helena fairfax, freelance editor, yorkshire

Helena Fairfax

Freelance editor, author, tea drinker, Yorkshire lass

The powerful messages of romance novels

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Helena Fairfax

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The powerful messages of romance novels

Another month, and another authors’ Round Robin. For the month of Valentine’s, our topic has been set by author Skye Taylor

helena fairfax, freelance editor, fiction editor, yorkshire
What do you love about the romance genre?

Romance is the bestselling genre in the world. It’s also the most looked down on. Check out this Guardian review of the film of Beth O’Leary’s novel The Road Trip. OK, so perhaps the film isn’t very good. There are lots of films and books of all sorts of genres that aren’t very good. But one sentence in the review struck me: ‘Like a rat, a potential love affair is never more than 6ft away in O’Leary’s world.’

helena fairfax, freelance editor, fiction editor, yorkshire

What??? A love story is like finding a rat? Seriously? Would anyone ever say: ‘Like a rat, a potential crime is never more than 6ft away in Sherlock Holmes’ world’? Or ‘a spy in John le Carré’s’?

Just what is it about novels featuring love affairs that people find so trashy? I have an idea on this, but first, here’s what I find admirable about romance novels.

From a technical point of view, my feeling is romance is the hardest genre to write. I write romance novels and I also edit them, so believe me, I know how hard it is. Try writing a page-turning novel that doesn’t have any tension-building plot devices such as murder, tsunamis, car chases, alien invasions, etc. Romance writers get readers invested and have them glued to the page about a developing relationship. This is a real skill.

helena fairfax, freelance editor, fiction editor, yorkshire
Image by Milena Mazurek from Pixabay

One of the most important messages romance novels hold for me is this: This is how the world could be if we were all just better people.

In this present world, which can seem so full of violence, greed, selfishness and intolerance, the message of romance novels is that selflessness, compassion, tolerance of others and plain, ordinary thoughtfulness are qualities that are rewarded and foster happiness in others.

Romance novels are often about ordinary people, but the best romance novels have something really profound to say about getting through life. I have lots of examples of scenes that have had an impact on me personally, but here are just two:

In Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget’s mum Pauline, a comical character who everyone finds laughable, leaves her dad and has an affair with Julian, a cheesy shopping-channel presenter. This provides lots of hilarity, until Pauline tells Bridget that Julian paid her some attention and treated her seriously.

Pauline found her role as the sidelined family idiot deeply upsetting. How many mums/wives, who do everything round the house, from remembering to buy bog roll, to putting tea on the table, to nursing the sick, spend their lives being treated as unimportant and vaguely comical? I thought this was a really moving and meaningful scene.

In David Nicholls’ One Day, the hero Dexter goes to visit his dad. Both of them have lost the loves of their lives, and are grieving. Dexter asks his dad on the doorstep ‘What are you doing?’ His dad replies ‘Just watching television.’ Dexter goes inside and he and his dad sit and watch TV together. It’s such a simple scene, but I found it really touching. Again, it’s about ordinary people dealing with something significant and profound in a way nearly all of us have to at some point.

Another criticism levelled at romance novels is that women are seeking an ideal in men who don’t exist. This isn’t true, even in the oldest romance novels. Mr Darcy is hardly the ideal man. In romance novels, the hero may make mistakes, but he not only always tries to do the right thing, he goes out of his way to do what’s right (e.g. Darcy tracking down Lizzie’s sister after she’s eloped, and paying off dastardly Wickham).

helena fairfax, freelance editor, fiction editor, yorkshire
Image by Milena Mazurek from Pixabay

‘Noble’ is the perfect word to describe romance heroes, and a hero can be noble whether he’s a lord or the plumber next door. Who wouldn’t want to be with someone who tries to do the right thing?

As for the heroine, in how many other genres is a female character consistently at the centre of the story? In my own novels, I like to make my heroines hard-working, sensible, thoughtful and compassionate women. They aren’t paragons of virtue – they have faults, same as anyone else – but they’re the sort of women you’d love to have as a friend. They’re also self-reliant. They aren’t desperate to find love, but when love strikes they are loyal and passionate.

helena fairfax, freelance editor, fiction editor, yorkshire
Image by Milena Mazurek from Pixabay
Romance novels bring hope

I find something really uplifting in the way ordinary good qualities are represented in romance novels, and how they show us about compromise and selflessness, love and loyalty. One of the best things about romance novels is that they can transport readers out of whatever personal stressful situation they may be in and leave them with that feeling of being uplifted. People’s lives – my own included – are full of personal tragedy.  (And during the pandemic sales of romantic fiction saw a particular boom.)

I mentioned above about how I had an idea why people find romance novels ‘trashy’ and ‘fluff’. One reason might be because they are generally written by women, and mainly read by women, and therefore they’re not ‘serious’.

