Women’s Fiction vs. Romance: What’s The Difference?

If you’re serious about becoming a published author, determining your novel’s genre is one of the most important things you have to do. 

Not only do you need to know what readers expect from a story like yours, but you’ll also need to know how your novel fits into the marketplace to determine which agents you’ll pitch (if you’re pursuing traditional publishing) or how to get your book in the hands of readers (if you’re self-publishing).

But determining your book’s genre can sometimes be less straightforward than you’d think—especially if your book is toeing the line between Women’s Fiction and Romance.

In this post, I’m going to walk you through the difference between Women’s Fiction and Romance so you can write the best book possible and snag the attention of both agents and readers alike.

Before we can talk about the difference between women’s fiction and romance, we need to talk about genre because the term “genre” can mean different things depending on what you’re talking about and/or who you’re talking to.

5 Ways To Look At Fiction Genres

Did you know there are actually FIVE different ways to talk about the genre of any given story? Here’s what I mean:

• Is it literary, upmarket, or commercial fiction?
• When does the story take place? Is it historical or contemporary?
• How old is the target reader? Middle grade, young adult, new adult, adult?
• What kind of setting (or reality) does the story take place in? Fantasy? Sci-Fi?
• What is the content genre (or mix of content genres)?

If you answer these five questions about any story, you’ll have a lot of different ways to describe the genre of that story. 

For example, Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is often defined as Historical Upmarket Women’s Fiction. This description speaks to the time period (historical), the writing style (upmarket), and the target audience (women’s fiction). But depending on who you’re talking to, they might just call it Historical Fiction or Upmarket Fiction or Women’s Fiction. It’s also a story that includes a romantic relationship, yet it’s not classified as Romance. Why is that? 

Well, herein lies one of the biggest differences between Women’s Fiction and Romance (and one of the biggest sources of confusion)...

Both Women’s Fiction and Romance often include many of the same elements—there’s usually a female protagonist who has some kind of internal obstacle that they need to overcome before they can be truly happy or fulfilled. There’s often some kind of romantic relationship—and relationships in general (platonic, familial, or romantic) usually play a large role in the plot. So what is the difference?

The biggest difference between Romance and Women’s Fiction lies in how the author mixes (and prioritizes) their content genres.

Content genres tell us writers what kind of content we need to include in a story to deliver on readers’ expectations—things like what kind of plot events need to happen, what kind of character roles need to be filled, what kind of conflict the characters will face, what’s at stake (or what the characters stand to lose or gain), and so much more.

As a case study, I’d like you to consider two different stories—Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and The Duke & I by Julia Quinn:

• Both stories feature women protagonists
• Both stories include a romantic relationship 
• Both stories deal with gender and societal issues
• Both stories take place at a specific point in history

Yet one is categorized as Women’s Fiction (Lessons In Chemistry), and the other is categorized as Romance (The Duke & I), so what gives?

They have different content genres! The Duke & I is primarily a love (external genre) + worldview (internal genre), while Lessons In Chemistry is primarily a society (external genre) + status (internal genre). So, although both stories feature similar elements, the difference in their content genres causes one to be classified as Romance while the other is classified as Women’s Fiction. 

So, here’s what this means for you if you’re writing Romance or Women’s Fiction…

How To Write A Romance Novel

Romance novels follow a very specific framework—the potential lovers meet, they face different obstacles and conflicts, and then eventually end up getting together and living happily ever after (or, at the very least, happily for now). 

There might be other things happening in the plot, but the romantic relationship is always the primary focus. This means the key plot points must revolve around the romantic relationship—moving your characters closer to (or farther from) that happily ever after (HEA) ending.

You should also aim to include these romance genre conventions and can choose to include whichever romance genre tropes make sense for your story (friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, etc.).

When it comes to crafting your protagonist, consider their views on love, intimacy, and connection. Why don’t they have a happy, fulfilling relationship at the beginning of the story? What inner obstacle must they overcome to get their happily ever after? 

In a Romance novel, the protagonist’s emotional journey (or character arc) must always be in service to the relationship. 

This means your protagonist must grow and change (or go on an emotional journey) in order to get their happily ever after. If they don’t grow and change, the romantic relationship won’t work.

Finally, brainstorm the 3 key ingredients of sizzling character chemistry listed in this article—vulnerability, desire, and resistance—to give readers the emotional experience they’re looking for. 

Remember that readers are turning page after page to find out if your two characters will get together and live happily ever after or not. 

There can be plenty of tears, anger, and pain along the way as long as when readers close the book, they know the characters are going on with their lives, happy, content, and in love.

How To Write A Women’s Fiction Novel

Women’s Fiction novels have a little more flexibility in terms of content genre. 

In most cases, these stories prioritize one of the internal content genres (worldview, status, or morality) to highlight the protagonist’s emotional journey. This means your key plot points must revolve around your protagonist’s emotional journey—moving your character closer to (or farther from) becoming a more fulfilled version of themselves.

