Romance Stories Reaching New Heartfelt Heights Via Generative AI

In today’s column, I’ll be exploring the heartfelt topic of writing romance stories, which can be accomplished readily via the use of modern-era generative AI and large language models (LLMs). Turns out there are serious considerations involved, touching upon numerous societal and cultural norms, business and economic facets, mindfulness factors, and the like. You could say that romance or at least romantic tales are in the air and that AI is now contributing to stirring the hearts and minds of many.

Let’s talk about it.

This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

Defining Romance Stories

I’m guessing that at some point you have likely read a romantic tale. This would almost seem a certainty. From a young age, we experience romantic stories that garner our imagination and enthrall us with emotional roller coasters entailing love both gained and lost. Adults generally relish romantic renditions. Some see it as a form of escapism. You can allow your imagination to roam and dreamily think about the joys of romance.

What exactly constitutes a romance novel or story?

Consider the definition stipulated by the Romance Writers of America on their website under the title of “About The Romance Genre” stating these vital underpinnings (excerpts):

• “Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.”
• “A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as they want as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.”
• “An Emotionally Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.”
• “Romance novels may have any tone or style, be set in any place or time, and have varying levels of sensuality—ranging from sweet to extremely hot. These settings and distinctions of plot create specific subgenres within romance fiction.”

Notice that the expressed requirement is that a romance novel contains an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending.

Do you agree with that stipulation?

You might readily quibble with it.

Readers Of Romance Stories

Who reads romance novels?

According to “Romance Novel Sales Statistics” by Dimitrije Curcic, Words Rated, October 9, 2022, these are some key stats about romance novel sales and their readers (excerpts):

• “Over 33% of books sold in mass-market paperback format were romance novels.”
• “Romance novels generate over $1.44 billion in revenue.”
• “Romance reached over 39 million printed units sold over the last 12 months as of May 2023.”
• “Sales of romance novels more than doubled compared to 2021 figures.”
• “82% of romance readers are women, and 18% are men. 45% of romance readers have a college degree. Today, the main romance-reading group is women ages 18 to 54.”
• “Top 5 selling romance novels of all-time: (1) Fifty Shades of Grey, Series (2011-2021) by E. L. James, (2) The Thorn Birds (1996) by Colleen McCullough, (3) Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen, (4) Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell, (5) Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon.”

Romance novels amount to well over a billion dollars in sales annually. That’s a good sign. Give credit where credit is due. The sales keep rising too.

The bulk of readership tends to be women. Of those, half possess a college degree. A related false assumption is that men don’t read romance tales. The statistics cited indicate that nearly one-fifth of the readers are men.

Romance Stories And Our Minds

Some researchers view literary fiction and romance tales as bearing on our cognitive capacities and can be psychologically impactful. In a research study entitled “Reading Literary Fiction Is Associated With a More Complex Worldview” by Nicholas Buttrick, Erin Westgate, and Shigehiro Oishi, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2023, these key points were identified (excerpts):

• “In trying to understand the roots of the psychological effects of reading fiction, researchers have converged on a paradigm that casts narrative experience as a way of safely simulating the social world: through the work required to step into the shoes of others, we gain practice in engaging with other minds and gain psychological anecdotes to draw upon when encountering differences in the real world.”
• “Whether it be through practicing the process of social cognition or gaining archetypes to use as a jumping-off point for understanding the behaviors of others, narratives allow for a richer processing of the social world.”
• “In line with this view, meta-analyses show that those that read more fiction have better empathic abilities and a stronger ability to take the perspectives of others, both correlational and when exposed to fiction in controlled experiments.”
• “We propose that literary fiction alters views of the world through its presentation of difference—different minds, different contexts, and different situations—grounding a belief that the social world is complex.”

The gist is that reading literary fiction can be useful in exercising our minds and expanding our worldviews. Out of this can come the upside of being more empathetic to our fellow humans, see my coverage on empathy intertwined with AI at the link here.

Using Generative AI To Write Romance

Generative AI opens the door to devising romance novels and short stories that will go in whatever direction your heart desires. You don’t need to wait for some publisher to decide what romance stories are going to sell. Skip the middleman and devise your own romantic tale.

The tale doesn’t have to conform to the prevailing norms. It doesn’t need to pass the dollar-making tests of publishers. This is romance as you see fit. If you want to go beyond contemporary tropes, you are welcome to do so. The sky is the limit.

