They say the fresh, new romance genres are
small-town romance, new adult / young adult, and erotic romance. I
am not quite certain who "they" are. Frankly I think "they"
are a bunch of editors, agents, and reviewers who get together once a week, get
snockered on martinis and wine, throw darts at a board, and whichever genre gets
the most hits is decreed HOT ! Sort of like the way Congress decides which laws
to pass.
And historical romance, of course, is dying again. I
swear historical romance has more lives than Luke on General Hospital. (You
young people will have to Google that if you don't know who Luke is.) Jane
Austen published Sense and Sensibility in 1811. She published Pride and
Prejudice, the Holy Grail of historical romance, in 1813. Georgette Heyer
published her first historical romance, The Black Moth, in 1921. (She was
nineteen years old and it was an instant success. Yes, I kind of hate her a
little bit too.) A genre with this sort of longevity has to have something
going for it. Frankly historical romance has dodged more bullets than Captain Keogh's
horse, Comanche, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (Look that one up too.
It's a great story.)
I can't speak for other authors, but here are some
of the reasons I write and will always write historical romance.
1. Mr. Darcy
– This one should go without explanation, but I will elaborate. I have been in
love
with Mr.
Darcy since I was nine years old. There is something so sensually attractive
about a
a man that
repressed, yet seething with passion for a woman who frankly is forbidden to
him.
A man that
vulnerable, honorable and determined to have the one woman he shouldn't want
is sexy as
hell to me.
From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
``In
vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You
must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.''
“You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what
they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are
unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for
ever.”
“It was gratitude; gratitude, not merely for having once loved her,
but for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and
acrimony of her manner in rejecting him.”
2. Stately Homes - I have 3 boards on Pinterest devoted to those deliciously decadent monuments
to more genteel and elegant times. These homes, however, are more than just
expressions of rich folks' egos. They are works of art. They hold family secrets,
mysterious hidden passages, libraries to die for, and bedrooms with lots of space
to play. Not to mention artwork so erotic some museums wouldn't display it.
Romance is about escape. If you're going to escape you might as well do it with
style. Every woman needs a little time in a beautiful castle with a handsome
man. Historical romance has lots and lots of castles. And very handsome men.
3. Manners - I work at Walmart all day. Manners are as scarce there as donuts at the end of shift in
a police squad room. Historical romance allows me to retreat to a time when manners
were an art. They were as natural to men and women as breathing and just as essential.
And frankly, all of those lovely manners force a man to be sensually creative when it
comes to seduction. Innuendo tickles the ear. Eyes caress. A touch is foreplay. A bow
is an invitation. In the world of polite society, manners create sexual tension and all of
that tension works up an appetite. I do love a historical romance hero with an appetite.
Don't you?
4. The Clothes - Is there anything so elegant as a ball gown on a lady? Or formal dress on a man?
The only thing more elegant is a man and a lady out of those clothes. These days
clothes leave very little to the imagination. It's like getting a Christmas present
wrapped in Saran Wrap. Where's the fun in that?
Historical romance heroes always dress well. Those thin lawn or linen shirts on
a man with a broad chest? Hello, Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. And those buckskin
breeches let a lady see exactly what she is getting. A cravat gives a man such an
air of dashing and when a lady unties it the possibilities are endless. So you think
E. L. James invented tying someone to the bed for fun?
Historical romance heroines wear lots of clothes. Which means it takes a long time
for the hero to undress her. And all that time the anticipation rises. After all, this man
has never seen this woman in a bikini or Daisy Dukes. He's never even seen her
ankles. That's a lot of territory to explore. And I've always been fond of a creative,
intrepid explorer who takes his time? Haven't you?
From Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
. . . his pulse had started to accelerate by Button Number Six. By
Number Twelve, it was racing. By Number Fifteen, he had to concentrate
to keep his breathing steady . . . Miss Jessica Trent’s grey eyes had
taken on the drunkenly bewildered expression of a respectable spinster
being seduced in spite of herself.
Even if he had comprehended her expression, he wouldn’t have believed
it, any more than he could believe his untoward state of excitement—over
a damned glove and a bit of feminine flesh. Not even one of the good
bits, either—the ones a man didn’t have—but an inch or two of her wrist,
plague take her.
The worst was that he couldn’t stop. The worst was that his
passionately intent expression had somehow become genuine, and he was no
longer talking in Italian about drains, but about how he wanted to
unbutton, unhook, untie every button, hook, and string . . . and slip
off her garments, one by one, and drag his monstrous blackamoor’s hands
over her white virgin’s flesh.
And while in Italian he detailed his heated fantasies, he was slowly
peeling the glove back, exposing a delicately voluptuous palm. Then he
gave one small tug toward her knuckles. And paused. Then another tug.
