romance writing formula

How to Write a Romance Novel

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Home » Blog » How to Write a Romance Novel [In 13 Steps]

How to Write a Romance Novel [In 13 Steps]

On the surface, romance can seem like an easy genre to write in. However, knowing how to write a compelling romance novel takes skill and practice.

Writing a romance novel takes just as much time, effort, and planning as any other piece of fiction. Following these steps will make the process easier for you, especially if it’s your first novel:

Choose your subgenre
Create the setting
Choose a novel writing tool
Know the romance recipe
Use plot devices
Know your readers
Present your heroine
Present the love interest
Identify the driving force
Carefully consider the intimate scenes
Craft your secondary characters
Find some tools
Write the happy ending

While it may not require the extensive research and worldbuilding that a fantasy novel does, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. If you’re going to write a fantasy romance or a successful romance you do need to learn how to write a novel well.

Here is a breakdown of steps to write a romance novel:

1. Choose Your Subgenre

Romance is versatile. If you want to write a straight romance, that’s fine! There is a huge market for this.

Many readers live for a good, dramatic story that focuses on love.

But, fans of other genres want some romance too. This is where you can consider writing in a subgenre of romance. You can weave romantic plot lines into almost any other type of story, but the most popular romance subgenres are:

Contemporary

Supernatural or paranormal

If you’ve been thinking that your idea isn’t appropriate for a romance, you’re probably wrong. Even if fantasy, thriller, or the supernatural is where your heart is, you can always incorporate romance.

The amount of emphasis you put on the romance is up to you. It can be subtle or it can be a focal point throughout the plot. You should add at least a small amount of romantic tension to any novel.

Even if it is a very small part of the story, it is something that helps the characters become more believable. Because everyone needs love in their own life, readers will relate to the character’s yearning for it as well.

If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to read some romance before attempting to put it into your novel in any significant way. Even if you are a dedicated horror fan, pick up a few romance novels. If you don’t love reading them – consider it research.

This guide is not specific to any one subgenre or type of romance. It is here to teach you the important elements of learning how to write a romance novel. What you learn here can be applied to a romance of any kind.

2. Create the Setting to Write a Romance Novel

No one who is learning how to write a novel should neglect to create a good setting. However, in a character-driven romance, it is especially important.

The setting creates the atmosphere and the atmosphere can hold a lot of weight in what goes on.

A contemporary romance, for example, often takes place in a simple and modern location. This can include an idyllic small town or a university campus.

These settings are perfect for your main characters to spend a lot of time together and have lots of drama ensue. These locations are also usually small enough where larger-scale drama is realistic – such as flying rumors and fast-traveling news.

All of this makes for a perfect contemporary romance setting. An exotic vacation town with lots of tourists or a quiet countryside would not be as effective.

Historical romance can be set anywhere, as long as you have chosen a specific time period in history. Historical romances can be beautiful, exciting trips back in time. But, they are only successful when you do the proper research on your setting.

You need to know what everything was like in your chosen place at your chosen time. Consider these questions when creating your historical setting:

Who was the president that year?
What was the economy like?
What was the social hierarchy? Ie – were women and people of color being treated as equals? What was the balance of the poor/middle class/rich?
What was the most common mode of transportation?
How far along was technology at that point?

These are just a few things to get you started. You will need a lot of information before your historical romance will be accurate. But, all this research will be worth it when you have created the perfect setting for the story you want to tell.

Lastly, take paranormal romance as another example. This is a story that could take place in that lonely country town where neighbors are few and far away.

Perhaps the main setting is even a haunted house or street. This creates an effective, gloomy atmosphere for a spooky, ghostly love story with a darker feel.

Creating Good Setting

Of course, you can set your story wherever you want, there are no rules . But, guidelines and common suggestions are in place for a reason – they work.

What matters most about your setting is that it makes sense and captivates your readers. Your goal as a writer of any type of fiction is to pull your readers in and transport them into your world. Once you have chosen the specific location of your story, keep these elements of a good setting in mind:

Balance description with action. Don’t write endless paragraphs that only describe.
Use the location within the conflict. Perhaps a physical obstacle or an unreasonable local law.
Use all the senses when describing your setting.
Make your setting real by using names. Street names, building names, and even local nicknames are given to landmarks such as a forest or park.
Be specific about the time of year your story is happening, and even the time of day. This helps the reader visualize what’s going on. It also helps certain scenes make more sense – like something that would only ever happen at night.
Even if they are not central to the plot, talk about the social and political environment. These things impact everyone’s lives and your characters are no exception.
Use several different elements to set the mood and atmosphere. Things like temperature, weather, lighting, and the emotional atmosphere will all contribute to how everyone feels.

3. Choose a Novel Writing Tool

In the quest to craft a captivating romance novel, the choice of your writing tool can make all the difference. There are multiple tools out there but Squiber wins the race with AI Smart Writing features.

Squibler emerges as the indispensable ally for aspiring romance authors, offering a plethora of features designed to elevate your storytelling.

Squibler harnesses the power of AI to effortlessly create and seamlessly integrate characters, settings, and objects into your narrative. Crafting scenes becomes a breeze as Squibler transforms your selected elements into vivid and engaging storylines.

If you feel stuck or need insights then Squibler’s serves as your personal writer’s assistant to answer your queries, guiding plot points or character nuances.

If you want to rephrase, summarize, add examples, add more inner conflict, or enhance the intensity of your romance plot, use Squibler and let AI instantly elevate the richness and detail of your content.

The AI Writer ensures a smooth flow in your storytelling journey. Squibler analyzes your previous writing and generates fitting paragraphs, maintaining the tone and direction of your narrative.

You can also visualize your story in a whole new light with Squibler’s, allowing you to create images and short videos of characters, settings, and plot elements.