Here are eight vital ways to use generative AI when it comes to romance stories:

• (1) Screening. Generate AI can be used to examine published romance novels for criteria such as being clean of untoward words or passages, determining age-based appropriateness, etc.
• (2) Assessing. Generative AI can be used to assess existing romance novels for your specific tastes and preferences and let you know if the novel would be appealing to you.
• (3) Summarizing. Generative AI can be used to summarize romance novels for you (when you don’t have the time to do the reading yourself).
• (4) Rewriting. Generative AI can rewrite a romance novel to fit your desires (but, watch out for copyright infringement, see my coverage at the link here).
• (5) Extending. Generative AI can be used to extend a romance novel to keep it going (again, be mindful of not violating copyrights).
• (6) Composing. Generative AI can be used to compose romance novels of a generic variety (this allows you to abide by common tropes, if so desired).
• (7) Tailoring. Generative AI can be used to write romance novels hyper-personalized to you (this is the true sweet spot of using generative AI).
• (8) Conversational. Generative AI can be used to interact with you in a romance story setting, ever-changing, everlasting, like a series that never ends until you want it to end (realize that generative AI is intended to be conversational).

Example Using ChatGPT

I opted to ask ChatGPT to craft a relatively short romantic story for me.

Here we go.

• My entered prompt: “I want you to write a romance story for me. It is to be relatively short in length. I want there to be two main characters, Lauren and Eric. The two of them meet at work. A romance starts. The romance kindles and grows. They fall in love. Along the way, they must overcome obstacles together. In the end, they get married and live happily ever after.”
• ChatGPT generated response:

“Sure, here’s a short romance story featuring Lauren and Eric.”

“Romance Story Entitled: Love Beyond the Desk”

“Lauren had always thrived in her bustling office, her vivacious spirit lighting up every room she entered. Her colleagues admired her not just for her intelligence and beauty, but for the way she made even the most mundane tasks seem exciting. One day, a new team member joined the company—Eric, a man whose striking good looks and impressive physique were matched only by his keen intellect.”

“Their first interaction was nothing out of the ordinary. Lauren and Eric exchanged polite smiles and brief pleasantries as they worked on a joint project. Lauren found herself intrigued by Eric’s confidence and quick wit, while Eric admired Lauren’s ability to navigate complex problems with grace and enthusiasm.”

“Weeks passed, and their professional interactions began to shift. They found themselves staying late at the office, working side by side. Their conversations grew longer and more personal, often drifting away from work topics. Lauren discovered that beneath Eric’s imposing exterior was a thoughtful and caring individual who shared her passion for adventure. Eric, in turn, was captivated by Lauren’s zest for life and her ability to make every challenge seem like an exciting opportunity.”

“One evening, after a particularly grueling project deadline, Eric invited Lauren for a coffee to unwind. Their conversation flowed effortlessly, and as they laughed over shared stories and dreams, the air between them crackled with a new, undeniable tension. That night marked the beginning of something neither had expected.”

“Their romance grew steadily, with each shared moment deepening their bond. They explored new places together, enjoyed quiet evenings at home, and supported each other through professional and personal challenges. Their love was tested when a major project presented unforeseen difficulties, causing stress and strain. However, facing these obstacles together only strengthened their connection. They learned to rely on each other, blending their strengths and compensating for each other’s weaknesses.”

“One rainy afternoon, as they strolled through a park near their office, Eric stopped and turned to Lauren. He held out a small box and, with a tender smile, asked her to marry him. Lauren’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as she said yes, her heart swelling with happiness.”

“Lauren and Eric’s commitment to each other was evident in every moment of their life together. They built a life full of laughter, adventure, and unwavering support. In the end, Lauren and Eric’s love story is a testament to the magic that happens when two people find each other and choose to face the world together, hand in hand. They lived happily ever after, their love a beacon that continued to shine brightly through every chapter of their lives.”

Go Ahead And Give It A Try

I thought that was a reasonably compelling romance story.

Generating such a story doesn’t have to be a one-and-done activity. A notable strength of generative AI is the interactive conversational capability. You can keep telling the AI to do this or that, making these changes and those changes, doing so until you feel like the romance tale is where it needs to be.

By and large, most of the major generative AI apps will produce a PG-rated romance story by default. This is due to the AI maker having added filters and made various modifications to try and prevent the AI from generating untoward content, see my discussion at the link here.

Please be cautious in entering personal information as seedlings for your romance stories. When you use most of the popular generative AI apps, you agree to the licensing agreement that usually stipulates that the AI maker can inspect your prompts. In addition, they can reuse that data for further data training of their AI. All in all, the point is that your personal privacy and confidentiality are not guaranteed, see my discussion at the link here.

A few final thoughts for now on this heady topic.

Famed novelist Janet Evanovich said this about romance novels: “Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.”

No more worries about having romance stories laying around. You can produce them on-the-fly, wherever you are and at any time, just be logging into your preferred generative AI.