(If you’re thinking this sounds like most stories that have an internal character arc, you’re right! But here’s the difference…)

In something like a true Romance novel, the key plot points must revolve around the romantic relationship. However, in a women’s fiction novel, the key (external) plot events don’t necessarily have to be tied to one external throughline.

For example, in Lessons In Chemistry, many things affect Elizabeth Zott’s emotional journey—the workplace, the relationships she has (or doesn’t have) at work, the cooking show, her romantic relationship with Calvin, the relationships she has with the neighbors, society, having a child, etc. These are all external things that influence her emotional journey throughout the story.

Although true Romances like The Duke & I also include many different subplots and side characters, the romantic relationship is the primary (external) thing that encourages both Daphne and Simon to grow and change (and eventually end up together, living happily ever after).

So, what does this mean for you if you’re writing a Women’s Fiction story?

You still need to choose at least one external content genre to help you frame and build the external conflict that triggers your protagonist’s emotional change. 

Once you determine your mix of content genres (both internal and external), you can use the search bar on this blog to find the key scenes and conventions you’ll need to include. To make things easier for you, here are the most common content genres found in Women’s Fiction:

• Worldview genre key scenes and conventions
• Status genre key scenes and conventions
• Love genre key scenes and conventions
• Society genre key scenes and conventions (coming soon)

Although these are the most common content genres found in Women’s Fiction, you can probably make any combination of external and internal content genres work as long as the protagonist’s emotional journey is at the front and center.

When it comes to crafting your protagonist, you’ll need to do the work to flesh out their backstory to uncover their inner obstacle. What kind of misbelief, fear, or wound is preventing your character from becoming a more fulfilled version of themselves? What’s holding your character back from true happiness and fulfillment?

Like Romance novels, Women’s Fiction stories focus on relationships. But the relationships in Women’s Fiction don’t have to be romantic. They can be platonic relationships with friends, neighbors, and coworkers. They can be familial relationships with siblings, parents, or children. And they can also be romantic relationships, too. 

Either way, consider how the people in your protagonist’s life help or harm their ability to grow and change (or to overcome their inner obstacle). 

You may also want to consider what bigger issues you want to tackle (if any) in your story because Women’s Fiction tends to be more “issue-driven” than Romance (but again, not always).

For example, in Lessons In Chemistry, Elizabeth Zott deals with gender inequality in the workplace throughout the story. These “bigger issues” help tie all the external conflicts together (her relationships and the effect those relationships have on her work and vice versa), which in turn moves her emotional journey forward.

Consider things like what it means to wrestle with alcoholism, abuse, family dysfunction, divorce, the struggles inherent in dealing with sicknesses such as cancer, mental illness, Alzheimer’s, or any other issues that people (women in particular) face.

This is why many Women’s Fiction stories tend to fit in the Society content genre and why many Women’s Fiction stories can also be classified as “book club fiction”—they tend to tackle bigger issues and spark discussion more than Romance novels do. 

Above all else, know that readers of Women’s Fiction want to go on a deep emotional journey to feel like they’re not alone—to feel seen and to understand themselves (and those around them) a little bit better.

They want to learn new ways to cope with their struggles that seem daunting at the present time—the loss of a loved one, dealing with aging in a culture that values youth, the issue of not having (or not being able to have) children, a failing marriage or lack of deep relationships, or lack of rights, etc.

By putting your character’s emotional journey front and center—and by using the external plot events to move them along this emotional journey—you’ll be able to deliver a Women’s Fiction story that satisfies these expectations and more.

3 Questions To Help You Decide Whether You’re Writing Women’s Fiction or Romance

If you’re still not sure which genre best suits your story, here are 3 key questions to help you make the decision:

• When you imagine the end of your story, is there a happily ever after for the protagonist’s romantic relationship? If so, you’re probably writing Romance. If not, you’re probably writing Women’s Fiction.
• Is the romantic relationship more like one of the many threads woven into the tapestry that is your story? Or is the romantic relationship more like the tapestry that other, smaller threads are woven into? If the former, you’re probably writing Women’s Fiction. If the latter, you’re probably writing Romance.
• When you think of your protagonist’s arc of change, does meeting their love interest act as the catalyst for emotional growth? Or is their romantic relationship just a piece of the bigger puzzle that triggers their emotional growth? If the former, you’re probably writing Romance. If the latter, you’re probably writing Women’s Fiction.

Final Thoughts

Alright, there you have it! The differences between Romance and Women’s Fiction and some considerations to keep in mind while writing either type of story. To learn more about Women's Fiction, check out this PDF guide from the Women's Fiction Writers Association.

If you want to go deeper into what makes a Women’s Fiction story work, check out the replay of our Lessons In Chemistry book club meeting! Abigail K. Perry and I analyzed this story as a mixture of the Society (external) and Status (internal) content genres, talked through how to write a story that’s more character-driven, and so much more. Click here to get immediate access to the replay!