By Eleanor Hecks

Whether you publish traditionally or independently, getting the word out about your books requires a lot of work and monetary investment. Social media is an obvious choice for promoting your writing because you can zone in and target your reader base.

You also don’t have to spend a fortune for a chance to succeed. However, knowing which social media platforms work best for your particular genre can be a bit trickier.

Making the situation even more complex is the fact that many authors cross genres with their work. For example, a writer might create a science fiction novel with some elements of romance. Effectively branching out into other genres’ communication channels can expand your reader base and bring you more sales, catapulting you onto bestseller lists.

Fantasy/Paranormal/Science Fiction

Out of the thousands of writers in America, fantasy and paranormal writers have a very narrow niche in which to attract readers. Promoting your books where your target audience spends the most time is crucial to success in a saturated marketplace. For this genre, the best places to promote include:

• Reddit: The amount of fantasy and sci-fi conventions available for readers of these genres proves that people who love fantasy often enjoy engaging with other fans. These readers want to discuss the complex worlds authors have built in-depth. Finding a communicative audience is easy if you join the right subreddit — for example, r/Fantasy, r/horrorlit and r/scifiwriting all boast large communities on the platform. Be careful about how and where you post as some subreddits frown on any type of self-promotion.
• Discord: Discord is a platform with a chatroom format that makes it perfect for encouraging readers to chat about your fantasy worlds or roleplay as your characters. You can even create your own section to directly interact with your readers.

Mystery/Suspense

Mystery has several subcategories, such as cozy, suspense, true crime and hard-boiled. Figuring out where you fit can help you narrow down the best places to market your writing.

• Facebook: The largest demographic of mystery readers are those over the age of 65, so it’s important to build your community around platforms that older readers navigate towards. Since Facebook is the most popular social platform among this age group, it’s beneficial to join Facebook groups aimed at mystery readers. Be sure to read the group rules to make sure you are allowed to self-promote. Once you get a feel for the group and participate in some other posts, it’s okay to share your own special offers and new releases.
• YouTube: YouTube is the second most popular social media platform frequented by older adults, so you might consider marketing your writing towards YouTube’s vast reader community. As of 2024, YouTube attracts around 2.49 billion active users each month. Consider creating a thrilling video trailer for your book or film a series of live or uploaded book readings for your audience.

Romance

Romance is one of the most varied genres with subgenres such as historical romance, sweet, steamy, suspenseful and inspirational. Finding the right place to promote your books may boil down to tapping into reader emotions.

Romance is a genre marked by emotion, so your social media efforts should likewise pull at readers’ heartstrings and create emotional bonds with your audience. Since emotion often has the most significant impact on customer loyalty, doing so could help you develop lifelong readers who anticipate every future romance novel you release.

• Instagram: The age range of romance readers is especially broad — while the average age range is between 35 and 39 years old, half of frequent romance readers are ages 34 and below. Thus, it’s important to find a social platform that appeals to a wide audience. Instagram is one such app in the top social platforms among both millennials and Gen Z readers. Posts could be aesthetic images that encapsulate the vibe of your novel or a video sharing your book’s synopsis.
• TikTok: In recent years, many romance authors have turned to TikTok’s #BookTok community to spread the word about their books. A short video clip that plays like a movie trailer can attract readers. Look at the types of posts going viral, which hashtags the users included and try different tactics to attract new readers.

Horror

If you think of Stephen King when you hear the horror genre mentioned, you aren’t alone. However, there is a huge range of possibilities you might have as a horror writer. Some books focus on realistic crimes while others add paranormal or supernatural elements.

• X (formerly known as Twitter): The Horror Writers Association has a strong presence on X, so it makes sense you’ll find a lot of posts and engagement from horror writers. Keep posts short and to the point. Also, because of horror’s particularly political nature, X is a great place to keep up with current events and trends related to your work.
• Goodreads: Goodreads is an Amazon-owned platform that allows readers to review books and interact with authors in the form of polls and discussion threads. You’ll find numerous groups dedicated to the horror genre in particular, such as Horror Aficionados and Paranormal and Horror Lovers, which makes the platform a particularly good place to market your writing and communicate with fans.

Children’s/Young Adult

Knowing where to reach younger audiences for your books can be a bit tricky. If you write picture books, you’re promoting more to the parents than the kids. However, young adult novels can be taken directly to Gen Z.

• TikTok: A vast audience of millennial parents and young adult Zoomers frequent the video-based app. This audience is also the most likely to buy a product directly from a social media app, so a sponsored post or TikTok Shop ad could go a long way with this target market.
• Snapchat: Millennials, in particular, seem to enjoy Snapchat’s immediacy. While you will have to promote a bit differently on Snapchat’s platform than on others, if you can gain a following with engaging content, you’ll make regular sales by adding details on there.

Pssst…Mindy popping in to say that there’s an amazing, rapidly growing kidlit community on BlueSky–plus gatekeepers such as teachers and media specialists! If you’re new to BlueSky, check out these helpful tips.

Finding Your Niche

Creating a personal brand as an author takes time and trial and error. Try different platforms and ideas until you hit the ways that drive the most traffic to your books. Over time, you’ll grow your reader base and wind up selling more books each time you release something new.

Eleanor Hecks is Editor in Chief at Designerly Magazine, as well as a freelance writer who’s passionate about helping other writers of all genres grow their following and community. You can find her work featured on publications such as IndependentPublishing.com and Self-Publishing Review, or connect with her on LinkedIn to keep up with her latest work.

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As a romance author, I’ve learned how to portray deep romantic relationships between my characters, focusing on techniques to make the relationship believable, healthy, and something readers will root for. Believe it or not, some of those same techniques can also help us portray strong friendships in our stories.

Let’s dig in… How can we show our readers a relationship—a friendship or more—that’s relatable and makes them believe the characters are close?

Introducing: Identities vs. Essences

For years, I’ve been a big fan of Michael Hauge’s approach to characters, and regular readers here will recognize the concepts he explores within Angela and Becca’s advice, such as Backstory Wounds and Fears. In that video linked above, Michael Hauge gives a quick overview of:

• How those wounds and fear elements create our character’s Identity, the persona/mask they’ve created to protect themselves from being terrified.
• How courageously overcoming those emotional obstacles allows our character to reach their potential, their Essence.

(If you’re unfamiliar with these Identity and Essence concepts or you’d rather read than watch a video, check out my post on showing our character’s internal journey for a full explanation.)

Basically, when our characters emotionally retreat, they’re fearfully hiding behind their protective Identity. However, that emotional armor usually prevents them from meeting their needs, internal goals, and/or longings.

On the other hand, when our characters take an emotional risk despite those wounds or fears, they’re stepping into their Essence. That step can also bring them closer to reaching those needs, goals, or longings.

Character Essences: The Key to Strong Relationships

Showing our character taking risks (especially those that require our character to be emotionally vulnerable) gives readers a glimpse into who they have potential to become, their true self. A character who’s willing to be vulnerable and risk-taking not only seems more heroic, but also more relatable. Readers may better understand what prompts their motivations, decisions, and actions—and thus feel a stronger connection to them.

Not surprisingly, just as readers can feel closer to characters who have shown their Essence, the same applies to relationships between characters. An Essence-to-Essence connection can be key to portraying a strong relationship.

Character Essences: Connecting in Romantic Relationships

In romance stories, if we want readers to trust and believe in the relationship, we need to show what the characters see in each other (beyond just the physical aspect of attraction). What makes them a good match?

