica: Stories emphasizing the details of sexual encounters between the main characters or between a main character and others. Though erotica is sometimes romantic in nature, erotica and romance are not equivalent. Romance emphasizes the growing emotional connection of one couple, while erotica emphasizes sex rather than love and may include characters outside the main relationship. Most publishers who say they're looking for erotica mean the romantic end of the spectrum, with lots of explicit sex between the two main characters.

  Word count: 25,000 and up

  See also Erotic Romance

  Ethnic: Involves heroes and heroines of color. Africa American, Native American, and Latino/Latina are most common.

  Publishers emphasize the need for authenticity—if the author is not of the same ethnic background as the character, she must be sufficiently informed to make the reader believe that the character is a person of color. Some publishers seeking African-American romance will consider a hero of a different race, but the heroine is always African-American (or a biracial woman who considers herself African-American).

  Some ethnic romances play on ethnicity or a conflict of cultures as part of the plot, but in most, the issues and conflicts between the characters are those common in other romances. Most publishers prefer that ethnicity be a background issue rather than a major conflict point.

  Both Latina and African-American romances are a growing market, including cross-genres such as ethnic/inspirational, ethnic/romantic suspense, and ethnic/paranormal.

  Word count: varies from 50,000 to 100,000 or more

  Futuristic: A science fiction offshoot of paranormal, involving romances taking place partially or entirely in the future, often including time travel. Word count: 75,000 to 100,000 See also Paranormal, Time Travel

  Gay: Romance between same-sex partners. Other than the sex of the partners, there are relatively few differences between gay romance novels and straight romance novels. While they may have a few extra issues, partners in gay romances experience the same sorts of problems as heterosexual partners do, and they must make many of the same sorts of adjustments. A gay romance puts no more emphasis on the details of sexual encounters than a straight romance in an equivalent line would. If a romance involving gay characters emphasizes sex rather than love, or features multiple partners, it falls closer to erotica than romance. Word count: varies, depending on type of story

  Ciothic. See Woman in Jeopardy

  Hen-Lit: An outgrowth of chick-lit, featuring older heroines who are more established and perhaps married, but with the same sassy attitude and approach to everyday problems as the chick-lit heroine—possibly including self-destructive behavior. Hen-Lit often involves a heroine who is unhappy in her marriage and is seeking to either improve or end it. Often the story involves a man other than the husband, who might be hero or antihero. The hen-lit heroine usually doesn't have kids. Word count: 90,000 to 100,000 See also Chick-Lit, City Girl, Mom-Lit

  Historical: Romances that take place in the past. Most publishers of historicals have preferred books set in Europe or North America between 1066 (when William the Conqueror invaded England) and 1900, but they are now beginning to extend the timeline back to include settings such as ancient Greece and Rome, and forward to include World War I and the Roaring Twenties. A few invite World War II-era stories, but time periods closer to the present (the Vietnam War era, for instance) have proved less popular with readers. It seems that the closer the setting is to the present time and experience, the harder it is for readers to think of the period as romantic.

  Historical tend to be among the longest of romance novels, allowing for deeper and more sprawling stories. They can even include social commentary, so long as it serves as background to the love story and doesn't read like a textbook.

  Although it's important for a historical romance to be realistic, some elasticity is required for the comfort of the modern reader. Heroines tend to be more independent and heroes more enlightened than people of their time period actually were. While women in the Middle Ages were frequently married by age thirteen, in historical romances, heroines are generally older than that, or the question of age is glossed over. Any torture, grisly warfare, or violence is apt to happen offstage, with few gory detai
ls shared with the reader.

  Word count: 25,000 to 35,000 for novellas; 80,000 to 120,000 for novels

  See also Anthology, Regency

  Inspirational: Romances revolving around the character's spiritual journey as she discovers or finds her way back to a relationship with a higher power. Inspirational romances are sometimes mistakenly called Christian romances because the religion involved is most often a nondenominational, nonspecific Christianity (usually Protestant in orientation).

