“Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.” （每部羅曼史都有兩項基本要素，以愛情故事為中心，以及情感上令人滿意及樂觀的結局。）
“The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as they want as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.” （主要情節是圍繞在個體之間墜入愛河並努力維持關係，作者可以增加任意的次要情節，只要愛情故事是小說的焦點即可。）
“Beyond that, however, romance novels may have any tone or style, be set in any place or time, and have varying levels of sensuality—ranging from sweet to extremely hot.” （羅曼史可以有任何基調或風格，以任何時間或地點為背景，而且可以有不同程度的性感 — 從甜蜜到極度火熱。）
看到噗友的分享，加上瀏覽社群，似乎很多人認為羅曼史這個文類的定義，就是純粹講述愛情故事，不能混雜其他元素。雖然不知道為什麼會有這種誤解（畢竟市面上，像《暮光之城》這樣的YA奇幻羅曼史比比皆是），但剛好自己目前有找到相關資料，分享一下美國羅曼史作者協會（RWA）對於羅曼史的定義：
“Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.”
（每部羅曼史都有兩項基本要素，以愛情故事為中心，以及情感上令人滿意及樂觀的結局。）
“The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as they want as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.”
（主要情節是圍繞在個體之間墜入愛河並努力維持關係，作者可以增加任意的次要情節，只要愛情故事是小說的焦點即可。）
“Beyond that, however, romance novels may have any tone or style, be set in any place or time, and have varying levels of sensuality—ranging from sweet to extremely hot.”
（羅曼史可以有任何基調或風格，以任何時間或地點為背景，而且可以有不同程度的性感 — 從甜蜜到極度火熱。）
總之，西方的羅曼史與傳奇是一脈相傳的，兩者不可分割。
About the Romance Genre