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WRITING GLOSSARY

What is Historical Romance?

Historical romance pairs a love story with a researched past setting, from Regency ballrooms to frontier towns.

Definition

Historical romance pairs a love story with a researched past setting, from Regency ballrooms to frontier towns. Period manners, constraints, and social rules shape the courtship conflict.

Example

A governess and a duke navigate scandal and inheritance law in 1815 England.

Related terms

Common mistakes

  • Importing modern attitudes without showing why the character can believably hold them.
  • Using history as costume only while characters speak and behave like the present day.
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