To portray a deeper romantic relationship, we need readers to see the characters connecting on an Essence-to-Essence level:

• How do they fill in each other’s weaknesses?
• How do they build up each other’s strengths?
• How are they a better person with the other around?

In addition, in many romances, the love interest will recognize the other’s potential before the character does. In other words, the characters see through each other’s masks before they’ve even grown enough to risk taking them off.

For example, a hero who believes themselves unworthy of love might push others away in a gruff way. Their love interest can comment on their prickliness, teasing them about thinking themselves unlovable, which challenges the hero to rethink their Identity. If this observation comes before any deep sharing of fears between the characters, readers will believe the love interest is able to see the real potential of the hero, creating a sense of an Essence-to-Essence connection.

Most importantly, to portray a deep, healthy, believable relationship, that Essence-to-Essence connection should show the characters accepting and loving the other for who they really are.

Character Essences: Connecting in Friendships

A similar idea applies to friendships, “bromances,” and other close relationships between characters. If we want readers to believe that characters are close, we need to show an Essence-to-Essence connection between them, where readers see them being “real” or genuine with each other in some way. And most importantly, the characters must be shown to accept and care about each other for who they really are.

For example, to create a sense of a close relationship when one character is vulnerable with another, sharing fears or revealing wounds, etc., we can show the other character responding:

• in a supportive way,
• in a confrontational way, but make it clear the confrontation is done out of love, or
• in a non-supportive way, but make it clear the other character still sees and cares about the vulnerable character’s true self, and so on…

All those options (and others we may think of) show that the characters know each other on a deep level. Even if there’s conflict between them, readers can understand that the debate comes from the other character wanting what’s best for the vulnerable character, or especially in male friendships, that the characters’ ability to give each other grief and still be friends shows how close they are.

On the other hand, to create a sense of a close relationship when one character emotionally retreats from the other, such as being fake or putting on their “mask,” we can show the other character:

• calling them out on their b.s., or
• being supportive and understanding about why they might need to retreat for a bit, or
• relieving the character’s discomfort (such as by changing the subject), and so on…

Those options (or others we may think of) show a level of insight between the characters that can only come from a history of genuine interactions. So just like with the “unlovable” hero example in the romance section above, even though the character isn’t revealing their Essence in the moment, the other character still sees the real person.

Likewise, we can portray their connection with many of the same tools used in romance relationships. For example, romance readers love banter. In friendships, that banter may come across more like giving each other grief or teasing. They may share inside jokes, personal knowledge, common interests, protectiveness, rituals, or other things that show a history between them.

Final Thoughts about Portraying Relationships

An Essence-to-Essence connection doesn’t mean that the characters are always, 100% being genuine with each other. As with real-world relationships, the two-way street of a character relationship doesn’t need to be equal all the time.

Sometimes one character will be more reticent than the other, etc., or their behavior may be more teasing than supportive, and that’s okay. The point is to portray the relationship in a way that demonstrates that the characters can see each other’s real selves, even when the surface isn’t clear, and that they care about and accept those inner selves for who they really are. *smile*

Want an example of a bromance from the Disney+ show Loki season 2? Visit my companion post!

Were you familiar with Michael Hauge’s Identity vs. Essence concepts? Had you thought about the similarities in how we might portray relationships, from friends to romantic? Do you have any questions about Identity, Essence, or how we can use this technique to make readers believe in close relationships?

JAMI GOLD - Resident Writing Coach

Jami Gold put her talent for making up stuff to good use, such as by winning the 2015 National Readers’ Choice Award in Paranormal Romance for her novel Ironclad Devotion.

To help others reach their creative potential, she’s developed a massive collection of resources for writers. Explore her site to find worksheets—including the popular Romance Beat Sheet with 80,000+ downloads—workshops, and over 1000 posts on her blog about the craft, business, and life of writing. Her site has been named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer’s Digest. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Jami below.

The post Strong Character Relationships: From Friendships to Romance appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Writing Sexual Tension

Are you tired of writing boring and uneventful romance scenes? Do your readers seem disinterested or even put off by the lack of chemistry between your characters? Fear not!

In this post, I am going to explore how to build sizzling sexual tension in your novel that will leave your readers begging for more. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, these tips and tricks will help bring heat to your pages and keep readers flipping until the very end. So, buckle up, it’s about to get steamy in here!

What is Sexual Tension?

Sexual tension is a key ingredient in many successful novels. Whilst sexual tension turns up most in romance novels, it can be part of ANY story. For example, I wrote sexual tension in my crime novel, The Other Twin.

Sexual tension is that feeling of excitement and anticipation you get when something hot and heavy is happening between the characters, but they haven’t yet acted on their desires.

Done well, sexual tension can be incredibly addictive for readers. It keeps them turning pages late into the night, eager to see what will happen next.

If you’re hoping to create some sexual tension in your own novel, there are a few key things to keep in mind. Ready? Let’s go!

i) First, don’t rush it

Take your time building up the attraction between your characters. Let them flirt with each other, or exchange longing looks. Maybe they even engage in some light physical contact before they finally give in to their desires.

ii) Make sure the stakes are high

If there’s no risk involved, then there’s no real tension. Will giving in to their feelings ruin their friendship? Threaten their careers? Put them in danger? The more at stake, the higher the tension can be.

iii) Establish what each character wants

What are their goals? What do they want? Why do they want it? This will help create conflict and tension between your characters as they try to achieve their goals while also dealing with their attraction to one another.

iv) Build up the sexual chemistry between your characters gradually

Don’t let them fall into bed together too quickly. Let the reader see the simmering desire between them, the little looks and touches that build up the anticipation.

v) Use body language

A lot of communication is non-verbal. Use this to your advantage by having your characters give each other smouldering looks, brush up against each other accidentally, or engage in subtle flirtation.

Need help? Grab these Attraction Body Language Tip Sheets

When writing sexual tension between your characters, it is important to consider the body language you use. The way your characters stand, sit, or move can amplify the attraction and tension between them.

For example, if two characters are standing close together, their bodies may be angled toward each other in a way that suggests they are eager to be close. Or, if they are sitting next to each other on a couch, their legs may be intertwined in a way that suggests they cannot keep their hands off each other.

vi) Build up the anticipation

Don’t let your characters act on their desires too soon. Make them yearn for each other, wonder what it would be like to touch or be touched by the other person. The longer you can drag this out, the greater the pay-off will be when they finally give in to temptation.

By building up that sense of anticipation, you build up the sexual tension between characters. This means you can create a scene that is truly sizzling with sexual tension.

vii) Establish boundaries early on

Make it clear from the outset that there are certain things your characters will not do. This will heighten the sexual tension as they work around these boundaries.

For example, in the TV series The Rookie, there was sexual tension between Officer Bradford and his rookie Chen from the offset. However, he is her superior and a stand-up guy, so he would never act on this. Similarly, when Chen graduates and becomes an officer herself, she will not act on her feelings and cheat on her boyfriend with Bradford.

When the officers DO finally get together, Bradford has been promoted to sergeant. This prompts him to take a demotion so he can drop out of Chen’s line of command.

vii) Make sure your characters have flaws

No one is perfect, so by giving your characters believable flaws and vulnerabilities, you’ll make them more relatable—and increase the sexual tension as they try to hide those imperfections from each other.

viii) Write sexually charged dialogue

Sexually charged dialogue can be a great way to build sexual tension between characters in a novel. By writing dialogue that is flirty, suggestive, or even graphic, you can create a scene that is full of sexual tension. Erotica novels often do this, but you can utilise this technique in any story you choose.

ix) Don’t forget about the little things

Sexual tension is often created as much by what is NOT said or done. A charged silence, a stolen glance, an accidental touch … These are all things that can ratchet up the tension and leave readers desperate for more.

