Romance

I prefer things a bit more on the spicy side, which, like you, depends on my mood and the story. About the only romances I don't read are Inspirationals, but that's because, not being religious, I'm not the target audience for that specific type of romance.

I can't tell you whether my method works or not, but I can tell you what works for me:

One of those things is to figure out what's romantic to you, and what's romantic to your characters. If it doesn't sound romantic to you, or doesn't sound like it'd fit the characters, of course the results are going to ring hollow and come off as trite or cheesy. And if you feel that way, your readers might feel that way, too.

The other thing I've found is that sometimes, you have to embrace the cheese, especially if you're writing anything with a comedic element or an overall light-hearted tone. Sometimes, the cheese just...works.

But those are just things that work for me.

I usually include some element of romance in my novels. It's not usually the focal point, though. I also try to have it be somewhat realistic. My favorite part is really developing the relationships before they become romantic. I'm writing one of my favorite couples for a fanfic, and they've just reached the point where they're beginning to trust and confide in each other, completely platonically. They met at the beginning, and I'm about fifty chapters in. I love it when you have time to see why the characters work together.

As for the innocent-to-spicy scale, I like it either way. Just so long as I can root for the characters in their relationship, I'm good.

I've recently admitted to myself that I am a romance writer after all. Regardless of whether the genre itself is horror, speculative fiction, or southern gothic, the relationship really is the driving force of the story. I think what keeps a romance going in fiction is ultimately conflict. And I don't mean that as "fighting" between the people in the relationship. Conflict comes in all forms, whether it's the concerned parent or friend, the new job that takes one of the characters to the other side of the world, or that one person is allergic to the other person's cat. Couples have to work through things like this, communicate, and conversate all the time. People also need to have fulfilling lives outside their relationships. Whether at work, with friends or family, or personal hobbies like a cooking class, book club, or favorite sports team, there has to be a point of interest outside the relationship. I'd also, personally, advise a conflict that has nothing to do with the relationship as well - something that the couple has to go through together and puts them closer together. This can be as minor as having to fix a flat tire when they're already late to a friend's birthday party, or as big as battling zombies or aliens or zombie aliens.

The thing I've noticed about publishing in the romance genre, is that short of a happy ending, there isn't really a standard formula. People are looking to revitalize old tropes, however. There's a push away from cliches and tired old romance novel plotlines. As one of my WIPs is teacher/student, I get to experience this first hand. I just polled a bunch of fellow romance authors about what they like and don't like about the trope and what I heard was that they're looking for something that feels new. Instead of it being all about seduction and love-at-first-sight, they want the slow burn of things developing over time, and internal conflict. I've found the most attractive thing about reading romance, is the longing. We want to write the storybook romance so bad, we forget about how attractive the wanting is.