When writing romance, it’s essential to write three-dimensional and lovable characters. Lovable doesn’t mean perfect, but it does mean that readers can relate to them and stay with them through all the ups and downs of their relationships.
Your characters must also have a solid emotional conflict that will break their hearts and keep them turning pages. A story without conflict won’t hold a reader’s interest, and they’ll lose patience quickly.
Strong Characters
One of the essential elements of a bestselling romance novel is strong characters. Solid surfaces allow readers to feel emotions they have never experienced before.
They also allow readers to feel relationships’ elation, anger, and frustration. These emotions aren’t always happy, and it can be hard to experience them in real life.
But if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can build a strong character that readers will fall in love with. This will help you build your reputation as a writer and bring in the profits you need to make it big!
Emotional Conflict
Emotional conflict is one of the essential elements of a bestselling romance novel. It’s what keeps readers engaged and aching to know what happens next.
Seasoned novel writers like LB Wells focus on emotional conflict is an intrapersonal situation in which a person feels torn between two or more largely opposing emotions. These include love, hate, fear, anger, anxiety, or a desire for status, recognition, or belonging.
This emotional conflict can lead to physical discomforts, such as tension headaches. It also has an impact on how people perceive their relationships, their degree of power, and their social status.
Strong Plot
A strong plot is the backbone of any story, no matter the genre. A suitable property will keep readers interested and engaged throughout the book, from the inciting incident to the climax.
Plots can be complex or straightforward but should contain clearly defined plot elements. These include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
A good plot will satisfy readers’ expectations at each point, delivering tension, drama, and heartbreak. It also should follow a predictable pattern of events, allowing the two main characters to develop their love story while overcoming challenges.
A Strong Ending
One of the most important things you can do as a writer is to create a satisfying ending for your story. With a happy ending, your readers will understand what happened and may be more likely to pick up another book by you in the future.
You can create a good ending by showing (or suggesting) the results of your story’s conflict. This will keep your readers turning pages to find out what happens next.
You can also use a solid ending to tie up loose ends planted in your reader’s minds throughout the story. These could issue your character’s need to resolve or questions they need to answer.
A Strong Setting
A romance novel’s setting is one of the most critical aspects of the genre. It must be immersive and feel like a real place, whether in a remote castle or a bustling city.
Strong settings aren’t just about the atmosphere; they also provide a backdrop to the story and set the tone for the characters. The power of setting is often overlooked, but it’s crucial for the success of a romance novel.