Concluding …

Sexual tension can be a key ingredient in making your novel sizzle. When it comes to writing romance into ANY story, one of the most important elements is sexual tension. This is what will keep your readers turning the pages, desperate to find out what happens next.

Remember to pay attention to the characters’ emotional states and body language. This will make all the difference between writing a mundane scene or a passionate encounter. If used correctly, creating this type of atmosphere can help readers get deeply invested in your book and its characters. MORE: Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Sex Scenes 

Good Luck!

LUCY V. HAY - Resident Writing Coach

Lucy V. Hay is a script editor, author and blogger who helps writers. She’s been the script editor and advisor on numerous UK features and shorts & has also been a script reader for 20 years, providing coverage for indie prodcos, investors, screen agencies, producers, directors and individual writers. She’s also an author, publishing as both LV Hay and Lizzie Fry.  Lizzie’s latest, a serial killer thriller titled The Good Mother is out now with Joffe Books, with her sixth thriller out in 2024. Lucy’s site at www.bang2write.com has appeared in Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life, as well as a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK (ninth in the world.). She is also the author of the bestselling non-fiction book, Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays: From TV Pilot To Feature Film (Creative Essentials), which she updated for the streaming age for its tenth anniversary in 2023.

The post How to Build Sizzling Sexual Tension in Your Novel appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Emotion is the heart of any story, and there is no genre where this holds more true than romance. Readers look forward to a romantically tense roller coaster ride (how’s that for alliteration) that feels authentic and satisfying as characters are drawn together. Often though, characters fight this attraction. They might have goals or responsibilities they believe require all their focus or have something to prove and so are determined to remain independent. And of course, many try to avoid entanglements because their past has shown them that love leads to emotional pain.

This last one (emotional pain), is almost always the biggest factor, and no wonder. When it comes to the heart, vulnerability threads itself through everything, leading to a deep, loving bond or a terrible wound that makes trust all but impossible moving forward. However, despite the baggage your characters lug into the story or their desire to avoid romantic collisions, our job is to bring the protagonist and love interest together.

When our characters are invested in a romantic connection, it’s easier to show it through behavior by progressing through the stages of attraction: Interest, Flirtation, Desire, and Lust.

These tip sheets from One Stop for Writers list some possibilities. (Download here)

But if one or both characters fight the attraction, there’s more of a push & pull progression to intimacy and connection, and showing that becomes more complicated.

The extra work is worth it, though. Friction means the romance won’t be easy, and readers love to bear witness to a challenge, especially when they can see how good the two will be together. When readers are invested and want to see a certain outcome, those pages keep turning.

What Does Character Resistance Look Like?

Characters who are fearful of being hurt often try to stay in control by denying their feelings. This resistance is mental as well as physical. For example, if the POV character is trying to resist or deny their feelings for another, they will often try to reframe the person in their mind, finding flaws to counteract the attraction they feel. These thoughts often carry a tone of anger, frustration, and impatience, because these emotions can help turn down the dimmer switch on their desire.

But will it work? It depends on the level of their attraction and desire. After all, control weakens when strong emotions swoop in. The more their desire takes over, the weaker their ability is to try and diminish the other person so they can trick themselves into believing they are not a suitable match.

One way to show this tug of war is to show a “disconnect” between what they think and what they do. People can try to lie to themselves about what they feel but in some way their body will always reveal the truth through uncontrolled responses (taking a step toward another, reaching out for them, getting flustered when speaking, etc.). For realism, our characters should behave as we do, so using this disconnect will show readers that despite whatever excuses the character tries to come up with in their mind or whatever they try to do to control the situation, love is starting to bloom.

One obvious type of “disconnect” might be your character telling themselves they are going to make a point of ignoring the love interest at an event, yet their attention is repeatedly drawn to them, and they seem unable to control it. When they realize what they are doing, the deception might weakly continue as they come up with arguments as to why such monitoring is needed. But the real reasons, often helped along by interest and attraction body language cues, will leak through to readers.

It can be tricky to show readers something that the character themselves doesn’t see, like their own primal attraction for another person. But this is where uncontrolled body language cues and visceral sensations (blushing, sweating, heartbeat racing) help show your character is being gripped by romantic feelings. And often the harder they try to resist, the more obvious their feelings become to other characters and the reader.

Need help writing body language tied to the Stages of Attraction?

Download these tip sheets that show some options for the Stages of Attraction (Masculine-Identifying and Feminine-Identifying), or grab the one on Character Love Languages.

Plus, while you’re at One Stop for Writers, swing by the Emotion Thesaurus Database which contains lists of body language, thoughts, visceral sensations and more for 135 unique emotions. 

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Fighting Attraction in Romance (Body Language Help) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

So many ingredients go into writing a strong romance. As with any other genre, we want to develop characters who are complex, fresh, relatable, and unique. They should have strong motives and desires, but also be a bit broken too, people who have been hurt by life, suffered disappointments, and see struggle. They will have had past relationship interactions that have changed them in positive or negative ways but ultimately have left them with a skewed vision on what future ones will look like. This will be a focus in the story as they meet someone they are attracted to that challenges their ideas of what a relationship can be, and awakens their desire to risk their heart in away they didn’t believe they would be capable of doing.

The story will also have tension – disagreements, misunderstandings, beliefs that clash, and possibly other forces that stand in the way, but eventually unmet love and belonging needs, and the story stakes will push the characters to fight through resistance, fears, and differences so each can become the other’s missing piece.

Bringing two people together, especially ones who may be jaded, initially mistrustful, and worried about being hurt by love again, must be handled with care to feel credible. They should be individuals focused on their own realities and goals, and yet their uniqueness, personality, values, and strengths are a perfect fit for the other person, so much so that fighting it is futile.

Writers of romance are obviously very focused on creating the perfect chemistry between the protagonist and love interest, but there’s a third person they also need to think about as they craft this complex tapestry of love: the reader.

If the reader doesn’t fall in love with the couple, the story flops, so they too need to be wooed. This can be tricky because each reader comes to the story with specific beliefs, needs, and ideas of what makes a good partner. Somehow, we need to make them see these two are perfect for each other, and the love interest is worthy of the protagonist.

One route to doing this is thinking about what women (the majority of romance readers) find attractive or admirable. So if you are looking for little ways to get readers to buy into your choice of a love interest for the protagonist, consider the following areas:

A Sense of Humor

There’s something very likable about people who see humor in the day to day, and especially if they can laugh at themselves occasionally. If your Love Interest displays this, a reader will warm to them.

Following Through

In a world where excuses are often made, plans are sidelined and people are marginalized, holding one’s word is important to women. How can your Love Interest follow through in some small way that shows what kind of guy he is?

Emotional Perceptiveness

In the real world some men struggle with expressing emotions as doing so makes them feel vulnerable. Communication is important in any relationship however, so especially in situations where a love interest is male, showing their willingness to voice feelings that may be difficult or ask perceptive questions that go beneath the surface are two things that will catch the attention of women readers. It needs to be organic, though. A love interest, male or female, that opens up the floodgates to their feelings when it isn’t their nature to do so won’t feel authentic. Find a balance that is believable.

