A.L. Heidecker said:
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Thanks for your input Unknown. It's appreciated, surely.
There's some fundamentalism involved here methinks. To my mind, romance writing is any narrative whose main momentum is derived from the amorous attraction between two people - at least. The main ingredient has to be the story of romantic growth (often in idealized form). The main characters must be happily together for a while, but not necessarily forever.
Every genre has the same issues, though. Romance has long been known to encompass certain tropes, certain reader expectations, and to go against them leads only to failure.
As it happens, I'm not too bothered by genre constraints. Remember even a tragedy can have elements of comedy (tragicomedy) and can have a happy ending; just think of Jane Eyre, Shakespeare's Richard III or Macbeth. I also do not feel any particular affinity with the romance genre per se and am happy enough to be breaking its rules. My top priority is to remain true to the original idea I had and to see it carried out.
You should be concerned that what you write follows the genre you intend to place it in. Sure, there can be other elements, but the main story must follow the general description of the genre. No one says you can't be true to your idea, just that you understand that you're not writing what you think you are, and readers are not going to just accept it and praise you for telling the wrong story.
Maybe I should label my writings erotic fiction of an explicit or graphic nature (which I actually do do), and leave it at that.
You can label it what you want, but if you put it in the wrong genre, it won't matter. Erotic fiction has rules, too. The sites you might want to sell your work has rules about what it allows. It would be much easier for you to simply find the correct genre, and market to that audience.
You urge me to study writing and self-publishing, which I certainly shall do (and actually already do do). Thanks for pointing me to it.
You're welcome. I know you likely meant that as snark, but whatever. Try to listen and learn from members like usedtoposthere, who is actually a best-selling writer of romance, who knows her stuff and has helped many others find their way.
Allan