Another reason might be that they’re also about relationships between ordinary people, and therefore these stories aren’t ‘important’. Spy thrillers are seen as superior to romance, but how many of us have ever met a spy? But every single person on the planet has a relationship with someone else, be it family, friends or lovers

helena fairfax, freelance editor, author

I’ve seen really deep reactions from readers to ‘simple’ romance stories about relationships that have said something to them. I’ve mentioned examples of scenes I’ve loved personally. In just one more example, a reader once left a review of my novel The Summer of Love and Secrets that said: ‘OMG I loved this book!!!! Being a widow who has found love again and remarried, this one was really close to my heart.’

Romance novels create an optimistic and relatable world for others. Above all, for me, they give a message of hope in what can often seem a hopeless world.

*

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s topic.

Do you read romance novels, and if so, what do you enjoy about them? Why do you think this genre is so looked down on?

I’m looking forward to reading the other authors’ take on romance! Please click on the links below for my fellow authors in the Round Robin.

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com

Bob Rich   https://wp.me/p3Xihq-3pV

A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/

Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com

Belinda Edwards https://booksbybelinda.com/blog/

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Diane Bator https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/

Sally Odgers https://behindsallysbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/romance.html

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea

19 responses to “The powerful messages of romance novels”

  1. Dr Bob Rich Avatar
    Dr Bob Rich

    Thank you for this thoughtful post, Helena.

    I am also all for moving the world toward decency and caring, and if some romance novels do that, hooray.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Your comment about moving the world has made me realise just how much influence romance writers can have, as the authors of the bestselling genre. It’s been another interesting topic. Thanks for dropping in, and for your comment.

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  2. lynndaworsnop Avatar
    lynndaworsnop

    Totally agree.
    I don’t know if the really simple romance novels still exist, but the ones I have read are not about some ideal guy. They are about working out relationships with the ones that from the outside might look totally unsuitable. More about taking the time to see the person beneath the facade.

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      I agree, Lynda – romance novels are about working out a relationship. The happy ever after needs both characters to change for the better. There is much more to romance novels than many people appreciate. Thanks so much for dropping in, and for taking the time to comment!

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  3. sallybyname Avatar
    sallybyname

    The earlier romances I read often annoyed me because the heroine (an office worker, say) would meet a plumber and be short with him for messing up the room while fixing the pipes. Then, inevitably, he’s turn out to be her new boss. How I longed for a plumber who really WAS a plumber!
    As you say, the occupation and status doesn’t matter. Heroes are all about trying to do the right thing, to make the world better.

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      I agree about the cliche of the cute meet where the heroine doesn’t realise who she’s talking to, and then later finds she’s being interviewed by him, or whatever. It’s been done a few times now. But then it’s so hard to keep coming up with something fresh, and I really admire those romance authors who write something new time and time again.
      In the older romances, the hero often had all the status and the money, but I guess that just reflected real life. Another thing I love about romance novels is how they reflect changes and they keep changing with the times.
      Thanks so much for dropping in, and for your great comment.

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  4. A.J. Maguire Avatar
    A.J. Maguire

    It feels like people just like to find something to shame you for. Romance has always been #1 on the list of things to bash, and I’ve heard authors make it a point of pride that they don’t have romance in their novels. I’ve always just kind of smiled and nodded at those, but internally wondered how very SAD that is. Love is part of the human experience. If you’re writing about human beings, they’re not only going to crave intimacy (not just physical), they are going to need it.

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      I’ve also heard authors claim their novels aren’t romantic fiction, even when they clearly figure a love affair at the heart of them. It’s as though attaching the word ‘romance’ somehow makes them inferior. I write for readers, and it’s one of the things I’m proudest of that I’ve written romantic fiction readers have loved.
      I’ve really enjoyed this month’s topic. Thanks for dropping in, and for your great comment.

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  5. Skye-writer Avatar
    Skye-writer

    For a genre that seems, as you say, to be looked down on and scoffed at, Romance outclasses every other genre in sales and popularity. Maybe we are looking for the ideal guy or gal, but instead we find that ordinary people are just as interesting and honorable. And it is uplifting.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Hi Skye, it’s disappointing to find the sort of review I quoted, but the romance sales speak for themselves. Thanks for the great Valentine’s topic!

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  6. Esther O'Neill Avatar
    Esther O’Neill

    Thanks Helena
    This is how the world could be ? Add ‘ so much more than people appreciate’
    And the suspicion that the cynicism and even scorn is tinged with jealousy?:
    Almost a nonsequitur, I love In a Bath Teashop *
    A plumber who really is a plumber. ? Plumbers are almost the best of all heroes –
    (think what horrors they can rescue us from – no details, it’s almost suppertime)

    * Living there never felt quite real – even without endless film crews and actors for the latest Austen..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Hi Esther, thank you so much for the mention of In a Bath Teashop. What a beautiful poem, and I think perfectly apt. I wish I’d quoted it in my post.
      And talking about the latest Austen, I’m very much enjoying Miss Austen on BBC at the moment. I’ve only watched the first episode, but I expect there will be some Bath scenes before too long. It must have been lovely to live there, and walk the same paths.
      Thanks so much for dropping in, and for another entertaining and interesting comment!

