9.9: Romance

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chapter 9.7: romance

Romance novels\(^{123}\) are a very popular genre in publishing. A good romance novel can spawn a whole series of novels with similar characters and settings. You may decide to write romance novels as a writerly challenge, or to try your hand at the genre. Start by coming up with fun, engaging ideas for the romance novel. Then, write the novel with your audience in mind. Revise and edit the novel when it’s done so it is appealing to readers of romance.

brainstorming:

Use a real-life romantic experience as inspiration. Draw from your own romantic experiences in life and adapt them for your novel. Fictionalize a chance encounter you had on vacation or a special moment you experienced with your partner. Use past romantic relationships as raw material for your novel.

For example, you may take a passionate but doomed relationship in your past and change around real-life names to fictionalize it. You may also change the setting or small details to make the situation more dramatic.
You can also use the real-life romances of others around you as inspiration. Maybe you have a friend who is in a stormy romance. Or perhaps you have a sibling who had a passionate relationship in the past.

Use romantic movies or television shows as inspiration. You can also reference romantic movies or tv shows that you enjoy watching. Make your own version of a romantic movie that you like. Reimagine a romance on a tv show with characters that you create or in a different setting.

You can also use romantic books and songs as inspiration for your romance novel.

Create an engaging main character. Have a main character that is relatable and likeable for readers. The main character, who is usually also the narrator, should be welcoming and accessible to your audience. They should feel unique and interesting to your reader.

For example, you may have a main character who is a high-profile criminal lawyer by day, and a single woman struggling to meet someone on her level at night. Or you may have a main character who is left by her partner and copes by going back to her hometown.

Focus on a particular type of romance novel. There are many different types of romance novels, from historical romance to young adult romance to paranormal romance. Decide which type you’d like to write. Choose a type that fits your story idea so you can cater to your audience.

For example, if you are writing a romance set in 1930s West Virginia or during WWI, you are writing historical romance. If you are writing about a romance between a ghost and a woman, you are writing paranormal romance.

Read examples of romance novels. Get a better sense of the genre by reading romance novels that are considered successful and well done.

writing the novel:

Put your own spin on the romance formula. In romance, there is a tried and true formula: girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy. To make your romance novels stand out, put your own spin or approach on the formula so your story feels fresh and engaging. You may have the girl meet a girl, or a boy meet a boy, which would fit in the queer romance genre. Or you may have the girl meet a boy in another universe or time period. Get creative and play around with the formula.

You could also have the girl be of a certain race or background that clashes with the boy she falls for. Or the girl could be from a family that does not get along with the boy’s family.

Have a strong setting. Setting is a key element in a successful romance novel. The setting should be front and center throughout the story. It should dictate how the characters speak, how they interact, and how they see the world of the story.

For example, you may set the novel in modern-day Savannah, Georgia, where the characters have Southern accents and the heat is unbearable in the summer. Or you may set the novel in a naval vessel in the ocean, where the characters are nauseous from seasickness and bad weather.

Create a central conflict. Romance readers love a detailed, major conflict that drives the story forward. The conflict should be believable and prevent the main character and the love interest from being together. The conflict should also be clear and easy for the reader to follow.

For example, you may have a central conflict where the main character has to choose between a high stakes criminal case and her budding romance with her next-door neighbor. Or you may have a conflict where the main character’s illness gets in the way of uniting with her true love.

Consider including sex scenes. Not all romance novels need to have sex scenes. If you do decide to include sex scenes in your novel, make them emotional and vivid. Avoid graphic detail or mechanical descriptions of sex, unless that best describes it.

For example, you may describe the setting of the sex scenes using sensory detail, such as how it smells, feels, sounds, or looks. Providing context for the sex scene can make it more emotional for the reader.

Avoid cliches. Romance writing is populated by many cliches, which are phrases that are so common they have lost meaning. If a phrase or line feels familiar to you, it’s likely a cliche and to be avoided. Create unique descriptions instead that feel specific to your characters.

For example, rather than write, “he was tall, dark, and handsome,” you may write, “he was good looking in a stylish professor kind of way.”

Wrap up the novel with a satisfying ending. A good romance novel will end on a variation of “happily ever after.” Give the reader an ending that is satisfying and happy. Ultimately, your readers want to see your main character get the love they want.

For example, maybe your main character and her love interest finally get together. Or perhaps your main character recovers from her illness long enough to see her love interest one last time.

example: “The Red Light Reflected in Her Eyes” by Anonymous\(^{124}\)

When I look into her eyes, I do not see my reflection. No one sees a reflection in her eyes. Her eyes consume all and reveal to others what they are at the core.

When I look deep into her eyes, am I really just a red light deep down? All of my soul, my essence, my body, my personality, the flaws, the perfections, the traits, the ambitions, the goals, the weak, the strong, the beautiful, and the ugly are represented not through my reflection, but through a red light.

I am not red, for I am a human being. Red is not my skin tone, red is not my name, red is not my face. Why red?

She does not tell me why, but only continues to stare at me with that gleamy, red glow. She must know what has happened to me within the past two weeks. I have fallen. There was a flight of stairs going up a mountain. I had tried my best to climb, I even had fun at certain points while doing so, but then I slipped on an ice patch and fell. I fell down to the second to last step.

I was still on the stairwell, but I had to nearly start all over. Not only did I have to start over, I still have to wait for the ice to melt. It is cold where I am. There isn't any chance of the ice melting soon. Red will keep me warm, but it cannot feed me, it cannot help me rest, it cannot satisfy my thirst. Red will only keep me warm in this cold patch.

One may ask how I got to this cold patch and I can tell them it was actually an accident. I had been walking along my usual trail in the park, when a young girl ran up to me.

"There is a new trail opened west of here!" The girl shouted.

I had seen the child before, yet she had never spoke to me and I had never spoken to her. Before I had a chance to ask her if it was worth the trip, she had ran off, only leaving me with the curiosity and desire to hike the trail. I accepted the challenge and began my trek. At the bottom of the stairs, I realized this would be a difficult journey and not one I could do within a day nor a week. I could possibly climb every step over the course of one month--maybe two.

Now here I am. It is midnight. I am cold, waiting for the ice patch to melt so I may continue my journey to the top of the stairs. I do not know whether I am sleeping or if I am awake, but this beautiful woman appeared to me. She had gradually materialized at such a steady pace that I did not notice her as I adjusted to my surroundings. It was only when she spoke did I first notice her.

"Why do you make yourself suffer waiting for the ice to melt? Why don't you leave and come back in the summer when the ice is gone and you have the energy to move on?" She asked.

This had not occurred to me. Perhaps she was right. She moved closer towards me and I saw the reflection in her eyes. It was not me, nor the stairs. It was a red light. Then my senses came together and I had the logic I had sought after this whole time.

She is right. I shouldn't be waiting here. I am being blinded by impulses and the willpower to do what I desire most without thinking first. With that, I stand up, walk over to the woman, and kiss her. As I kiss her, she disappears.

I wake up the next morning feeling revived and healthier. The ice has not melted a single drop since last night. I stand up, grab my bag, and turn back the way I came. I head down the stairs, knowing that one day I will return. It may be weeks or months from now, but I will reach my way to the top.

student example(s):

questions / activities / exercises.

\(^{123}\)Wikihow contributors. "How to Write Romance Novels." Wikihow. 29 March 2019. Web. 22 June 2019. http://www.wikihow.com/Write-Romance-Novels. Text available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

\(^{124}\)Discovered on the Anonymous Authors Fandom web site: https://anonymous-authors.fandom.com/wiki/The_Red_Light_Reflected_in_Her_Eyes Their community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.