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Historical Fiction or Historical Romance?

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I had, in my two years’ sojourn on Harper Collins’ Authonomy.com, convinced myself, or allowed myself to be convinced (I’m not sure which), that my books are, in fact, Historical Fiction rather than Historical Romance. The reasons for this were never made perfectly clear to me. For one thing, there is a difference between category Romance and single title or mainstream Romance. I’d be a fool if I tried to convince anyone that mine are not love stories. In fact, to experience love, to examine it, in all its strange and quixotic manifestations, was the chief reason why I wrote these stories to begin with. But on the same token, they are not, exactly, about love…in and of itself. Of Moths and Butterflies, for instance, is about the struggle to overcome the affects of abuse. It’s also about the disparity between men and women with regards to the power they wield. (A subject I feel worth examining today.) In the end, I suppose, the book is really about the healing properties of a love well earned.

I think my biggest problem with the Romance moniker, is that Romance does not have a well established reputation of historical accuracy. That’s something I really aim for. Not just as window dressing, but as the foundation of the story. Of course, there is always room for debate in such matters, dependent upon the author’s commitment, their understanding, which is always subject to interpretation, and the readers’ understanding as well. Having said that, there have been times when I’ve taken slight license with strict law and custom to prove a point to a modern reader. I don’t think anyone could accuse me of writing a book with a practical, or even probable plot line. They are all, I assure you, possible. My goal is, however, to make it believable. Nearly all of my plot devices are taken from other works. But the laws, customs, social and moral codes, are thoroughly researched. Often with surprising results.

Do I digress, if I take a moment to mention, that while I admire the Victorians for their commitment to live a moral ideal, they consistently fell short of it? Perhaps it’s what I admire most about them, after all. I think they were the closest to getting it right of any civilization before or since. They aimed at the ideal. The fell short in their harsh judgments and their intolerances, but their intentions were well meant. And they stuck to them, too, until the Great War. Pride… Oh that lofty perch of pride, and the treacherous precipice!

 

But I digress once more.

 

So are my books, or are they not Romance? I suppose they are in a way. Are they Historical Fiction? Most certainly. I hope they are literary, too, in that they are fashioned after the literature of the age, not that they are particularly forward in their approach. Quite the reverse, in all probability. But, considering that the collapse of the legacy publishing standards have meant a collapse in old norms, in the strict adherence to genre boundaries, is it not possible they are both?

 

Quite possibly!


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