The Spectrum of Dark Romance
Dark romance is the intersection between romance and horror. That is such a fun concept, but also one that’s hard to visualize when you’re new to it. To make it even more complicated, this genre has a lot of complexity regarding how much horror vs romance is in each novel. To make it easier to understand, I want you to imagine the term ‘dark’ in dark romance as a spectrum.
The lighter the dark romance is, the more the emotional experience aligns with romance. The story will emphasize that butterfly feeling in your chest, the fuzziness and warmth of the genre. The darker the story is, the more the emotional experience will align with horror. Expect to feel feelings of dread, repulsion, and, well, horror.
That means there’s a wide variety of different styles of dark romance. The lighter ones have more romance than horror, and the darker ones have more horror than romance.
Imagining where your book lands on this spectrum is essential to creating the right experience for your reader. Only Some readers want to go as dark as possible, while others are bored with lighter content. As a writer, you get to decide how dark you want to go. There’s an audience for all sides of the spectrum.
To get your finger on the pulse of just how dark you want your novel to be, think about how extreme you want the love interest to be in pursuit of the protagonist. The more extreme the love interest is, the darker the novel becomes. For example, suppose your love interest pursues love in ways that are generally considered socially unacceptable, like possessiveness and obsession. If that’s the extent, the audience will begin to feel uncomfortable but overwhelmingly feel emotions traditionally associated with romance. That’s a lighter dark romance novel.
Suppose the story has the love interest pursuing love in extreme ways like kidnapping, trafficking, and non-consensual touching. In that case, the audience will likely experience feelings of distress that push it towards the horror end of the spectrum.
Let’s compare two different novels.
God of Malice by Rina Kent vs Crawl by Audrey Rush.
God of Malice lands on the lighter end of dark romance. This is a book that explores what authentic love looks like for a psychopath. It’s a book that emphasizes how each character makes the other a better person by being in a relationship, which is what romance is all about.
However, it’s still a dark romance novel, so it still has a horror edge. God of Malice is a novel where the relationship between the couple starts with one blackmailing the other. That’s not something you’d see in a traditional romance. It’s also a novel where the love interest ignores the protagonist when she says she doesn’t want a relationship with him. Those aspects can make the audience uncomfortable, but the story doesn’t get any darker than that.
Let’s look at Crawl, which has a much different emotional experience since it lands on the horror end of dark romance.
Crawl is a book that explores the love between a serial killer and a traumatized woman. In this novel, we see a lot of graphic violence. There’s a scene when the love interest mutilates and dismembers one of his rivals. We see the serial killer choke someone to death, and it explores sadism and masochism in its sex scenes. Those are all horror elements that can deeply distress the audience.
However, it’s still a romance. Those elements are contrasted with the love interest being the one person who accepts the protagonist for who she is. He helps her deal with her childhood trauma and even protects her from people who want to hurt her. Those are all romance elements that give this book a softer edge.
Those two novels have very different emotional experiences, yet they’re both dark romances.
For every writer out there figuring out how dark you want your story to be, one of the best things you can do is decide what emotional experience you’re creating. Where do you land on the spectrum?
Need help? Reach out to a dark romance editor.
