I don't usually give issues of journals an entry to themselves, but since this issue was specifically about romance, I decided I would. I have, though, only created entries for the academic works about romance which are included in it, and not for the works of creative writing (or the articles about bonkbusters and an Australian historical saga). The titles are listed below this description of the volume:
We asked scholars and writers to consider the theme “Trope Actually” in the context of romance fiction’s fascination with tropes and the ways tropes might unlock new lines of enquiry. Articles and creative works in this Special Issue explore reparation fantasies, diasporic romance, Indigenous representation, masculinities, queer romance and “bad” romance, featuring abuse. When taken together, contributions in this issue consider tropes in romance fiction and the socio-cultural insights this line of enquiry can offer. Tropes are a commonly understood staple of romance fiction, discussed openly on BookTok and Bookstagram (book lovers’ names for book-focused TikTok and Instagram reels and posts) and used to market books by publishers and authors. Tropes in romance can be character-based (cinnamon roll heroes, cowboys, billionaires, grumpy/sunshine, bad boy) or story-based (second chance, enemies-to-lovers, one bed, forced proximity) or they can involve the setting (small town, college, office), season (Christmas, vacation), sub-genre (romantasy, cosy mystery, sports) or time period (Regency, Old West). Naming and categorising tropes has become a way for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for in a romance novel every single time. In the past, this attention to the hyper-specificity of narrative structures has been a feature of academic scholarship, but now everyday romance readers are driving the mainstreaming of trope identification. The importance of tropes to the industry can be seen by the decision by Romance Writers Australia (with over 700 active members) to employ “Tropes Actually” as its 2024 conference theme. This special issue grew out of an academic symposium attached to the 2024 Romance Writers Australia (RWA) conference in Tarntanya/Adelaide and led by the Degrees of Love research collective at Flinders University.
Guest editors: Amy Matthews, Justina Ashman, Millie Heffernan, Payton Hogan, Abby Guy, Harrison Stewart, Kathleen Stanley, Alex Cothren & Elizabeth Duffield
Special Issues Series Editors: Ella Jeffery and Julienne van Loon
I don't usually give issues of journals an entry to themselves, but since this issue was specifically about romance, I decided I would. I have, though, only created entries for the academic works about romance which are included in it, and not for the works of creative writing (or the articles about bonkbusters and an Australian historical saga). The titles are listed below this description of the volume:
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Editorial: Degrees of Love and Trope Actually
A real bad boy: How Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us exploits romance tropes
“You’re a total dick sometimes, but it’s a tolerable kind of dickishness”: Hegemonic masculinity and sports romances
Happily ever after in the age of climate crisis: The argument for “cli-ro”
Reading the Romance in Australia: The Preferences and Practices of Romance Readers from ARRA Survey Data