For most people, the phrase “romance novel” conjures up images of cheap paperbacks with suggestive titles and covers decorated with shirtless men. Local romance writer Cat Wynn explores the stigma, misogyny and gender politics that surround the genre through her podcast, Tall Dark & Fictional.
“While many might view romance novels as frivolous or silly, romance consistently outsells most every other genre, provides happiness to people during hard times and offers art that centers pleasure but decenters the male gaze,” she said.
In 2021, one year before releasing her debut romance novel Partner Track, a rivals-to-lovers story set in a Charleston law firm, Wynn created the podcast to interview authors and talk about romance writing. She initially invited fellow author SJ Tilly as a guest, and the two writers hit it off so well, they decided to co-host the podcast.
“On the podcast, we talk about what it’s like to be in the romance community, which is a huge community that you don’t really know about unless you’re in it, because a lot of people are really secretive about reading and writing romance,” Wynn said. “There’s a lot of shame that comes with it, which is funny because it absolutely blows the numbers out of the water for any other genre. So people are definitely reading it. They’re consuming it. They’re writing it. They’re just being quiet about it.”
Wynn and Tilly don’t shy away from critiquing the issues within the genre.
“There are certainly issues that happen in romance: There’s racism, problems with even misogyny within romance,” Wynn said. “The publishing world is very White and very straight. While I totally think that romance is up for critique, it is something I prefer to see done in-house, because I feel like when people who do not understand the genre offer critiques of romance, they always get it wrong …
“They’re always like, ‘Oh, it’s mommy porn.’ And we talk about this on the podcast all the time. It’s good-old fashioned misogyny where art that’s done by a woman is minimized. It’s laughed at. It’s not seen as cool. But I’ll say this, and I’ve said this openly on the podcast, anything that only men like is generally awful.”
Wynn is tapping into a conversation that’s been trending this year on TikTok: “Booktok,” the colloquial name for a community of TikTokers who post mostly about books, has wholeheartedly embraced romance novels in all their raunchy glory. Some “booktokers” rate books based on their level of “spiciness,” a playful euphemism for the amount of sexual content.
“Romance is often written and consumed by women, and [it’s] work that does not center and revolve around men and what men are interested in. Men are welcome to read romance, but it is not written for them,” Wynn said. “To me, romance is countercultural in that sense.”
Though she’s always been a writer, Wynn didn’t feel drawn to writing literary fiction, and for a long time, put her writing aside. It was during the pandemic when Wynn rediscovered her love for historical romance novels, especially for the guarantee of a happy ending, she said. Wynn said even she had to contend with her own embarrassment to accept herself fully as a romance writer.
“Suddenly, I understood I should write romance, even though I was really embarrassed about it at first. But eventually, I just got over it. I started writing, and I joined some critique groups. And one day, I set out to write my debut novel.”
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