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  7. Victoria Chatham Avatar
    Victoria Chatham

    I did like your two examples of scenes that impacted you. Isn’t Bridget’s mum someone many readers could identify with? I think back to when I was a young wife and mum, and working outside the home wasn’t a thing yet. I remember getting so angry when my peers described themselves as ‘only a housewife’, which I always thought was demeaning when a wife and mum were so much more. Back then, women just went on doing what women had always done without thinking too much about exactly what they did. For a while, I was president of a young wives’ organization and if anyone ever made the ‘only a housewife’ comment, I would immediately ask what they had done that day. My hope always was to encourage the young women in that group to value themselves for the skills they already had and their ability to learn what they needed to learn when they needed to learn it, so I completely get why Pauline looked outside her marriage for validation. Great post.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Hi Victoria, I love the sound of your young wives’ club, and how you encouraged them to value their skills. Running a household, especially if you’re on a low budget, requires a vast variety of skills. When women do it well, no one notices and they are taken for granted. I love how you set up a support network that helped give these women recognition. Thanks for dropping in. I really enjoyed your comment.

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  8. jameschristie466 Avatar
    jameschristie466

    I don’t look down on romance novels, mainly because I ended up writing about five of them. To explain, “Dear Miss Landau” (yes, I know I’m referring to it again) should actually be read alongside the four illegal Drusilla novellas (“Drusilla’s Roses”, “Drusilla’s Redemption”, “Drusilla Revenant” and “Spike & Dru : the Graveyard of Vampires”).

    The latter two novellas have never been seen because, as you know, they contain the completion of “Buffy’s” lost story arc and I’d like them to be traditionally published. Without knowledge of that, the recently mooted “Buffy” revival is doomed…

    More importantly, all five have emotional/romantic relationships at their core and I found the characters’ relationships more engaging per se than the murders, tsunamis, car chases and alien invasions (or similar) which I did actually include as I like large explosions and violence.

    Just kidding. Mostly.

    Everything was also very much centred on Drusilla. Admittedly, this was because I’d just been pitched headlong into the situation and she’d gaily dumped herself right in my lap. However, in the Dru novellas she got passionately involved with Xander and later on sorted out things with Spike.

    I actually think “Drusilla’s Roses” is better than “Dear Miss Landau”, and I sum it up as “a love story. Girl just happened to be a vampire…”

    So, examples of the emotional core of my tales:

    ‘Buffy looked at Giles uncertainly. She opened and closed her mouth several times.

    Giles waited patiently.

    “Do they love each other, Giles?”

    The watcher looked into the distance for a moment.

    “Yes,” he said. “They just don’t know it.” ‘

    (Drusilla’s Roses)

    ‘The Scoobies had been more than a little surprised to learn that a vampire could be scared of the dark. There had even been a few sniggers, quickly muted. But they wouldn’t have laughed if they had known why, nor would they have wondered why Drusilla stared up at the stars so often, looking for the light.

    Now it seemed she was rising again from the dark, but not as a demon. This time she sat with the sister, bathed in the light of grace, and on her face was a look of peace.

    That lump she so often brought to his throat was back, and he welcomed it like an old friend.

    He shooed the children away and went outside to wait for his lady.’

    (Drusilla’s Redemption)

    ‘She dragged herself to her feet, hammering at the door, quite out of control, feeling the wells of need and loss and loneliness coming screaming to the surface, and giving in to them.

    “Xander. Xander. It’s me! It’s Dru. It’s your Dru! Don’t you know it’s me? I can’t come in. I can’t. Please, Xander…”

    She gulped as the words trailed off. Belatedly, she managed to compose herself and say something halfway sensible.

    “Xander. Alexander. It’s me. I can stand in the sun but I can’t come in. Because I’m me.” ‘

    (Drusilla Revenant)

    ‘They drained the unfortunate animal of blood before consigning it to the roast, and the dark viscous nectar told them both all they needed to know of Balkh’s northern plains and the Afghan night.

    “You always liked buffalo wings,” she said, brightly and suddenly, although her eyes did not smile. “Should be done in a mo.”

    He nodded, wishing for a cigarette. Drusilla regarded him unblinkingly.

    She steepled her fingers.

    “Spike, you were always such an unholy screw up, but somehow you always came through. I killed you, I loved you, I hated you, then I loved you again when I thought you were lost.”

    “Appreciate the vote of confidence, Dru.”