A Willingness to Help

Women appreciate it when someone pitches in unasked. This shows the person is observant and willing to pull their own weight. If your Love Interest finds an opportunity to do this, they will endear themselves to female readers.

Good Manners

Common decency goes a long way: holding a door, offering a genuine compliment without strings, or even standing up on a bus so an elderly man can take a seat. Manners count, and women notice.

Generosity

Another quality women appreciate is the willingness to give time or resources to another, even when it isn’t asked for or expected. This shows women that your love interest looks beyond themselves and is perceptive to what others need.

Quiet Confidence

There is something highly attractive about a love interest who is confident but doesn’t need to prove it through grand gestures, overly decisive decision-making, situational control, or showiness. They are who they are, and don’t need to do things for approval or to impress.

Being a Good Listener

Women like to feel they are being heard, so if you can demonstrate this in your book, do so. This doesn’t mean a scene where the protagonist pours out their heart while your love interest faithfully listens, just a small moment in the story where your love interest acts thoughtfully BECAUSE they were listening.

Providing Support

Women are hardwired to place importance on security and family, so they approve of a love interest that has their life together: a steady job that shows they can contribute financially, maturity to be a good role model if the protagonist has a family, etc. Set the foundation to show that your love interest has the makings of a good life partner.

Another aspect of likability is when a reader identifies with the love interest because they exhibit qualities that earns their respect. Let’s look at a few of those as well.

Being Low Maintenance

Women are often mothers, wives, and have careers. They work hard and will have little patience for a love interest who is needy, immature, or full of dramatics.

Independence

Women respect independence. The love interest should be their own person and while their deep connection with the protagonist will complete them, the romance and “needing to be loved” should not be their only reason for being in this story. Flesh them out so they are complex and real, not arm candy.

Being a Fighter

Women fight for what they want, and who. The love interest shouldn’t quit at the first roadblock. Determination is what women want to see: wanting something bad enough to endure hardship or emotional discomfort to get it.

Inequity Struggles

Women often endure challenges tied to their gender, ones that place limitations on them or come with double standards. This leads to anger, impatience, and resentment, but if the circumstances to change things are outside their control, they must also find a way to move forward. Showing a love interest who similarly struggles with gender bias, discrimination, intolerance, or racism will help women feel solidarity and empathy for the character.

Having Realistic Flaws

Women are bombarded by media that reinforces they should prioritize looking better, standing out, and that they should do what they can to hide aging and lose extra weight. This reinforces the idea that how we look is more important than who we are. Women readers will likely not connect well to a love interest who looks and acts perfect, so stay away from the “flawless” stereotype. People are flawed, readers are flawed. Characters should be, too.

That’s my list…do you have anything to add?

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to create a love interest for your protagonist that readers will feel good about. If you need more help, check out One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder. Not only are there guidelines for brainstorming a Love Interest, this tool will help you explore a character’s deepest layers so you can write their behaviors, actions, and decisions authentically on the page. 

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post You Wrote a Killer Love Story…But Did You Romance the Reader? appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Creating characters can be an exciting time for writers, but it can also cause headaches if we don’t understand what motivates them or how they should react to certain situations and people. Aside from doing questionnaires and asking the right questions, there are other ways we can dig deep into our character’s psyche so we can bring two very different characters together or, if we prefer, keep them apart with lots of wonderful conflict. 

Gary Chapman, who has written the excellent book, The Five Love Languages, believes each of us have one or two distinct love languages that speak to our hearts, that make us feel loved and valued. These love languages are not just for romantic relationships, but also our relationships with siblings, parents, children, friends and even our co-workers and bosses. But first, what are the love languages? 

Love languages can be broken into five categories: 

Words of Affirmation

Affection is expressed through spoken word, praise or appreciation. Quotes, love notes, song lyrics and text messages can really make someone’s day if they speak this love language. 

Quality Time

Someone who speaks this love language wants you to put down the phone, turn off the television, make eye contact and actively listen. They want your undivided attention and to feel that you are present in the moment with them and you want to be there.

Receiving Gifts

Gifts are a symbol of love for someone who speaks this language. The gift itself is not important and it doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s the thought and effort that counts. For example, if your sister has a book series and one of them is missing from the out-of-print collection and you track down that missing copy, it will mean the world to her if receiving gifts is her love language. 

Acts of Service

People who speak this language feel loved when others do things for them. It can be as simple as putting the dishes away or washing the car without them asking you to. These kind gestures warm their heart and people who value acts of service are always doing things for others.

Physical Touch

This is not just about sex. People whose love language is physical touch show they care through hugs, holding hands, a small pat on someone’s arm, offering to give a massage at the end of your long day. Being in someone’s vicinity, not necessary touching, makes those who value physical touch very happy. 

I’d like you to try this 5 Love Languages Quiz (it only takes a few minutes) and see what your love languages are. Once you’re done, think about a relationship you have with someone you love dearly—a family member or friend. Perhaps ask them to take the quiz to find out their exact love language. Now compare theirs to yours. What similarities do you possess, and can you see areas where there could be conflict?

For example, one of you might be an Acts of Service person while the other values Quality Time. What happens when the Acts of Service person spends a lot of time showing they care by doing thoughtful things such as doing the washing, doing the gardening or renovating the house for the Quality Time person, who would much prefer Acts of Service to sit down and be in the moment with them? Good intentions aside, this could cause an array of conflict and misunderstanding between two people.

This is where you can have a lot of fun devising various sources of conflict between characters. To discover your character’s love languages, take the quiz on their behalf and compare the answers to other characters in your story. This may help you find ways to make them allies, or you might find new ways to create barriers between them.

Love languages can vary depending on who your character is with. For instance, the protagonist’s main love language at work might be Words of Affirmation while their love language with their sister is Acts of Service. With their spouse it might be Physical Touch. The character may deeply love each of these people, but the message can get lost if they’re not speaking in a language that the other understands.

Love languages can also change based on the character’s stage of life. For someone who’s dating in their twenties, Physical Touch could be their love language. But in their forties, with a young family and a hectic work life, it might shift to Acts of Service.

(Download the Love Languages Checklist.)

Misunderstandings can easily occur when people are speaking two different verbal languages. You get the same result when people express and receive love differently. So taking some time to figure out the love languages for the important members of your cast can give you great ideas for how to bring them together or pull them apart.

What love language do you or your characters speak? Did the answers surprise you? 

Happy writing!

ALLI SINCLAIR

Alli is an Australian multi-award winning and bestselling author whose fact-based fiction explores little-known historical events. Alli’s books have been voted into the Top 100 Australian novels of all time and when she’s not writing novels, Alli is working on international film and TV projects as a screenwriter and producer.

Alli hosts the Writers at Sea cruise retreat for writers, presents writing workshops internationally, and volunteers as a role model for Books in Homes. Alli is an experienced manuscript assessor and loves to work with writers to help their manuscripts shine.
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As a reader and writer, one of my favorite story elements is the romantic subplot: a blossoming romance between two characters that, while not integral to the main plot, often makes it more intriguing and enjoyable. Indeed, weaving romance into your story is an excellent way to develop your characters, heighten the emotional stakes, and recapture romance-inclined readers whose interest in the A-plot may be waning.

Of course, romantic subplots can only do all that when written well. A poorly constructed romance is merely a distraction that dilutes the plot, and should be avoided at all costs! That’s why I’m here to share my best tips on how to write stellar romantic subplots — in any genre, between any sort of characters — just in time for Valentine’s Day.

