Good afternoon guys!
I know this is my second post today (shock). However, I’ve come across something that was interesting to me and I was curious about your thoughts.
The other day I was reading about the different types of romance and the sub genres attached to them. While doing this, I was surprised to see that some sites, bloggers, etc. classify some romance as clean, while others are not. Okay, I’m a newbie, granted, but I’ve never given this much thought. So like I do with everything else. I researched it on Google.
Apparently, clean romance is a novel that is devoid of profanity, violence and sex at minimum, as well as often a lack of drugs and alcohol in the story.
I further discovered that there are sites exclusively for these types of novels on Goodreads and Amazon. Some bloggers, websites, and even editors are very exclusive and won’t even look at a novel if it isn’t clean. I have to say I was a bit offended. I felt as if I was being discriminated against.
To put my mind at ease, I read and asked others for their opinion. Some said, “in order for a novel, romance or not, to be considered realistic it has to include the things mentioned above.”
Others think theses types of novels take away from the story and some even call them smut or pornography.
This takes me back to the days of when I was looking into traditional publishing. One of their questions for me was, “could I tone down certain words, passages, etc. and use words or terms such as velvety walls, awaiting tunnel?” I think some call it purple prose. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with these terms for some and I mean no disrespect to anyone. However, it doesn’t feel right for me.
For those of you who follow my blog, you know that I write romance and some of it is steamy with some expletives. In my world and in my opinion, it makes my novels realistic. There is a storyline for all of my novels and I hope that when the reader closes the book they walk away with a lesson learned or at least it opens their minds to something they’ve never thought about.
I was surprised to see that there is a dividing line between clean and (dirty) romance, but I guess that’s why we have choices…
What are your thoughts? Do you think that you’re only qualified as successful if your novel is clean? I am so curious.
I think it’s great that there’s a site out there that caters to one or the other. There are people who don’t curse, maybe aren’t very much into reading about sex or drugs, etc., and so they prefer books that represent their world as much as anybody else would want to see characters and situations that represent them. So I don’t think it’s discriminatory. I just think it offers a choice for people. I hadn’t seen it called “clean” before. I have seen those types of books labeled, “Christian,” sometimes so I guess maybe they’re supposed to be about the same category…maybe…maybe not. Honestly if I were adamant about not reading books with certain content it would be great not to have to sift through a ton of books just to find one that fits my reading habits. So I think it is a good thing to have a place where people can go and find what they like to read. After all, there are entire sites dedicated to erotic romance so it seems about fair to me.
Thank you for your comment Capri. I agree that everyone should have choices. I was just surprised that some won’t look at a novel if it is classified as not “clean” and like you, I didn’t know about the term. I think my novels are somewhere in the middle.
I think people have a right to read what they want, and recently got a five-star review that also gently suggested that I let people know that my book included graphic sexual content. I was happy to oblige because the last thing I want to do is offend someone with my work! I don’t question their right to be offended so long as they don’t question MY right to write as I speak and as my characters might speak, which in both cases often includes profanity. I also love talking about sex in real life, so I love writing about it as well and more important than what I like, is the fact that for sure a couple’s sexual relationship often reveals interesting things about the dynamics of that relationship that extend well beyond the bedroom, so I can’t see leaving it out. But to term that somehow not ‘clean’ – that’s just crazy-talk!
Exactly Nia,
that’s why I was so shocked when I saw it. I reviewer gave me one star for my first book and I noted that the book contained erotic scenes, but you can’t please everyone. I had never heard of the term “clean fiction”. I was just wondering how other writers felt about it. You are so right about the sexual relationship revealing things about the dynamics of the relationship, great point! As usual, thanks for replying.
I like the term “clean” to describe a romance novel meaning devoid of A B and C. It’s the term “sweet” romance that is confusing to me. I say that my stories are sweet with some sizzle meaning an incomparable love and some pretty graphic sex scenes. I just don’t think the sex scenes outweigh the sweet factor, but for some they do.
Thanks for replying valloryv,
I think it’s all kind of confusing and I guess it’s the industry’s way of trying to give a name and definition to everything. It’s hard to figure out where you fit. I was listening to a video in a new group I’m in on facebook, Writers Review & Support Resource group. It was Zane stating that if you remove the sex scenes, it has to be a storyline. I agree with that.
I think it is fine to have choices, but my preference is not to be clean. I do write children s stories and YA, which are clean, but I never considered them romance.
Thank you for your reply Angela. As you can see, that’s also my preference. Have you ever heard of that term?
No I hadn’t so this info was surprising to me!!
I personally prefer the terms “sweet” or “G-rated” to define a romance without language or explicit sex. The term “clean” bothers me only because it implies that those romances with spice are the opposite, i.e. “dirty.” But it’s not that big a deal to me…people who enjoy this type of book would probably perceive my books (which are not all THAT spicy) as dirty, anyway.
Hi Bettye,
I like the term “G-rated” too and I think most don’t have a problem with choices. You’re right, it’s when they insinuate that anything other s not up to par or “dirty”. That’s how I felt anyway. Thanks for replying and sharing your thoughts!