Why?
High Romance came about because I wanted a way of representing romance novels that were more encompassing than just the traditional Love Interest #1 meets Love Interest #2.
The current market didn’t serve my vision, so I set out to find and define what I saw.
What is High Romance?
The picture gallery above should give you a few clues! High Romance is a creative framework for a genre that has existed for almost a thousand years. To be High Romance a novel should have:
- Moral architecture and moral framework
- Characters who have and use agency
- A flat-out rejection of the Naturalist viewpoint in literature and of human beings
- An HEA that is earned through moral choices, through the love interests’ achieving shared goals as well as personal goals.
From there, it’s all up to your own creativity and imagination!
Are there an examples of High Romance out now?
Yes! And I have The High Romance Reading List to help you find more!
The reading list contains 21 novels I’ve selected personally for their displays of agency, characters who choose their actions, and who do not allow themselves to act out of mere “instinct.”
You can find it by signing up for my weekly newsletter, The Eftsoons Letter, using the form below.
Want more in-depth looks into romance and a place where it’s taken seriously?
Then you will want to subscribe to my paid monthly newsletter, The Eftsoons Romantic.
Every issue comes with a main essay, a puzzle to test your comprehension, a piece on writing craft, and a book review. There are also excerpts from my own writing, personal updates that go further than my weekly newsletter, and more!
