Deadly Differences: Film Rom-Coms vs. Novel Romance

Devlin Blake Author

Craft a successful romance novel: film vs. book, deadly reliance, key differences, take writing to next level, audience resonance.

Transcript:

You know what’s weird? There are very few true romances int he TV movie world, with the exception of Hallmark. Sure there are romantic subplots, and even rom coms which are not the same thing, though people think they are.

The distinction is important when you’re writing romance, because what works in a romantic comedy movie doesn’t not work in a humor based romance book.

Why the heck not?

That answer is what we’ll be covering today.

Hi novelteers, I’m Devlin Blake, Novel Writing & self publishing Expert, Coach, published author, and former ghostwriter of over 200 books. If you’re writing a book, be sure to check out my Novel Writer’s Club, featuring self directed courses, weekly crits, ask me anything, group coaching and more. You can find out more about it at the link below.

So if a rom com was a book, it would not be considered a romance.

Why is that?

Well, for starters, the question is wrong. A movie rom com is based on the will they or won’t they question. And sometimes, in a movie rom com, they won’t. This is unacceptable in a book romance because you know they ALWAYS will.

This difference is subtle but significant. And it matters if you plan to write romance. After all, romance books make up ⅓ of the fiction book industry totaling over a billion dollars yearly. None of the other genres even come close to that, so getting it right, matters. There’s lots of competition.

Now, let’s look at a true romance. The question is different. They’ll always end up together, the only real question is how will they overcome obstacles to do it?

The obstacles in true romances exist for the couple to learn to become a team and work together and realize how much they mean to each other. Good movie examples of this is The Lost City or Pretty Woman.

In a movie rom com, the obstacles exist so the couple can figure out exactly what they mean to each other, which sometimes, is just good friends, not a couple. A good example of this is My Best Friend's Wedding or Pretty In Pink. These ending absolutely would not fly in a True Romance genre.

So why do true romances make up less than 10% of the movies, while making up over 1 third of all fiction books sold for a billion dollar industry?

I have no idea.

I could give you theories about how Romance novels are written for women and focus a lot on treating women with respect and consent, which is something a lot of rom coms don’t do, but not going to get into that.

What I am going to get into is saying that if you want to write a true romance and take advantage of the fact that this genre makes up ⅓ of the fiction book market, then you need to stop looking at rom coms for inspiration, and start looking at true romances.

Get to know their tropes, their expectations, and what the readers go nuts for. And it can be funny too. But it doesn’t have to be.

If you’re having trouble figuring out the tropes or even knowing if your story is a true romance, you’re in luck. I go into genres, all of them, a lot deeper in my Membership site, the Novel Writer’s Club.

You can find out more about it at the link below.

Until next time, this Devlin Blake saying ‘Write On’.

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Categories: : storycrafting, Writers Block, writers marketing