The Romance Novel as a Study in Character Development

I don’t usually read romance novels. It’s not that I don’t believe in romance and love and all the rest that go with it; it’s just I have preferred suspense and detective/mystery novels. However, as most of us know, a little romance fits in anywhere – so, I told myself, why not read it? I might find myself enjoying it.

Debbie Macomber’s novel, Twelve Days of Christmas, definitely fits into the romance genre. I do recommend the book for all readers, although I can picture several students and readers now wrinkling their nose at my suggestion. So, for all of you who feel the same way I felt about romance novels, listen up: we may all learn something new or be reminded of something we need to incorporate into our own writing.

Twelve Days of Christmas isn’t that long – 268 pages to be exact and the writing flows so there are no obvious blocks to the reading flow. Macomber, however, spends a great deal of the novel in character development. So much so that by the time the reader hits the ¾ point of the book, he or she is wondering what is to come of these characters that have fallen in love in the twelve-day-time span. (I know . . . is that even possible?!)

After the reader is finished with the novel, the way Macomber utilizes character development is obvious: the reader knows and understands both characters – the female and the male. And the reader fully comprehends why both characters have behaved the way they have throughout the entire novel. If Macomber hadn’t spent so much time developing the characters, readers wouldn’t care if they resolved their differences in the ending, and they also wouldn’t be left pondering over the lives of the characters and where they can go from this point on.

So Dear Reader, even though Twelve Day of Christmas may not incorporate the elements of a mystery novel or even have a sense of an adventure story, we as readers/writers do learn first hand the importance of character development.