1. Know the Character Dynamics Going In

One of the biggest issues I see in romantic subplots is inconsistent character dynamics. This is jarring in any story, but especially when romance is involved: one moment the characters are ready to rip each others’ throats out, the next they simply can’t live without each other.

To avoid situations like this, develop your key characters’ dynamics before you begin writing your story. Having a strong sense of their defining traits and how these traits might mesh (and clash, for that matter) is crucial to creating a satisfying romance! That’s not to say your couple’s dynamics can’t evolve; on the contrary, they absolutely should. But for every shift in their behavior toward each other, there must be a reason — one that makes sense given their personalities and circumstances.

For example, in a classic enemies-to-lovers romance, you might have two characters whose worldviews seem totally at odds, which causes conflict at first. Yet as they spend more time together, they find they have more in common than they thought — say, their natural intelligence and joy in deep discussions, with the added bonus of witty banter — thereby realizing they’re actually perfect for each other. (Am I just describing When Harry Met Sally? Who’s to say.)

Speaking of enemies-to-lovers, if you’re stuck on the dynamics of your characters, it may be useful to think about romance tropes. Tropes can provide a great jumping-off point if you know you want a romantic subplot, but don’t know how to implement it; just be sure to add unique details, maybe even a twist or two, to make it your own.

2. Introduce Romantic Subtext Early

As you start writing, try to hint at the chemistry between your characters fairly early. Why so early, you ask? Well, because a subplot that fits seamlessly with the main plot needs to be built carefully and gradually, brick by brick. If the first stirrings of a romantic subplot arrive too late, it can come across as haphazard or forced.

On that note, you’ll also want to be subtle about it from the get-go. In my opinion, the best romantic subplots begin with such a light touch, the reader may not even register it — but later, when they realize that a romance is happening, they’ll delight in flipping back to previous romantic beats to see how you’ve paved the way.

The good news is that it’s easy to throw in a romantically charged moment early in your story! It takes no more than a few sentences, and can happen any time your characters interact. Maybe one person offhandedly notices how attractive the other one looks in a certain light, or becomes flustered by something the other says or does. (My favorite is the “lady doth protest too much” where one character insists they’re not attracted to the other, even though they clearly are.)

For concrete examples of this, I’d recommend any book by Leigh Bardugo, who’s truly mastered the art of the romantic subplot. Here’s a passage from Six of Crows, with the barest hint at the eventual romance between Kaz and Inej:

Despite everything she’d been through, Inej still believed her saints were watching over her. Kaz knew it, and for some reason he loved to rile her. He wished he could read her expression now. There was always something so satisfying about the little furrow between her black brows.

A character who enjoys teasing another, finding something “satisfying” about their face. Small details like these are all you need to drop a romantic hint and, again, to give readers something to look back on and think, “ohhh.”

3. Give the Characters Something in Common

As your characters’ relationship progresses, they’ll need something to bond over emotionally. Otherwise their attraction will be based on nothing but appearance, which doesn’t make for the most compelling romantic subplot.

The best way to foster this bond is by giving them something in common. This could be anything from a mutual friend or favorite TV show, to the same place of work. If you really want to solidify their emotional connection, make it a shared motivation or a dramatic event they go through together. Even if your characters are a case of “opposites attract”, you should be able to find some thing for them to have in common.

Jodi Picoult, another author who excels at romantic subplots, is especially skilled at this. In many of her novels, the couple has some sort of history — having been childhood best friends, college exes, or people who worked together previously — and kindle (or rekindle) a romantic flame as they grow closer over the story. This dynamic works well if there’d been a possibility of romance in the past, but something like timing or another relationship got in the way.

That said, characters don’t need history to bond. In fact, another interesting approach is to have two characters who hardly know each other, and may even harbor mutual dislike… until they discover the critical thing they have in common. This will cast them both in a new light and get them just a little closer to seeing what a good match they are.

4. Bring Them Together in a Vulnerable Moment

When it’s time to kick your romance into high gear, you can’t go wrong with a dash of vulnerability. Whether physical, emotional, or both, having one character experience a vulnerable moment in front of the other — or having both be vulnerable together! — is often the perfect catalyst for characters who need to confront their feelings.

Indeed, this technique crops up in just about every romantic subplot ever written. Let’s return to one of my earlier titles: in Six of Crows, Kaz’s longtime haphephobia causes him to faint in front of Inej, but he begrudgingly admits that he trusts her to keep his condition a secret. Another one of my favorite vulnerable scenes comes from the first Hunger Games book, in which Katniss takes care of Peeta after she finds him terribly ill. (To be sure, well-plotted YA books like these are a hotbed for romantic subplot ideas.)

Of course, whether your characters act on their feelings at this juncture depends on their individual personalities and character arcs. Maybe they fall into each others’ arms immediately, or maybe it’s a wake-up call that isn’t quite big enough for them to get together. If one character is particularly stubborn, they might even push the other person away in the aftermath, determined not to rely on anyone.

But whatever follows, there should be no doubt in the reader’s mind that this is a significant scene — and that these two characters, no matter how much they deny it (or how busy they are with everything else in the story), are meant to help each other through tough times.

5. Don’t Overshadow the Main Plot

While most of the tips here could apply to writing romance in general, this one is specifically for subplots: don’t get so carried away that the romance takes up more space than the main story. I speak from experience when I say it’s all too easy for romantic subplots to spiral out of control! After all, it’s much more fun to write scenes where your characters shamelessly flirt with each other than it is to progress the actual plot.

However, unless you want to turn your story into a bona fide romance, you’ll have to keep the banter to a minimum. Too much romance in a book that’s not actually a romance can throw off the pacing and distract readers — and besides, as noted above, less really is more when it comes to how you present it. When in doubt about whether you’re over-romancing the sauce, simply consider your ratios: if more than a third of what you’re writing is solely in service of a romantic subplot, you probably need to pull it back.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t have fun with it — quite the opposite! The more you, the author, enjoy writing a romantic subplot, the more that joy will shine through to create the same effect for your readers. And if you find that weaving such subplots is right up your alley, maybe you should try writing a romance novel of your own. Having taken this advice to heart (pun fully intended), you’ll be more than prepared to try.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories (and occasionally terrible novels).

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Capturing the unwinding threads of a relationship is complex. Just like the real world, our characters have a history of weaving those threads together, usually with the intent that their fabric will be as tight as Egyptian cotton. 

But people evolve, circumstances change, and sometimes a relationship isn’t strong enough. Usually these ruptures don’t happen quickly; they involve little tears and big tears over days, months, and sometimes years.

John Gottman, the guru of relationship therapy and founder of the Gottman Institute, outlines the following four factors as tell-tale signs that all is not well with a married couple. In fact, when the frequency of these four behaviors are measured within the span of a 15-minute conversation, Gottman and his fellow psychologists can predict which marriages will end in divorce with striking precision.

If you’re looking to capture this heart-breaking (or cathartic) process in your story, either with your main characters or with those memorable secondary characters, then consider these four predictors of relationship breakdown (they are a wonderful way to capture ‘show, don’t tell’ and to create some interesting moments into your story).

Contempt

Far more toxic than frustration, contempt is a virulent mix of anger and disgust which involve seeing your partner as beneath you. Apart from its direct consequences of either belittling or angering a partner, contempt involves one character closing themselves off to their partner’s needs and emotions. 

