There’s no specific way to write a romance. There’s really no specific way to write any other genre as well, but as it is the month of Valentine’s Day, we might as well stick to the subject.
While there’s no right or wrong answer to the hows, whens, and whys of your love story, there are certain aspects of storytelling in general that should still be taken into account whether your romance is historical, supernatural, or steamy.
For this post, I decided to take more of a reader’s perspective than a writer’s. As someone who does not frequently go out of their way to peruse the romance section in their local bookstore, I’ve compiled a short list of dos and don’ts for any romance authors out there who wouldn’t mind raking in a few fans from outside the genre as well.
- More than “steam” should be driving the plot and the characters.
I have read romances with interesting plots circling the main couple, and I’ve read romances where the focus was mainly on a “will they / won’t they” storyline with almost nothing offered in-between.
As a lover of stories, I prefer my books, especially my romances, to have exactly that: STORY. There has to be something at stake for our main characters besides their lack of–or obsession with–physical intimacy (I don’t care WHAT the reason is).
- Good characters are a MUST
Truly, this is the same for any type of story, but it’s especially essential here. If none of the characters are likeable, or even if one character is so horribly unlikeable that not even the good characters can lessen my annoyance, then I should hardly be expected to care about the romance. You cannot have love without liking, and you cannot have liking within a relationship if your characters are unlikeable.
- Leave most of the intimate details to the imagination
Not to say that you cannot get detailed at all: just leave the smaller details to your audience. From my experience, getting too descriptive with romance is akin to getting too descriptive with horror: yes, you might succeed in getting a powerful reaction by describing every little detail, but in the end your readers tend to be more scared of the monsters that they don’t see. This happens because when they are given subtle hints, their imaginations work to fill in the blanks. And, usually, those blanks become filled with what terrifies them the most. I imagine it works much the same way with intimate scenes: beyond the general idea of things, allow your readers to fill in the blanks with what they would perceive as intimate / exciting.
- Don’t be creepy
I cannot stress this enough. There are too many tropes in romance that are centered on forcefulness, kidnapping, stalking, etc. that are, for some reason, perceived as “sexy” or “romantic,” when in reality the person doing such things would (hopefully) be going to jail for life. We need to stop teaching young women that possessiveness equates love—because it does not. For more on this subject, read Céilidh’s analysis of the Phantom.
So, to sum up, if I went into a book or a movie having no idea from the start that it was a romance, I should never become aware of it until a good distance into the story. Because if, indeed, it is to be considered a “story” at all, it should be a conglomeration of interesting plot, good characters, and good romance.
— C.M.
Night Owls, what are some of your favorite romance stories? What do you enjoy the most about them? What are your “Rules for Romance,” if you have any?
