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Romance Stories

by Kent Pinkerton

Romance stories have enthralled readers for centuries. Whether in the form of a song, a book, a ballad or a verse, these stories have glorified the matters of the heart. In the publication industry, romance as a genre is huge. It is estimated in the publication industry that romance stories contributed $1.5 billion to total sales world wide in 2001. It accounted for 54.5% of all popular fiction sold. It is thus a more popular and saleable literary form than mystery, suspense, science fiction and fantasy books put together. The romance genre encompasses all other themes and elements of a story. This is because the love element is universal in any story. Regardless of time, place, social customs, economic conditions, politics, wars or crusades, there exists the relationship between men and women. Romance stories serve to glorify this relationship and as it is an emotion that most readers can connect with, its popularity is obvious.

People like reading a romance book because it puts them in touch with their inner romantic impulses. We have all read a romance story at sometime or the other with an overpowering wish that it never ends. The characters of a romance story live on in our imagination.

If you are inclined towards writing romance stories, it is a lot of fun and a great way to express your self. For those who wish to write romance stories, "Basics of Writing the Romance Novel" is a course offered at many schools that could serve as an introduction.

It is believed that romance stories written by men differ greatly from the ones that are written by a woman. In general terms, men communicate to convey information while women communicate to establish relationships. If, a male and female writer are both asked to write a story based on the relationship of the same living couple, the man would end up writing a love story and the woman, a romance. The distinction between a love story and a romance is simply a matter of the difference of perspective between that of a man and a woman.

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