If you constantly feel smarter than, better than, or more sensitive than your significant other, you’re not only less likely see his or her opinions as valid, but, more importantly, you’re far less willing toput yourself in their shoes to try to see a situation from their perspective.

Consider these examples:

• Jane sends Jo a list of groceries for tonight’s dinner. When Jo gets home, Jane realizes that Jo picked up self-rising flour instead of plain flour. Jane becomes frustrated, asking Jo what sort of idiot doesn’t know the difference between the two. She even posts it on Facebook so her sisters can see what she has to live with.
• Barry is organizing his next fishing weekend with his two sons. Daria laughs as they are packing their tackle boxes, pointing out to their sons that she caught the biggest fish last time she went out in their godforsaken tin-can-of-a-boat.

Criticism

Like contempt, criticism involves turning a behavior (something your partner did) into a statement about his or her personal character (the type of person he or she is). As many of us have experienced or observed, fault-finding and belittling behaviors add up. Over time, darker feelings of resentment and contempt are likely to brew.

• Alex has a habit of leaving her cereal bowl—soggy, uneaten Wheaties and all—on the coffee table every morning. Sam makes sure she notes it each day as she collects them, pointing out what a lazy and inconsiderate partner Alex is.
• After a sleepless night, Jake overheats baby Bobby’s mashed pumpkin. When Bobby spits it out and starts screaming, Sally scoops him up, shouting over the top that when it comes to parenting Jake couldn’t raise a sweat let alone a child.

Defensiveness

Defensiveness involves a sense of protectiveness and guardedness about our thoughts and feelings. A character who is being defensive will often play the victim in; at times that may be justified…others, not so much.

• A couple are late to a cousin’s wedding. Ashleigh is the first to say, “It wasn’t my fault!” as they slip into a back pew.
• Jane is online to her best friend, typing furiously that she never got a chance to tell her husband about the dint in the car door because all he does is watch YouTube. If he gets upset about it, he can’t say she didn’t try to tell him.

Stonewalling

If your character can sense an argument brewing and their response is to shut down or walk away, you’ve got a stonewaller. Stonewalling can be just as toxic for a relationship as criticism or contempt because it keeps your characters from addressing their underlying issues. When perspectives don’t get a chance to be explored, then frustration is likely to morph into resentment.

• Ian and Sarah are arguing about their credit card debt. When Ian asks Sarah exactly how much those shoes cost, she turns and walks away. Picking up her phone, she retreats to the bedroom.
• During a parent teacher interview, Jacqui suggests that maybe their son isn’t succeeding in math because of the children he’s sitting next to. Her husband, Jed, rolls his eyes at the teacher, shifts his seat forward, and tells the teacher that their son just needs more challenging work as he’s obviously bored. Jed starts enquiring about extension work.

Are you seeing how you could weave these behaviors into your own narrative? I hope so! I’d love to hear how you’ve already done this, or how you plan on showing your characters’ unravelling relationship. 

TAMAR SLOAN

Tamar Sloan is a freelance editor, consultant and the author of PsychWriter – a fun, informative hub of information on character development, the science of story and how to engage readers.Tamar is also an award-winning author of young adult romance, creating stories about finding life and love beyond our comfort zones. You can checkout Tamar’s books on her author website.

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I was recently reading two story openings that were frankly amazing at conveying an established relationship in a matter of pages or even paragraphs. While many stories revolve around the protagonist meeting new people, such as in a typical hero’s journey plot, perhaps even more stories revolve around relationships that are established before the novel begins.

Many new writers have a difficult time conveying such relationships quickly, and to be honest, it can even be tricky for more experienced writers to figure out sometimes, especially if the relationship is very significant.

Whether you are working with best friends, significant others, parents and children, schoolmates, rivals, or downright enemies, here are several methods that can help.

Communicate what’s normal.

Every established relationship has been . . . well . . . established, meaning it has behaviors and attitudes that are typical in it. In one of the story openings I recently read, the protagonist had to deal with two, mean, cruel older sisters. First the meanness was rendered and then validated through narration. In the second one, what was normal of two brothers was simply conveyed through the way they talked to one another. In both cases, I immediately had context for what was typical.

Refer to or imply an off-page history.

Every established relationship has a history: how the characters met, what events have taken place between them, and how they got to where they are now. In some cases, they may have a “reoccurring history.” For example, every Saturday they happened to both be at the dog park, and that’s how they became friends (or enemies).

Have a character predict how the other will behave or react.

This immediately conveys that these two people know each other very well. Again, it can be more reoccurring: “Samantha always got cranky when she ran out of chocolate.” Or a specific moment: “I could already picture Monica’s eye roll before I delivered the news.”

If the relationship is long-term, give us a sense of how it has changed.

A lot can change between first falling in love and being married for ten years. Whether it’s a friendship, partnership, or even an enemy, naturally there will be some degree of growth or at least change. Give us a glimpse of how the relationship we see on the page now is different than it was before.

Round out likeness with foiling, or opposition with likeness.

One of the mistakes that is easy to make is to make participants in a positive relationship exactly the same, or participants in a negative relationship exactly opposites. But almost nothing can make a relationship feel more authentic and well-rounded quicker than having some of both. This means that even two best friends should disagree with or dislike each other to some extent, in some aspect. It’s even better if you can make them opposites in some way.

On the other hand, with an enemy, there should be some similarity and likeness between the characters, maybe even admiration (even if the viewpoint character doesn’t want to admit it). This will immediately make the relationship feel more complex.

For a more in-depth look at some of these points and at creating powerful positive relationships between characters, check out my article HERE. And if you don’t have time to read it, you can listen to it HERE on my Youtube page.

SEPTEMBER C FAWKES - Resident Writing Coach

September C. Fawkes is a freelance editor, writing instructor, and award-winning writing tip blogger. She has edited for award-winning and best-selling authors as well as beginning writers. Her blog won the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers Award, Query Letter’s Top Writing Blog Award and has over 500 writing tips. She offers a live online writing course, “The Triarchy Method,” where she personally guides 10 students through developing their best books by focusing on the “bones” of story.

To learn more, visit SeptemberCFawkes.com and grab her AMAZING free guide on Crafting Powerful Protagonists. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with September below.

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Love triangles are potent story devices, even if the triangle isn’t the story’s main concern. When I work with authors, one of the most common issues is underdeveloped plot situations, and love triangles definitely fall into this category. So here are some questions for you to think about, to make sure you don’t miss an angle.

For linguistic clarity, I’ll assume the simplest configuration: an established couple and one outsider – the lover. Of course, you might have several nested triangles, but the principles are still the same.

Why does it happen?

Consider why the lovers are attracted. For the cheating character, it’s usually something missing or unsatisfied. What does the lover add? It might be a dash of excitement or danger in a life that’s become too routine, but it might be the other way round. Perhaps the lover represents security and safety – like a gangster’s wife seeking refuge with a protection officer or a police investigator.

Is this the first time the cheating character has strayed, or do they make a habit of it? Again, what are they seeking?

They might be a philandering scumbag or a normally faithful innocent who let a situation get out of control. Whatever the details, there will be a push-pull between two opposing forces, and this might open a crack to the bottom of their soul. Will they be forced to make a difficult choice and confront their own duality?

And turn the telescope around – what is the lover looking for?

Will they try to resist?

Decide if your cheating character is going to fall in eagerly or if they’ll resist. Fans of the Hero’s Journey approach will refer to this as ‘refusal of the call’. Whether your character resists or not, what makes them want to continue? What makes them want to stop? How might this change over the course of the story?

