Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • TIME

    How to write a romance novel in 2021

    Jul 09, 2021 4 minutes
    By Annabel Gutterman
    ILLUSTRATIONS BY WESLEY ALLSBROOK FOR TIME

    LINGERING TOUCHES AND STOLEN GLANCES, JAW-dropping revelations and long-awaited reunions—the pleasures of romance novels abound. Yet for so long, one of the most popular (and lucrative) genres in publishing has centered stories by, for and about a homogeneous set of women, bolstering the stereotype of straight white women as the romantic ideal and cementing the economic power of writers who share that identity.

    But despite long-standing systemic inequities, a growing set of authors has recently found success with swoony love stories featuring characters from backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the world we live in. Writers like Jasmine Guillory, who is about to publish her sixth novel in less than four

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from TIME

    TIME4 min read
    A Jumbled Parable With A Glowing Core
    Even when a movie is far from perfect, you can tell when a director has poured his soul into it. Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man—he’s also the movie’s star—is trying too hard, and for too much. It wants to be a political allegory, a somber s
    TIME4 min read
    Nemonte Nenquimo
    Someone recently asked me why it was important to protect the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling. The question made me angry. Can you imagine being questioned about the importance of protecting your home from being destroyed in a fire? Or about prot
    TIME3 min read
    Stepping Up
    Where do you find influence in 2024? You can start with the offices of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in Vilnius, Lithuania, where TIME met with Yulia Navalnaya earlier this spring. There, the activist is working with 60 supporters—whose anti-Kremlin

    Related Books & Audiobooks