What I Learned from Writing Romance

No matter what the genre, a bit of sexual tension can perk up your storytelling. Years ago I wrote romance novels. This is what that experience taught me. Love is a lot more interesting when it’s all about the conflict.

Readers are surprised when I tell them that a romance is a love story. But not all love stories are romances. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a love story. The conflict in that classic play is not between the lovers. The lovers are in perfect accord. The conflict rocking their world, their parents’ feud, is exterior to them. Therefore it’s not a romance.

On the other hand, Jane Austen’s Price and Prejudice is a love story, but it’s first and foremost, a romance novel. The conflict is between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Until that conflict is resolved they cannot find happiness. So, if you’re thinking of inserting a love story into your fiction, consider giving it extra spice using the romance novel format.

Conflict, of course, is central to plotting a story in any genre. But in romance the central conflict is always between hero and heroine. Though the love story you’re considering may be secondary to the central plot and conflict, you can still make use of this principle to maintain the excitement when the central plot’s conflict is at a resting place or low point.

Here are the guidelines I’ve found to work best. A good conflict between potential lovers often springs from needs, likes, dislikes, and life goals. If your hero’s life goal is to be the first astronaut on Mars, and your heroine hates flying and wants to settle down in a rose-covered cottage, they have a problem. Can a powerful attraction overcome this situation? I don’t know. At the least, it’s going to be an interesting struggle. That’s what story is about — struggle.

But the conflict between the characters should not lessen their appeal. The reader needs to understand and sympathize with both points of view. If the reader starts to dislike the hero or heroine the love story stumbles. Mr. Darcy may seem a bit priggish in his disdain for Elizabeth’s family. But given the behavior of her mother, younger sisters, and even her father, the reader can understand his reluctance to court her. Elizabeth may seem extreme in her violent rejection of Mr. Darcy when he finally does declare his love, but we admire her integrity, wit, family loyalty and independence. When these two badly conflicted characters finally get together, it’s all the more satisfying.

These days I’m writing mystery novels. But I learned a lot from writing romance, and I had a lot of fun doing it. There’s nothing more satisfying than a really great romance with a compelling conflict. Of course, when I’m working on a plot for mystery, any sort of love interest plays second fiddle to my book’s central concern — solving a crime. Still, injecting a spot of romance is a great tool for maintaining reader engagement. There’s nothing that will brighten up a story as well as a conflicted relationship between an appealing heroine and a manly hero.

(Once upon a time writing for Harlequin and Silhouette as Jane Silverwood Anne Silverlocke, and with a variety of other pseudonyms collaborating with other authors)