What dilemmas does the affair present?

In most kinds of fiction (i.e., not erotica), the most gripping story situations are dilemmas. Look for all possible complications where the affair will present difficult choices, especially in other important areas of the plot. An affair isn’t just satin sheets and snatched embraces. It can upset the rest of the characters’ lives too.

Do all the characters care equally as much?

Most triangles are not equilateral. Are all three characters equally committed to their relationships? Does one character care far more, while for another it’s just a game?

Three’s a crowd

What jealousies could arise? Is the interloper jealous of the cheating character’s official partner? Does the cheating character have a reason to be jealous or suspicious of the lover? Lies beget lies. The need to deceive can become corrosive. And remember the fundamental dynamic of the situation: we have two people embroiled with a third. In this case we might consider that the shape is not a triangle, but an arrowhead.

Do they all know each other in other contexts?

Much delicious conflict can be gained if the interloping lover already has a close connection with the other member of the couple. They might be business partners, or king and adviser, or members of a band, or old school friends.

Who must never find out?

Secrets are great currency. Which other characters might find out about the affair and what trouble might that cause? Do any of the characters have children who could be affected? Are the lovers teenagers in school, and what would happen if everything came out?

And what might the principal characters have to do to keep the secret? Could somebody be blackmailed?

Dormant parts of the triangle

Are all members active in the triangle at once? One might be dormant – perhaps a former lover who is estranged but still harbours powerful feelings. Broken couples can make for poignant stories of sacrifice or self-understanding, or even tragedy or revenge. A former lover who is cast out might become a significant antagonist.

Is part of the triangle invisible?

This may be stretching the definition of triangle, but a character might have an admirer they’re not aware of. If this attachment is sufficiently strong or obsessive, it might cause the ‘lover’ to act in drastic or extreme ways. As a variation, two characters may be competing for a third, who might be completely unaware he or she is inspiring such feelings.

Who is in control, and might this change?

Perhaps at first, the person who is cheating is most in control. After all, they decide to bend the rules of their existing relationship and take a new lover. But stories are more interesting if the balance of power shifts. Look for ways to do this. Could the lover become more influential? What about the original partner?

Push-pull – who will win?

What should the end be? Story endings always depend on your genre, and love triangles are no exception. Triangles are intrinsically unfair to some characters, and involve betrayals and selfish behaviour. Does your genre have a particular moral climate? Will cheating on a partner be tolerable to your readers? Certain kinds of romance would definitely disapprove. Certain kinds of thriller or noir tale would say affairs are par for the course. Who will be left unhappy or disappointed?

Does your story world require a sense of punishment, a setting to rights? Or is the affair just part of the rich and warped tapestry of life?

The end of the affair?

If the affair ends a long time before the final pages, it’s not necessarily the last word. If the original partners get back together, there will have been a change. If the affair was discovered, trust will have to be re-earned, or perhaps the faithful partner will be shaken into doing new things. If the affair is not discovered, it might be a time-bomb throughout the rest of the story.

Develop all three characters thoroughly

Because the love triangle situation challenges characters so fundamentally, all three participants must be developed as rounded people. You need to understand their inner workings, life hopes, world views, role models, and comfort zones. Questionnaires might be particularly useful because if you fill in the same questions for all three characters it will encourage you to compare them directly and discover new areas for them to bond or clash. (Psst: I’ve got questionnaires in my book Writing Characters Who’ll Keep Readers Captivated: Nail Your Novel 2.)

Roz published nearly a dozen novels and achieved sales of more than 4 million copies – and nobody saw her name because she was a ghostwriter. A writing coach, editor, and mentor for more than 20 years with award-winning authors among her clients, she has a book series for writers, Nail Your Novel, a blog, and teaches creative writing masterclasses for The Guardian newspaper in London. Find out more about Roz here and catch up with her on social media.

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I was glad, then, to be introduced to Michael Hauge’s story structure for romance writers—because it took the guesswork out of my task. Hauge, a top Hollywood’s story consultant, proposes what he calls “The Lover’s Journey,” which mirrors the classic “Hero’s Journey,” but with some obvious differences.

Since I’m a big proponent of plotting a novel by starting with identifying the ten key scenes, I wondered how Hauge’s “12-Step” method might work alongside my method. What I soon discovered was that, by layering, I could craft a strong story structure with my romance novels without ignoring the important foundational scenes found in every good novel.

We’re going to go into some depth here, but don’t panic. I think it will all make sense.

The 12 Key Romance Scenes

Hauge proposes twelve key scenes in the romance structure. Not every romance story has to have all of these, but they’re the milestones you’ll see in most romance novels. I often leave out two or three and replace with ones that work better for my story.

Here are the twelve romance scenes (in my wording):

1. Ordinary World: We see the heroine’s normal world before she meets the hero.
2. The Meet: The lovers meet.
3. Rebuffed: Heroine has a negative response to the hero that shows they’re incompatible (or you can reverse all this and make this the hero’s reaction to the heroine).
4. Wise Friend Counsels: Heroine’s friend/mentor points out why the hero is right for her.
5. Acknowledge Interest: Heroine is forced to acknowledge her attraction to the hero.
6. First Quarrel: Lovers have an argument or disagreement that pushes them apart.
7. The Dance: Opposites attract and repel. Development of the relationship but with tension!
8. The Black Moment: Romance is dead, impossible due to something that’s happened.
9. The Lovers Reunite: They finally openly admit/accept they are fated/ meant for each other but things stand in the way.
10. Complications Push Them Apart: Tension precluding the big climax, usually due the complications of the subplot.
11. Together At Last: Working together, thrown together, at the climax to overcome the last big obstacle (emotionally and actually), they are finally together or joined in love and purpose.
12. HEA: or happily ever after. The reward for the hard journey.

So let’s take a look how you might layer these romance scenes over the ten foundational novel scenes.

Take a deep breath and don’t get overwhelmed. Pretend this is all fun (because it is!).

NOTE: The 12 key romance scenes are R1, R2, R3, etc. The 10 key scenes are numbered 1-10 (see the downloadable chart).

Keep in mind that in many romance novels POVs alternate, so you may have a scene or two in the hero’s POV, then shift to the heroine’s. In other words, each of these key scenes could be two halves—a whole scene but one that has a POV shift midway. This is very common with romance novels.

# 1 (also R1) – Setup. Introduce protagonist (HEROINE) in her world.

# R1 – introduction of HERO. This is the match to the first essential scene. It may not be the second scene in your novel. You may have two or three scenes with your heroine first.

# 2 – Turning Point #1 (10%): inciting incident. This incident moves the heroine into position for the meet (a move to another location, an event, etc.).

# R2 – The Meet. This may come later. Some say the lovers have to meet in the first scene. I’m not big on that. I want some time to get to know them both before they’re thrown together.

# 3 – Pinch Point #1 (33% roughly): Give a glimpse of the opposition’s power, need, and goal as well as the stakes. This is the full setup of your subplot.

# R4 – Wise Friend Counsels:  Again, this can be, and often is, scenes with both the hero and heroine. They can each have a mentor/ally/wise friend character that gives them advice.

# 4 – Twist #1: Something new happens: a new ally, a friend becomes a foe. New info reveals a serious complication to reaching the goal. Protagonist must adjust to change with this setback.

