Women's Fiction and Romantic Suspense Novels: Derivatives of the Romance Novel?

A romance novel is a literary genre where the primary focus is on the relationship and romantic love between two people. The main plot of the novel, that is, the central conflict and climax, is directly related to the core theme of romantic love between the protagonists.

Women's fiction is not a direct sub category of the romance novel. Women's fiction is a broad term which encompasses any type of literature that is targeted to female readers. This can include romantic fiction, romantic suspense novels and chick lit. Women's fiction is however different from women's writing. Women's writing is literature written by female writers while women's fiction is writing for women readers.

Chick lit is American college slang and first appeared in print form in the year 1988. Chick lit is a genre of fiction that addresses the contemporary issues of womanhood, often in a light manner. This type of writing went beyond the idea of women as suffering victims of situations and included writing that covered a lot of modern female experiences including love, courtship and the female identity. Chick lit sometimes deals with violent and sexual themes in an explicit manner.

Typically, Chick lit deals with an independent, career oriented woman in her twenties and thirties. According to some definitions, these women are obsessed with their looks, love affairs and shopping. But it is not always as superficial as that and can deal with issues like motherhood, social or marital status of women and even religion.

The romantic suspense genre is a sub genre of the romance novel. At the centre of the plot is a suspense or intrigue that the main characters or the protagonist has to solve. The romance element comes from the woman who is one of the protagonists and the relationship that develops between her and the hero. The heroine is presented as a victim of a crime or even an attempted crime and she embarks on a journey to solve the mystery. In her endeavours, she is helped by the hero who is also her protector. Typically, he is in a police officer or an FBI agent and is in a position to assist her in her investigation.

In the romantic suspense novel, the solving of the mystery and the development of the romance are given equal importance. The twists and turns of the romance impact the suspense element of the story: the emotional condition of the hero and heroine reflects on the decisions they take in dealing with the intrigue and vice versa. These novels end with the suspense resolved and the protagonists united in a lifelong relationship.

Mary Stewart was a famous romantic suspense author who perfected the art of effortlessly combining the romance and the suspense elements. She wrote ten romantic suspense books between1955 and 1967. In her romantic suspense books, the way the hero conducts the investigation and solves the suspense shows his personality and qualities and this attracts the heroine towards him. Generally, the romantic suspense novels are set in a modern setting, but the romantic suspense authors such as Amanda Quick developed the historical romantic suspense genre quite successfully.

Jane Rosenthal is an award winning poet, radio journalist, a romantic suspense author, and an educator. She received a degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State where she studied with Frances Mayes. Anyone who loves, reading, writing, gardening and believes in changing the world one small step at a time should write her at allaboutjanesranch.com.

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Notable Pulp Fiction Writers and Characters

Pulp fiction actually began in the late 1800s but really came into its own by the late 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Although many of the writers at that time did not develop long term careers, this era produced some stellar authors who gave us some of our most memorable characters and heroes.

The pulp magazines got its name by the cheap high acid wood pulp paper used to bring the cost down so that a wider audience could be reached. They were in direct competition with the costly slicks that for the most part were purchased by people with means. It was a smart move because at about ten cents a piece, the readership of the pulps became huge and highly anticipated by its faithful readers.

One notable pulp character that debuted in July of 1930 in a radio show was "The Shadow" by author Walter B. Gibson (who also used the pen name Maxwell Grant). This character quickly grew on the audience and in April of 1931 became a pulp magazine series. This character evolved over the years and by 1937, readers were drawn in by the stories of the man who had the ability to make people see him as not necessarily invisible but as a shadow to be perceived to the right or left of where he stood. It had a long radio run as well as a TV series and has influenced today's unusual movie characters.

Edgar Rice Burroughs is another prolific writer in the pulp fiction era that originally started out as a pencil sharpener wholesaler who was a fan of the pulp magazines. He decided he could write as well or better than the magazines he was reading and became a beloved author for such novels as "Under the Moon of Mars," and "The Land That Time Forgot," but his most memorable character has to be "Tarzan," a story of the boy who would be raised by the apes. These stories captured the imagination of the young and old alike and remains a classic must read.

Like Burroughs another prolific writer who would become a New York Times best selling author nineteen times, Lafayette Ron Hubbard, debuted his fiction stories in "Thrilling Magazines" under his own and pen names such as Winchester Remington Colt, Kurt von Rachen, and Rene Lafayette among others. Although Hubbard was well versed in science fiction and fantasy, he was equally talented in other genres such as air and sea adventures, mystery, westerns and even some romance. Some of his best known early works are his novels "Buckskin Brigade" published in 1937, "Fear," "Final Blackout and Typewriter in the sky."

Pulp fiction stories were equally famous for their cover art. The illustrations were sensational and graphic which was part of the whole concept of the pulps. An artist could develop a name for themselves with the ability to convey what the story was about by a glance of the cover.

The pulps also gave rise to the comic book era which were many notable characters were born such as Superman, Spiderman, Batman, The Green Lantern, Wolverine etc. Some of the pulp era was a time of war and the need at that time for the fictional hero was desired reading. So popular were these fictional characters that to this day, we still produce movies and TV series to entertain us. Fortunately there is a revival of pulp fiction stories that a new audience can experience and enjoy!

Fred Duckworth is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning through audio books on CD collections from http://www.goldenagestories.com/. Galaxy Press Publishing, publisher of "The Golden Age Stories" and all genres of pulp fiction stories and novels, offers a convenient subscription service, so you never have to miss an issue. It's a pulp fiction lover's dream!

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