How romance novels are getting a makeover in the Trump era

Since the election of Donald Trump, romance writers are rethinking the kind of heroes they want to celebrate. Some have decided it's time to get overtly political.

Some romance novelists are rewriting their work to better reflect feminist ideals in today's political climate

Alice Hopton CBC News Posted: May 12, 2018 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 12, 2018

Sarah MacLean is the New York Times bestselling author of the romance novel 'The Day of the Duchess' and the upcoming 'Wicked and the Wallflower.' (CBC)

Since the election of Donald Trump, even some romance writers have decidedit's time to get political.

The genre's brooding Heathcliffsare getting makeovers andstorylinesare being tweakedto betterreflectfeminist values aroundsexual equality and inclusiveness, as writerswork to recast the heroes into characters they wantto celebrate.

A day after the 2016 U.S. presidentialelection, bestselling New York-based author Sarah MacLeansaid she vowed to use her "very considerable platform" to step up and speak up, as she wants to"make a difference in the world."

MacLean said she realizedthe book she was writing "had 275 pages of a character who probably would have voted for Donald Trump,"so shedeleted the entire manuscript."I threw it all out and started over."

I wanted him to be that alpha feminist from the very start.- Romance author Sarah MacLean

MacLeanwas originally writingabout "a man who was intractable and impenetrable, and didn't understand that his actions hurt people and his actions had repercussions."

Thinking that description soundeda lot like Trump himself, she decided to create a new hero who wouldn't take the entirenovel to becomeenlightened.The result is her more recent novel,TheDay of the Duchess.

"I wanted him to be that alpha feminist from the very start.I wanted him to believe in his heroine, I wanted him to believe in hope, I wanted him to believe in change, I wanted him to believe in passion and partnershipand equality."

Toronto geophysicist-turned-romance author Laura Davis says she also felt thatgiven the current politicalclimate, readers needed lighter, funnier stories.She switched from writing erotic romance to romantic comedy.

Toronto novelist Laura Davis writes romantic comedy, like 'Grumpy Fake Boyfriend' under the pen name Jackie Lau. (CBC/ Salimah Shivji)

She also chose to pen a broader, more diverse range of characters.

"Overtracism seems to bea lotmore acceptable[since Trump's election]," said Davis. "So I particularly wanted to write and tell stories about heroes and heroines who aren't white, and show that they deserve to have happy endings, too."

Romance rules

While the romance genre hasseen its share of derision, there's no arguing it has passionatefans.

It's a billion-dollar industrythatmakes up close to one-third of the U.S. fiction market. And withe-bookpurchases also on the rise, it's a market that even the respected New York Times Book Reviewhasacknowledgedby hiring romance columnistJaime Green.

Green says it's time to take this form of literary escapism seriously.

"Women are just sick of being made to feel embarrassed about what they love and what they enjoy reading," she said.

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The romance novel genre is a billion-dollar industry in the U.S., and there's a big shift happening, as writers empower the female characters in their stories.

According tothe Toronto Public Library, romance is its single most popular fiction genre; romance novels represent15 to 20 per cent of its total e-bookdownloads.

The hotter the cover image, the longer the holds list,according to library officials.Without the romance genre,they say the library'se-book collection wouldn't be viable,and they couldn't offer themoreexpensive literary and non-fictione-booktitles.

The TPL is planning to hire a romance novelist for its writer-in-residence program this fall the first time the genre's been selected for it since 2009.

Literature snobs should take note: romance is now beingopenly embracedby readersmost of themwomen. And MacLeansays it's about time.

"For many years, the genre has kind of sat in the darkin the back corner of the bookstore or the libraryand nobody's known how subversive the texts are and how feminist the texts are.I'm really very proud to be writing it now in the light," she said.

"Romance centres women;it places women at the centre of the story," she said. "At the end of a romance novel, the women win. And there's a great deal of power in that."