You don’t have to be a romantic to believe in broken hearts and yet heartbreak is an intrinsic part of the romantic cycle. Poets and authors have been penning odes to heartache since time immemorial whilst the subject of love and heartbreak has been a staple for mainstream cinema since the dawn of the silver screen. It’s a fact that when we fall in love, the same areas of our brain affected by alcohol or drugs are activated and we can find ourselves addicted to those feelings. Take love away and it quite literally hurts!
It’s because so many of us can relate to the pain of heartbreak that romance novels have become so successful. We know that physical pain can fade yet lost love doesn’t. But who wants to read a novel that focuses only on heartache with no light at the end of the tunnel? Of course, the flip side is that for all the hurt love causes, it has an equally powerful ability to heal and it’s an author’s ability to delve into these polar opposites of love that more often than not makes a bestseller.
You may have heard it said that to know true love you must first know the heartache and it’s because we risk the latter when giving our hearts to another that emotions often run high. For an author with their sights set on dominating the women’s romantic fiction charts, it’s their ability to tap into these emotions that ultimately determine their success. They’re emotions the vast majority of us can relate to and yet so many of us struggle to find the words that truly express how we feel inside.
Of course, every genre has its much-loved tropes and the romantic fiction genre is no exception. Forbidden trysts, dark seduction, second chances and love triangles to name but a few and yet tropes are nothing without the underlying emotion. Whilst the combination of tropes and emotions can be not only entertaining but cathartic and healing too. Especially for readers who have recently experienced heartbreak with the best fictional characters reminding them that they are not alone. And whilst breakups and heartache leave all sorts of voids in our lives, it is always possible to open our hearts to love again.