Episode 174: Not a guilty pleasure
These notes include affiliate links.
This week on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re talking more about romance novels and are challenging the term that’s often given to them as a guilty pleasure. We think they’re simply a pleasure.
We open this conversation by getting honest about our own complicated and confused past feelings towards romance novels. We feel encouraging a guilt and shame free unpacking of them - talking specifically about covers, labels, and societal stigmas - can help interrogate and reframe them.
In this episode we talk about:
Covers – From bodice rippers to illustrations, we touch on how they’ve changed over time and what we like about some of the newer design trends in publishing.
Some of the labels that have been used to make value judgements on these stories – things like Smut, Trash, Clean – and suggest the need for more neutral language.
Gaining and growing vocabulary to more clearly identify or categorize the steam or spice level of a romance story.
Methods for researching and finding out the steam or spice level prior to reading, so we can better understand what to expect from a given book.
Towards the end of this conversation, using a scene from the movie The Lost City as an example, we talk about how shame can be overcome by getting honest and bringing our feelings out into the light. In some ways, this is what we hope this episode does.
We hope you enjoy this episode. Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Notes:
Towards the beginning of the conversation, the Verbivore mentions that the Romance genre is wide and growing, with characters that are starting to more accurately represent the world around us - but there is still a long way to go. We strongly believe representation matters and that we each should be able to see ourselves reflected in stories with happy endings. If you’re curious to learn more about where the industry is at, here are a few articles on this topic:
NY Times Article “The Changing Face of Romance Novels”
The Ripped Boddice “The State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report”
Writers Republic Article “Diversity in the Romance Novel Industry: Has there been any progress?”
Fable and the Verbivore both talk about gaining vocabulary to more clearly identify or categorize the steam or spice level of a romance story so that we can better understand what to expect from a given book. Here are links to a couple steam/spice scales that we found online:
DelShereeGladden.com Article “What exactly does “steamy” mean when it comes to romance?”
RomanticFantasyShelf.com Article “Romantic Fantasy Heat Levels (Revised!)”
The Verbivore references a very funny Instagram post from author Ali Hazelwood talking about Christina Lauren’s upcoming book “The True Love Experiment.” That post can be viewed here.
Here are a few articles we referenced for this conversation:
MasterClass Article “Writing 101: What Is a Romance Novel? Learn About the History and Characteristics of Romance Novels”
Publishing Research Quarterly “The Romance Publishing Industry and Its Reputation” by Lauren Cameron
Book Riot Article “How are Romance Novel Covers Made?” by Sarah Nicolas
Book Riot Article “As Illustrated Covers Trend in Romance, What is Being Said About Women’s Interests” by Kelly Jensen
Books and Films Mentioned:
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
Uprooted: A Novel by Naomi Novik
The Lost City – Directed by Aaron Nee and Adam Nee
Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)