# R5 – Acknowledge Interest:  A key scene that throws the lovers together so they start getting to really know each other

# 5 – The Midpoint (50%): No turning back. Important event that propels the story forward and solidifies the protagonist’s determination to reach her goal. Usually one of the lovers realizes and decides the other is for them, and they will now pursue without letup, despite current obstacles. And at the same time, the other lover may see something that makes him/her decide the relationship is not gonna happen.

# R6 – The First Quarrel: Things start coming to a head and creating high tension with the lovers.

# 6 – Pinch Point #2 (62% roughly): The opposition comes full force. Time to buckle down and fight through it. Again, this is further development of the subplot.

# R7 – The Dance of Attraction:  The two are again thrown together, and now they are perilously close to falling madly in love. But . . . there are still obstacles (subplot unresolved).

# 7 – Twist 2: An Unexpected Surprise Giving (False?) Hope. The goal now looks within reach. A mentor gives encouragement, a secret weapon, an important clue.

# R8 – The Black Moment: Then something happens to kill the possibility of a true romance. A misdirection, lie, reversal, misunderstanding. This is a great place to throw that monkey wrench in.

# 8 – Turning Point #4 (75%): Major setback. All is lost and hopeless. Time for final push.

# R9 ­– The Lovers Reunite: Somehow they find a way to get together despite the huge obstacles. This is the scene where they admit/realize they both are fated to love each other.

# R10 – Complications Push Them Apart: There is one last big obstacle in their way. Which sends them reeling into the high action and tension of . .  .

# 9 – (also #20 – R11 – Together at Last) Turning Point #5 (76-99%): The climax in which the goal is either reached or not.

# 10 – The Aftermath (90-99%): The wrap-up at the end. Denouement, resolution, tie it all in a pretty knot.

# R12 – The HEA. A final, parting shot of the happy result of the wrap-up.  This could be included in the last scene (above) as the two plot elements merge together, or they might be separate scenes within the final chapter(s).

Notice, R1 is essentially scene #1 and R11 is scene #9. So you have basically the twenty key scenes here, give or take one or two depending on how you want to lay this out.

To help writers see how those romance scenes might be layered in as a subplot, I’ve created a helpful chart that you can download here. I hope this gives you a blueprint to write a terrifically structured romance novel!

How do you plot out your scenes? Have you ever tried layering them in this way?

C. S. Lakin is an award-winning novelist, writing instructor, and professional copyeditor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her award-winning blog for writers, Live Write Thrive, provides deep writing instruction and posts on industry trends. In addition to sixteen novels, Lakin also publishes writing craft books in the series The Writer’s Toolbox, and you can get a copy of Writing the
Heart of Your Story and other free ebooks when you join her Novel Writing Fast Track email group.

C.S. Lakin also wrote a terrific piece on creating successful romance subplots, in case you missed it and want to take a peek.

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The post Want to Write Romance? Layer Your Scenes for Success appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By C.S. Lakin

Romance is a part of life, and so it should also play some part in our novels—if we intend for our characters to mirror real life. Even if you don’t write in the romance genre, don’t be too quick to dismiss adding the element of romance to your story.

However, just slapping a few romantic moments into a scene or developing a romantic interest to add flavor may not help your story. In fact, it could even sabotage it.

Depending on your genre and plot, your story structure is going to vary. As will the role romance plays in your novel. And this is important to understand.

Romance Threads Need to Serve a Clear Purpose

Most novels have one engine that drives the story. There is one primary focus or plot the protagonist is involved with. The hero is chasing a visible goal, which is reached or not at the climax of the book. That main goal is not centered on a romantic relationship developing.

Romance, then, is a component of such a story.

If you are writing in any genre other than romance, it’s important to understand the purpose romance can serve in a story.

In most strong story structures, a romance character is either by the hero’s side from the start, acting as an ally or mirror character (who may turn rival), or she’s the “reward” at the end for the hero coming into his true essence and reaching his goal (and, of course, you can reverse the genders here).

Beware of Misdirection

When romance threads don’t follow either of these structures, they usually don’t work well.

Inserting a random romance element partway through a novel to add conflict can cause confusion because it might send the wrong message—that your story is veering in a new direction.

For example, let’s say you are writing a story about a mission to Mars.  The clear plot goal for the hero (and his cast of characters) is to find a way to establish a base and start growing because Earth is dying. This is the basic premise behind the movie Red Planet.

Your hero may have a clear attraction to the female captain, and while that’s palpable to readers, that attraction merely forms the basis for allied support in the story. As the characters meet with obstacles and disasters, and tension ramps toward the climax, there might be moments when the two characters get closer, maybe even seem to be falling in love, with a hint (or more than a hint) at the end that they may get together.

But if partway through the story, the focus shifts to their relationship and the perils and joys of their blooming love, the primary plot will suffer. This applies to romantic entanglements with your secondary characters as well.

Your Chosen Genre Is a Promise to Your Reader

You make a promise to your reader when you establish your story line and genre. If your back-cover copy describes your story as a sci-fi thriller about a mission to Mars, you aren’t targeting romance readers. Those readers aren’t expecting a romance focus. They will be annoyed to see their exciting thriller turn into a romance novel.

So a romance character in non-romance genres can play a strong part, along with other ally or antagonist characters. She might betray the hero and cause him grief. Or she might provide that strong faith in him that keeps him going when all seems lost.

So, just as with the others in your cast of characters, a romance character will either help or hinder the hero in his effort to reach the goal.

We See This in Stories All the Time

We’ve all seen plenty of movies that start off showing the hero going through a divorce or having “failed” in his love relationship. In Outbreak, we see virologist Sam Daniels estranged from his ex-wife Roberta. The crisis of the outbreak throws them together, and as they face the difficult challenges together, their relationship is healed by the end of the movie. He “saves the day and wins the girl.”

This story structure is very common—and that’s because it works. No doubt you can think of a number of movies that follow this basic structure. Another that comes to mind is National Treasure—Book of Secrets, in which Ben Gates’s divorced parents, still fuming and hostile toward each other over a trivial past incident, make up at the end.

This plot element featuring secondary characters adds humor and tension and problems to the story. But it doesn’t distract or veer the story onto the wrong track. All the bits involving the romance serve the purpose of impacting and affecting Ben’s attempt to reach his goal.

Note, of course, that there is a gradual progression through the entire story, as each incident makes the two characters work through their issues until they get to a place of harmony. This would be considered a subplot for your story.

If you’d like to see how this might lay out in very specific terms, I’ve created a helpful chart that you can download here. It shows how you can layer in just about any subplot over the ten key foundational scenes for a novel.

If you keep this in mind—that any element in a novel, including a romance one—must “orbit” around the premise and plot, helping or hindering the hero in his attempt to reach his goal, you won’t go wrong.

Adding in romance elements can greatly enhance a novel—if done correctly.

In my next post for Writers Helping Writers, I’ll explore what defines a romance novel and how that structure works—and how you can layer romance scenes in over those ten primary ones.

What romance component do you have in your novel—or are thinking of adding? Can you think of any novels or movies that use this typical structure of having the hero “win the girl” in the end as a reward for reaching his goal?

C. S. Lakin is an award-winning novelist, writing instructor, and professional copyeditor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her award-winning blog for writers, Live Write Thrive, provides deep writing instruction and posts on industry trends. In addition to sixteen novels, Lakin also publishes writing craft books in the series The Writer’s Toolbox, and you can get a copy of Writing the Heart of Your Story and other free ebooks when you join her Novel Writing Fast Track email group.

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The post Tips for Weaving Romance into Your Novel appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.