Quintessential Texts

I took a summer break for the past few months, but I never made it to the beach. Like the nerd that I am, I did make it to grad school. Yup, since I started doing all these breakdowns and teaching online courses and workshops, I decided to go and get my MFA in Creative Writing.

First semester is proving to be an interesting experience. Mainly in that I'm the only romance author in my program. And I'm being challenged on what a romance is.

You should know that I'm right and they're wrong. And I can prove it. I had to take it back to the essentials; namely the quintessential texts of romance. 

What is a Quintessential Text?

To understand what a quintessential text is you must first understand the term genre. Genre means a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like. In books and media the list of genres would include action, adventure, comedy, crime, fantasy, horror, mystery, political, romance, satire, science fiction, and urban.

A quintessential, or perfect embodiment, text of a comedy television genre would include I Love Lucy, The Cosby Show or Seinfield.

A quintessential text of horror would include the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchock Presents. Not American Horror Story because it's popular right now. See, where I'm going?

A quintessential text of science fiction would include Star Trek and Doctor Who; the originals. Get the picture?

The Quintessential Text is the best, the most profound, the memorable show of any particular genre from the beginning.

Using this guiding principal from my days in television, I decided to immerse myself in the quintessential texts of my favorite fiction genre; romance. 

So I'm reading a lot of old school romance books by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Johanna Lindsey, Judith McNaught, Georgette Heyer, and Jude Deveraux.

My purpose in reading these texts is to uncover the origins of the Alpha Male trope, the evolution of Heroines coming into their Agency, I'm seeing that Dark Romance had its birth in the Woodiwiss and Heyer era and I can see those tendrils of the past here in the present bully romances. I'm looking into the rise of polyamory in romance and the popularity of menage romance and reverse harem. I'm really interested in the turning tide that led to dirty talk in books where sex used to be described as waves crashing and now our heroes have perfect potty mouths.

I will make reports as I finish my research and share my findings. But I think you should do this too. Because I'm in school, you should be too!

For your assignment, you will survey a particular genre of romance, or explore an aspect of trope and present your findings. In science we'd call this exploration a hypothesis. Here we call it a Rationale. Here's mine for the first paper that I'm writing for my MFA program:

This presentation delves into the transformative journey of romance tropes from the era of the 'bodice ripper' novels to the burgeoning BookTok community that has taken over front tables in bookstores. We start with an examination of the archetypal Alpha Hero, epitomized in works like "The Flame and the Flower" by Kathleen Woodiwiss, where dominant, authoritative male characters ruled the narratives. The evolution of this trope is traced through modern reinterpretations and subversions, as seen in contemporary works like "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James.  

We also discuss the enduring allure of other popular tropes such as the enemies to lovers, Forbidden Love, Instalove, and There's Only One Bed tropes, tracing their lineage from their early depictions in classic romance literature to their modern incarnations in BookTok-viral titles penned by such authors as Colleen Hoover and Sarah J Mass. Through this exploration, the presentation illustrates the dynamic and evolving landscape of romance literature, offering insights into how these narrative devices have shaped, and been shaped by, societal attitudes and expectations of romantic relationships. This presentation underscores the continuing relevance and adaptability of romance tropes, highlighting their role as a mirror to our changing societal perceptions of love, power, and relationships. 

To support your rationale, you must have proof. This is why you will survey romance novels that fit your genre and support your rationale.

Identify the "texts" that have appeared historically within your genre that best represent your rationale. Once is an incident. Twice is a coincidence. Three makes a pattern, so you will want a minimum of three "texts" to support your rationale.

After you have identified the "texts" you'll need to examine each closely to understand the Traits inherent to your genre. What has been working throughout the most successful texts in said genre? What traits have fallen away within the genre due to shifts in audience popularity, generational shifts, and traits that have played themselves out?

These genres have been around since the beginning, but they haven't always been successful, or unsuccessful. Has your genre found an audience decade after decade? Generation after generation? Publisher after publisher?

If you'd like to read along with me, the first book up is the "Flame and the Flower" by Kathleen Woodiwiss. This book is largely regarded as the primordial modern romance. So if you want to participate in my first read along, grab this tome and let's dig in. Be aware it has ALL the trigger warnings.

If you're reading this in October 2023, you can follow me for Preptober as I plot my new steamy contemporary romance which I plan to draft for November's NANO WRIMO. Watch on my Youtube Channel.