  Inspirational romance does not have to include religious figures. While the hero or heroine might be a pastor or a Sunday school teacher, he or she is just as likely to be a layperson. Typically, one main character is a believer and the other is not, or is struggling to find or regain faith.

  A hallmark of unsuccessful inspirationals is a reliance on direct intervention of the supernatural—such as angels or God himself—to solve the character's problems. Inspirationals are much more convincing when the character solves her problems by finding strength, courage, and resources within herself and her own faith.

  Word count: varies from 50,000 to 100,000

  Licensed Theme: Romances that follow a specific theme in a licensing arrangement between a publisher and a commercial venture, such as NASCAR.

  Agreements are usually for a limited period of time and cover a limited number of books, most of which are written by well-established authors selected by the publisher. Each book in the series typically stands alone but follows the agreed-upon theme; books produced under Harlequin's licensing agreement with NASCAR feature racing, drivers, cars, and fans. Such arrangements allow authors to use trademarked and protected terms such as the names of sports franchises and corporations but require extreme care with detail so the licensing entity is accurately portrayed and shown in a positive light.

  Word count: varies by project

  Long Contemporary: A category romance set in current times, frequently featuring sensuality as a strong element. Long contemporary has a higher word

  count, allowing for more subplots, more intense conflict, strong mystery and suspense elements, and a larger cast of characters. Long contemporaries often allow more latitude in the types of main characters and in the scope of their problems—for instance, they can accommodate a hero with a mental illness—because there is more time to create reader empathy for the character.

  Each long contemporary category has a very specific identity and unique requirements. Different publishers' books vary widely in sensual content, amount of subplot, preferred viewpoints, and overall type of story.

  The main factors distinguishing long contemporary category books from single-title books are length (long contemporaries are usually shorter than single-title romances) and packaging (long contemporaries are marketed as part of a group with similar cover designs rather than as stand-alone titles).

  Word count: 70,000 to 85,000

  See also Single Title

  Mainstream: Stand-alone novels (not published as part of a defined category) in which a romantic element is present but not paramount. This story is primarily the heroine's, and even if the romantic elements were removed, the story would still be complete.

  Word count: 100,000 or more

  See also Single Title, Women's Fiction

  Medical Romance: Emphasizes medicine as a significant part of the conflict or as a way to bring hero and heroine closer together. At least one of the main characters should be a medical professional. Medical romance is a story about medicine as well as love; it isn't simply a romance that happens in a clinic or hospital, or in which one main character gets a disease.

  The most successful medical romances don't focus on just one case; they include several patients' stories as a background to the romance. It's particularly important in medicals to tie up loose ends. If a patient has been important within the story, the readers will want to know how she's doing at the end. While it's not realistic for every case to have a Pollyanna-style happy ending, many can be left on a positive note and still be believable.

  Medicine changes so quickly that it's risky to go into too much detail about particular procedures, treatments, or even diseases, yet editors want to see enough specifics to evoke the feel of a real hospital, clinic, or emergency room. A wise author combines medical knowledge and background with timeless elements common to other types of romances.

  Medical romance has been a steady seller for more than fifty years, though it's more popular overseas than in the United States. It used to be known as doctor-nurse romance, with—of course—a male doctor and a female nurse in the starring roles.

  Wold count: 50,000 to 55,000

  Miniseries: Books within a romance category that carry on a theme, usually published one per month for a predetermined period of time. Examples include stories set in a particular geographic area, like the Australian outback or the Great Lakes; stories that feature a specific type of hero, like Latin lovers or single dads; or stories that feature a certain plot device, like a surprise baby or a hurry-up wedding. Other than the common theme, the books are not related; each story has a separate set of characters and must stand independently. Some miniseries are written by a single author, but most include a number of different authors.

