5 Elements Sigh-Worthy Romance Novel Must Have by novelist Jody Hedlund
What’s in a Genre: The Form and Formula of Cinderella Inc. By J. W. Ashley
Top 20 words used in Harlequin Romance Titles
Friday Weird Science: The evolutionary psychology of the romance novel by Scicurious
And then…
Beyond Survival in a School Library 
Look at that! Texas is right up there in the list of romance title words. I always knew cowboys were romantic – well, and barbeque.
How I envision Hell: eternity on a Disney cruise ship, with nothing but bodice-rippers to read.
Gee thanks, now I have a new nightmare in my repertoire.
Hmm, that’s how I always start out and then it morphs into other non-formulaic texts.Interesting reflection of my brainpan I guess. I have certainly NOT followed these rules with Breakfast Special. LOL. Not by a long shot. I wonder what that means? LOL.
HI
The Dalai Lama is to have said, “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively”, and Robert Heinlein felt he was free because “…no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do”.
I think formulas are probably a great way to get the brain moving through a script but it’s what you do afterwards as you flesh it out that makes a story something special.
I am at a loss regarding Texas.
What is that about? Is it really a ‘cowboy’ thing?
Am I being a dunce here?
Maybe, as Linda says above, it’s all about cowboys. I wonder if the macho (chauvinist) Texas stereotype (which I’m sure cannot really exist anymore) was such a good foil for the defenseless femme fatale of the old bodice rippers that it was somewhat over employed.