    “You weren’t as good as my Alexander…”

    She felt herself welling up, but forced it down and forged on.

    “…but you always managed to be in the right place at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing which somehow turned out right.”

    He said nothing so she went on, gaining confidence as she spoke.

    “I guess sometimes there really are guides along the way.”

    His face was stone in the firelight, and for that moment she loved him. Dru felt his hand curling over hers and found herself smiling round her fangs, but then she felt that same hand forcing her into supplication.

    Oh for heaven’s sake, does he think that’s an invitation to a shag?

    Six fun years of work and love and carpentry in Avalon were forgotten. More and more, she was Drusilla the vampire again. At home on the empty plains and more than a match for any other predator.

    She braced herself, fighting for leverage and straightening her wrist. She saw his face shift from human to demon and knew he wasn’t getting it all his own way. It had often happened at the climax of their lovemaking, when they bit and tore at each other, but back then she’d always been crazy old Dru, his mad old thing.

    This was different, and even a bit sexier.

    What had her Xander told her once, when he was embroidering that tale of his days in Avalon without her?

    “You were my great love, Dru. I’d have clawed my way across a desert for you and if I was fit to fall, there was always your voice. ‘Don’t go down,’ you’d say, as if you could see me alone in the arena and on my last legs, and I’d get up and go on some more, just for the thought of you.”

    It seemed she could hear his voice. It seemed his hand was guiding hers and giving strength to her arm; and Dru slowly pushed Spike back, knowing bones in both their hands were on the verge of breaking.

    Their fingers stayed locked over the fire for a second, then broke contact.

    They fell back, eyeing each other.

    Spike grinned.

    “How was that for you?”

    “It had its moments,” she replied huskily. “Want a wing?”

    “This is good,” he said after a while. “Sitting round a campfire. Looking at the moon. Bit like old times.”

    “Spike, we used to roast humans on the fire…”

    (Spike & Dru : the Graveyard of Empires)

    So that’s about it. No amount of gratuitous sex and violence can compensate for a plot without an emotional core, and I never thought it could. And I was very happy with my vampire being the main protagonist, and that’s how it was.

    Incidentally, they are indeed burbling on about reviving “Buffy” now, but without the lost story arc and its emotional core (which they have as much chance of working out as they have accurately of walking backwards through the Carlsbad Caverns without a flashlight) it doesn’t have a hope.

    One day (too late!) they’ll find these stories, and curse themselves for fools that they hadn’t listened to my entreaties twenty-odd years before…

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Thanks for your comment, James, and for the emotion-filled quotes from your work. The examples sum up your themes perfectly. I’d heard that they might be bringing back Buffy. It’s such a great shame that they didn’t allow you to publish. I really can’t see what the problem was. Your books might well have brought new fans and kept interest alive in Buffy until the reboot finally arrives.
      I agree totally that a plot has to have an emotional core. I hope one day, even if they have to wait seventy years until copyright has expired, that your novels will see the light.
      Thanks again for persevering with WordPress!

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. jameschristie466 Avatar
        jameschristie466

        Thanks Helena. The “Buffy” IP contracts are abnormally tough. I could crack up tonight and put “Revenant” and “Graveyard” (which contain the twist) in “Archive of Our Own”, I just want it done legally and have to admit there’s never been a hint of fan interest. It’s a bit disappointing, but I have done my best to tell cast and commentators.

        And… Nothing.

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  9. Marsha R. West Avatar
    Marsha R. West

    Hey, Helena. What a great post. But then you always write a good one. I remember hearing a well known romance author say at an RWA conference that when floods struck her and her family, she and her mother made it to a Walmart each with separate carts to pick up simple things, like toothfast and undies. Real basics. When they met up at the check out stand, each of them had picked up a romance novel. They needed to see a happily ever after in the midst of their tragedy. That was a powerful message to me that what I was doing was important. I agree with you that it’s really hard to write a straight romance, and I don’t. LOL I always have the added dash of suspense, but always with that HEA. I’m concerned about an bill in Oklahoma (not law yet) that would make all romances have to be closed door. By comparison, most of my books are pretty mild, but that’s just wrong to try to censor someone’s creativity. I’ll share your important post. :)

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Helena Fairfax Avatar
      Helena Fairfax

      Hi Marsha, I’ve also heard romance authors say how readers have found comfort in their novels, and how their storylines have affected them. Like you, one author’s words in particular made me realise how important our novels can be.
      Actually, I find suspense more difficult to write than a straight romance! You have to give equal weight in the narrative to the suspense elements and the developing relationship, without letting one overshadow the other. It’s not easy, but you do this really well.
      It’s appalling that someone could put a bill in place to dictate what writers can put in their books. I hope the politicians in the state reject it outright. We have to live in hope in these times.
      Thanks so much for dropping in. Your comments are always thoughtful.

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