Guest blogger: AK Leigh

For the love (and trauma) of it

If you ever feel the urge to undertake a PhD in writing, you must be a romance writer! This certainly proved true for me in 2021, when I was accepted for PhD research at CQ University. At the time, I had no idea what journey awaited me (and, ironically, it was more like an adventure-driven quest plot than a romance). The 98,000 word thesis (which I submitted just under two weeks ago—keep everything crossed for me) incorporated a novel and accompanying reflective exegesis detailing my research process, major and minor findings, and creative practice. My supervisors and I assumed my research revolved around the ‘trauma romance’ subgenre, in which a trauma plot is interwoven amongst a romance narrative. However, it soon became clear that I had stumbled upon an unidentified and undefined subgenre of romance—and sub subgenre of trauma romance—which I termed ‘post-trauma romance’ (PTR). The novel I wrote as part of my PhD, The Love Healer, is an example of this subgenre. Which is great and all, but it doesn’t tell you anything about the post-trauma romance subgenre, right? Glad you asked.

To understand what PTR is, you also need to understand what it isn’t by comparing it to its associated subgenres. For my fellow romance writers who incorporate trauma themes into their work, the following subgenre definitions and distinctions may come as a shock (and, you might outright disagree with me. That’s okay, healthy debate is encouraged in literary theory). Let’s start with the most controversial subgenre first.

Dark romance

This is a romance subgenre that explores darker themes, such as murder, abuse, sexual assault, and kidnapping. This can include characters with traumatic secrets; however, the trauma is not the focus of the plot, though it can remain on the periphery and in the background. The characters could also have committed an act in their past that they deem awful (not abusive, though, I’ll get to that). Dark romance, therefore, features:

• A love story with a HEA or HFN as a central element of the narrative
• Representation and/or exploration of a dark theme
• The dark theme may be shown to impact on the developing romantic relationship

Since dark romance does not include a focal representation and exploration of traumatic experiences and their post-trauma consequences, this separates it from trauma romance.

Trauma romance

Trauma romance is, using the definition provided in my PhD, a work of fiction that depicts a traumatic experience/s within a romantic narrative. This subgenre has increased in popularity in recent years, with the release of novels such as It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover and the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn. It must include:

• A love story with a HEA or HFN as a central element of the narrative
• At least one love interest who has experienced trauma
• A description and/or exploration of the trauma and its associated symptoms
• Optional: The trauma and its aftereffects may be shown to impact on the developing romantic relationship

These features differentiate trauma romance from dark romance because a trauma romance must contain a focal representation and exploration of trauma. Hence, if a so-called ‘dark romance’ features trauma representation as a major plot point, this actually makes it a trauma romance. Remember the following rule: dark romances focus on dark themes, trauma romances focus on trauma. Which leads to the question of what differentiates trauma romance from post-trauma romance.

Post-trauma romance

Again, using my PhD definition, post-trauma romance is a work of fiction that depicts a traumatic experience/s and the processes of recovery from the traumatic experience/s within a romantic narrative. The six main features are:

• A love story with a HEA or HFN as a central element of the narrative
• Inclusion of at least one main love interest who has experienced trauma
• Description and/or exploration of the trauma, and its associated symptoms
• Showing how the trauma impacts on the relationship
• Representation of post-trauma recovery attempts in the narrative
• Recovery attempts that are both conscious and positive. This negates those attempts that are subconscious (e.g. defence mechanisms) and negative (e.g. coping mechanisms).

Therefore, the main ways post-trauma romance differs from trauma romance is in the representation and portrayal of trauma recovery elements. Trauma romance does not typically deal with this aspect of trauma, nor does dark romance. This leaves one remaining subgenre to tackle—abuse tales.

Abuse tales

Much of the controversy surrounding dark romance stems from writers dipping into grey areas related to dark themes. Indeed, my next words will likely be considered controversial by some. However, as a researcher who studies the intersection between literature and trauma (and has also theorised a trauma response, trauma response models, and trauma recovery tools), I stand by the following: Any plot element or character that justifies or excuses abuse, rape, kidnapping, non-consent and so forth, glamourises abuse. The glamourising of abuse is dangerous (to both women and the romance genre) and, therefore, cannot be classed as a ‘love story’. Since a love story is necessary for a romance novel, these novels do not belong to the romance genre, let alone the dark romance subgenre. This is why I denote them as ‘abuse tales’, since they glamourise abuse and do not conform to romance features.

But, why are these distinctions important?

They are important for the same reasons any sub-classification of a literary genre is important. Firstly, it makes reader choice easier by labelling the basic contents of a book through a sub-classification system. In other words, the assigned genre and subgenre show whether ‘reader expectations’ will be fulfilled.

Secondly, it gives writers an understanding of what they need to include in their stories to fit into a specific category. This is important knowledge to have because it allows writers to appeal to their target audience and fulfil reader expectations.

Thirdly, knowing your specific genre is a helpful guide for publishers, editors, and literary agents who typically work with certain genres.

Finally, subgenres provide opportunities for more refined and nuanced academic research. In the case of post-trauma romance, opportunities exist not only in the fields of literature but also in the psychology, gender studies, stress, and trauma-related fields.

Do you write trauma themes in your romance novels? Which subgenre does your work slot into?

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