PLOT:

• The plot of the romance is usually a quest, which follows the general outlines of Campbell’s monomyth: Separation, Initiation, and Return
• Romance is a comedic form, which means the hero ends by being incorporated into society
• Many SF novels are also Bildunsroman -- novels of development which show the hero's growth into maturity.

CHARACTERS

• Romance is a literary form in which the hero's power of action is greater than that of ordinarly humans.  There are limits on what the hero can do; he isn't a god.
• Romance typically has characters which are not very realistic but instead fulfill roles.  (See chart of character functions) Characters tend to be divided into black and white chessmen. The hero tends to be a young person who doesn't yet know who s/he is.

THEMES/ IMAGES

• Romance is often the story of the "loss and discovery of identity," according to Frye.   Often SF heroes, like romance heros, don't know their parentage or their role in the world.
• Romance is almost always the story of the battle between good and evil.
• The imagery of Romance often contrasts archetypes of heaven and hell- - Edenic and demonic.

• Romances take place in a world where magic can happen, a mysterious, magical world, which resembels or is related to ours but also is richer, brighter, fuller.  (Wizard of OZ: technicolor)

SF/F

• In fantasy the limits to the hero’s power are provided by the rules/laws of magic; in SF the limits are the laws of nature and the conventions of what is scientifically possible or probable.