And paused. Then another tug . . . and the glove was off. He let it fall
to the table, and took her small, cool, white hand in his great, warm
one. She gave a tiny gasp.
Any questions about the clothes?
5. Being a lady of leisure - I am as liberated as the next woman. I think a woman should get equal
pay for equal work, should be hired for a job if she can do the job, and is
intelligent enough to make decisions about her own life without the
interference of the government or the beliefs of any political party. That
being said, sometimes all of this taking care of myself gets to be a pain in
the arse. In historical romance I can escape to a time when a woman who
managed a large house with the help of a battalion of servants, served as
a hostess for her husband, had time to read - write letters to friends and
family - play the piano or enjoy other hobbies, and did charitable work on
the side was not looked down upon by men or worse, by other women. I
realize women had few rights in most of the eras in which historical
romance is written, but you might be surprised at the things women
accomplished in spite of the limits set on them by society. Every major
reform movement - the abolition of slavery, the abolition of child labor,
improvements of working conditions in factories, medical research - all
of these had leaders who were women, wealthy women, who wanted to
change the world in spite of the limits society set on them. Yes, historical
romance allows me to live in a world where I am pampered, pursued,
cared for and provided a life of balls, parties, adventures, and intrigues
without having to work a 40 hour work week or change a litter box. But
it also allows me to meet heroines who make a difference in a time when
the rules make it hard for her to do so. And I do like a woman who breaks
6.
The language - I am a language snob. I admit it. I love elegant words, beautiful words, insightful
words. I love putting them together to create a symphony of images. Historical
romance allows me to use words not found in other genres. It allows me to
research words to insure they are period correct. Exploring the origins of words is
one of the very best parts of historical research. Yes, I'm a word nerd. I am
dinosaur enough to find much of today's language jarring at best and confusing as
hell at worst. I may be slightly partial, but I believe historical romance has some of
the most beautiful language in it ever written. There is such a sense of rest in
reading language from another time and place. No cell phones. No computers.
No televisions. Simply the lilting grace of words immersing you in eras where
words were often a tool of seduction so subtle as to weave a magical haze of love
and sensuality unmatched by the power of technology or the modern use of the
English language.
From The Rake to Rescue Her by Julia Justiss
The familiar tones sent shivers over his skin before penetrating to the marrow, where they resonated in a hundred stabbing echos of memory.
What woman wouldn't want her voice described like this?
From Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
“I want to fill every part of you, breathe the air from your lungs and
leave my handprints on your soul. I want to give you more pleasure than
you can bear.”
I don't know about you, but I'm in !
7. The sense of the forbidden - Lets face it, today there is very little that is forbidden in romance.
In contemporary romance and even young adult romance just about anything goes
so long as you don't do it in the street and block traffic. Even small-town romance
can get kind of rowdy. I live in a small town. This place could give Scandal a run
for its money. The best part is, you can get a daily recap simply by going to
Walmart.
In historical romance, whether it be a knight in love with the bride he is escorting
to another man, a Chinese geisha in love with a warlord, a schoolmarm in love
with a bounty hunter, a lady Confederate spy in love with a Yankee captain,
a duke in love with a seamstress or a Victorian era policeman in love with a
brothel owner - the sense of the forbidden is there in spades. Because of all
those societal rules, because of the complications of living in a world made small
by a lack of technology, because of the lovely manners, the class differences and
all of the other strictures the past provides - historical romance is rife with a sense
of daring in falling in love at all. The anticipation is heightened. The possibility of
a broken heart is greater. The scenes are sumptuous. The risks are higher. The
obstacles are often nearly insurmountable. And the sex, when it happens, is
sexier because of that sense of the forbidden. A writer has to work harder when
she has all of those darned rules getting in the way. And it's fun. Wicked, wicked
fun.
Historical romance has been going on since David got his first glance at Bathsheba bathing on her husband's rooftop. It's been going on since Cleopatra rolled out of that carpet at Julius Caesar's feet. It's been going on since Sir Lancelot first saw Guinevere and knew his friendship with Arthur was in big trouble. We've been around a while. We're not going anywhere. And we're getting better and better every day.
From Say Yes to the Marquess by Tessa Dare
“At some point, while you were roaming the globe, making treaties and
dividing the spoils of war, I quietly declared my own independence. I am
the sovereign nation of Clio now. And there will be no terms of
surrender.”
He took that mental image and filed it away under Pleasant-Sounding
Impossibilities. Right between “flying carriage” and “beer fountain.”
“I'm not going to touch her," he said "She's not mine.She never will be."
"Indeed."
Bruiser rolled his eyes and dusted off his hat. "Definitely no years of
pent-up lusting there. Glad we have that sorted.”
Historical Romance - For when you really want to get away from it all !
How about you? If you write historical romance, why do you write it? If you read historical romance, why do you read it? What do you love about it? What do you hate? 'Fess up! We won't tell.