Fiction writing fits most easily into a variety of well-known genres, but what happens when you find yourself juggling more than one?

You could certainly write an adventure story without any serious romance in it. but I think the best of them tend to include motivations and back stories that presuppose romantic relationships of some sort. And romance stories could operate in a vacuum, absorbed in relationships but low on adventure. But what’s the fun in that, sometimes, other than titillation, perhaps? They can seem awfully flat.

In the current publishing world, however, I think some things have gotten out of balance, primarily on the romance side of things. It seems to me that a lot of romance is concentrating on the varieties of sexual relationships, perhaps in a hope of snagging particular specific reader kinks (um, I mean “interests”). In the process, they seem to scant the actual “adventure” story that the rest of the plot could depend on, much the way that the outright Victorian porn used to do (butler, meet inexperienced new maid). At best, what adventure is in some of their plots is just an engine to pose against.

On the adventure side, romance makes a great motivation for all sorts of story lines — we all love it when the hero wins the lady (or vice versa). But so many of the romance stories I’ve been suckered into reading lately have little weight at all — it’s like eating empty calories, where the flavored bits are just sprinkled on top.

Makes me think I’ve got to go read some more adventure books to get my proper dose of romance instead.

What’s your take on where a lot of romance is going, all by itself, sometimes? How do you keep it from being clinical, instead of wondrous, a foundation for a long term relationship? What warns you away when you read a blurb?