  Most miniseries ideas originate with editors, who ask established authors to write books specific to the theme, although they may also choose books from the range available. A new author may end up in a miniseries if her book happens to fit the theme, but it's usually unwise for a beginner to aim for a specific miniseries because few continue for extended periods of time. In most cases, by the time the first miniseries title hits bookstore shelves, all the remaining titles have been purchased or assigned.

  Word count: same as the category the miniseries is published within

  Mom-Lit: An offshoot of chick-lit, similar to hen-lit but featuring heroines with families—including teenage or older kids who may be part of the heroine's conflict. The heroine of mom-lit is less likely to indulge in self-destructive behavior, but she still has the sassy attitude and outlook of the chick-lit heroine. Word count: 90,000 to 100,000 See also Chick-hit, City Girl, Hen-Lit

  Paranormal: A story that includes elements of the supernatural, such as witches, angels, werewolves, vampires, genies, aliens, ghosts, time travel, or extrasensory perception. Usually the setting and one (or both) of the major characters are outside the normal limits of reality.

  Readers find it harder to identify with paranormal characters who are extremely different from ordinary people. When creating beings with special powers, keep in mind that their human characteristics are what makes the readers empathize. Consider limiting the uses of paranormal powers in order to keep your character vulnerable and therefore more sympathetic. (Perhaps your psychic can only work after eight hours of sleep, or your witch can only cast spells when there's moonlight.)

  Word count: varies from 25,000 for novella to 100,000 for single title See also Futuristic, Time Travel

  Regency: A branch of historical romance, set in Regency-period England and involving the upper classes, often focusing on the main characters' efforts to make or escape the socially acceptable marriage.

  Technically the Regency period ran from 1811 (when the Prince of Wales was named regent for his father, the mad King George III) to 1820 (when George III died and the prince became King George IV). For literary purposes, however, it is often stretched from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805—the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars—to the Reform Laws of 1834, which marked the end of the Georgian era and the practical beginning of the Victorian age.

  Regencies are usually short novels and sweet rather than sensual. They often feature humorous episodes as the hero and heroine deal with the details of society. The seamier side of life—poverty, prostitution, crime, and other social ills—seldom appears in the Regency romance. A story occurring in this time frame that involves darker elements or more sensuality is usually longer and is classified as a historical set in the Regency period.

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bsp; Word count: 25,000 for anthologies, 50,000 to 55,000 for stand-alone books

  See also Anthology, Historical

  Romantic Comedy: A story that involves romance in a humorous setting that can range from amusing to farcical. The most effective humor arises out of the characters—their outlook on life, their perspective on the situation, and often the contrast between them.

  Silliness is not humor, and adding jokes does not make a story a romantic comedy. Puns don't work well on paper because they're auditory in nature and easy to overlook on the page. The most hysterically funny joke tends to fall flat when written as if a character is telling it. Slapstick is hilarious in film but difficult to evoke in the reader's mind with only the printed word.

  In effective romantic comedy, the humor occurs in a way that doesn't diminish or humiliate the characters. Humor is best when it invites the reader to identify with the heroine, not laugh at her. Effective humor comes about because the characters have a lighthearted outlook on life, so even their biggest troubles are not treated as tragedy.

  Since humor works best on a small scale, romantic comedies are usually shorter, smaller books, but humorous single titles are often longer.

  Word count: 50,000 to 80,000

  Romantic Suspense: A story that includes mystery, suspense, or threatening situations in which both the heroine and hero are directly involved. The heroine of a romantic suspense isn't standing off to the side letting the hero protect her or investigate the mystery—she's right in there pulling her weight. Unlike a mystery or suspense novel that includes a romantic subplot, a romantic suspense novel features the romance as the primary focus. However, the romance usually comes about because of the threat to the characters. The problem is solved and the bad guy defeated by the hero and heroine, preferably while acting together.

  (Though assistance from the authorities isn't forbidden, it's unsatisfying if the SWAT team swoops in from nowhere and wipes out the bad guys while the hero and heroine are drinking coffee and holding hands.)