Add depth to your scenes by using Squibler’s Describe feature. Highlight text, choose the senses you want to evoke, and watch as Squibler helps you paint a vivid picture with sight, smell, taste, sound, touch, or even poetic metaphors.

If you need to expand a particular section, Squibler will assist you in developing it further.

Squibler’s user-friendly interface and dedicated romance novel templates are the key to unlocking success in your romance novel writing journey.

4. Create the Recipe

Many cooks and chefs spend years practicing and perfecting their signature recipes. Why? Because when you have that tried and true recipe that everyone loves, the meal will always be a success no matter how many times you make it.

The same can be said for romance novelists . While any novel follows some sort of story structure , most successful romance novels have six key ingredients. These ingredients are included because they are proven effective. Even when repeated throughout different stories, audiences love it.

The six basic ingredients:

Boy and girl meet.
Boy and girl are attracted to each other.
Boy and girl begin their romance.
Boy and girl separate.
Boy and girl become reunited.
Boy and girl live happily ever after.

Of course, these elements can go in any direction. This is the absolute bare bones of your romance. But, it’s a structure that works.

This recipe can be tinkered with, added to, and expanded. If your love story is unique and original, it won’t feel like a cop-out just because you stick to the basic romance formula. Why mess with a proven, age-old method?

5. A Plot Device is Essential to Knowing How to Write a Romance Novel

A plot device or “trope” is a specific person, object, or situation that is used to advance the plot in the way the writer wants. It is a means to an end – the writer knows what result they want so they figure out a way to get there.

Many plot devices within fiction are common. Earlier I talked about certain settings working for certain types of romance stories – plot devices are no different. Some plot devices just work to drive a romance forward.

Just because a plot device is common doesn’t mean it’s bad. It is up to the writer to make their use of a plot device original and unique.

Common Romance Tropes

There are many more but these are some of the most popular. You can probably think of at least one book or movie right away that matches each of these tropes. Take these stories and ask yourself – did you thoroughly enjoy it or did it feel overdone and cliche?

You might have a mix of answers. This is because it is easy to take these tropes and be lazy. This creates a tired story that won’t stand out.

On the other hand, many writers make these effective devices work for their story in a fresh, unique, and interesting way.

Don’t shy away from plot devices that you know will work, just be sure you are being creative. Put in the effort to write something people will love to read. You can also do this by combining several different plot devices to create a unique flow.

6. Know How to Write a Romance Novel by Knowing Your Readers

Knowing your readers is an important part of knowing how to write a book of any kind – fiction or nonfiction . Being aware of your target audience will help you write in a way you know will resonate with them.

For some books, this can require a good amount of research. For nonfiction especially, you need to find out exactly who needs your expertise, and exactly which parts of it they need at this time.

For romance authors, however, your basic readership is pretty simple and consistent.

About 80 percent of romance readers are women. This is overwhelming compared to most other genres. While this does leave about 20 percent of your readers as male, you know you’re writing to a female majority. It is women you want to reach with your story.

Some other facts to keep in mind:

Most of the women who read romances are between the ages of 20-50.
Romance makes up about 30 percent of all fiction.
Around 30 percent of regular romance book readers will buy more than one romance novel in a month.

That last one is especially important. This means they are constantly exposed to different romantic plot lines, and will easily spot one that is overdone or boring.

To gain a loyal readership that won’t hesitate to pick up your next book, make every effort to stay unique, original, and different.

Writing for Women

While you don’t want to completely alienate the small number of male readers you have, it is important to know how to write for women. Women are the overwhelming majority of your target audience, so pleasing them is a top priority.

Here are a few tips to help you resonate with your female audience:

Focus on the setting – especially the home. In days past, caring for the home was the women’s job. While society is moving forward from this and embracing the working mom and gender equality, the home is still important to a woman. The way things are arranged and decorated, how it’s kept. Don’t neglect this in your story.
Don’t be afraid of feelings. It’s no secret that women can be more emotional than men. Don’t be afraid to write strong and deep emotions into your female characters. This is why character development is important.
Don’t leave out the kids. Not all women have kids, but the reality is that most do. Don’t be afraid to use them in the story. They can be a useful source of conflict. Especially if your reader is a mom, she will directly relate to any emotions about children.

Keep these things in mind, but also ensure you are creating balance. Unless you want to dive right into women’s fiction specifically, maintain a balance. Remember your small section of male readers.

7. Present Your Heroine

This is where knowing your reader becomes even more important. We’ve established that most romance readers are women. But, there are still different age groups to consider.

Narrow Down Your Target Audience

Writing a story about a college girl who falls in love with the arrogant quarterback will not always interest a woman in her forties because she wants a character she can connect with.

So as you write about your heroine, keep your specified target audience in mind. Are you writing for the young adult fresh out of high school, or do you want to target the middle-aged mom?

It’s an important question to ask yourself, but don’t overcomplicate it either. Older women can enjoy a story about young women and vice versa. But, it’s good to keep the general target in mind especially when creating a female heroine.

A romance book will connect with its readers when they have something in common with the heroine. There are a few details you can keep in mind as you begin bringing her to life:

Your heroine’s age
Her worldview and personality
Physical features of your heroine – height, hair color, etc.
Where she lives
What she does for a living

Create Believability

Now that you’ve chosen what kind of character to write , you need to make sure they are believable.

Nobody, anywhere in the world, goes through life without struggle. It is imperative that you also give your characters some struggles and obstacles. A character that has the perfect experience every time will not only be entirely unrealistic, but they will also be boring.

Nobody wants to read about a perfect relationship because that’s not interesting. It’s not real and there is nothing to invest in. This is why temporary separation is part of the basic romance recipe I mentioned earlier.

So, give your characters some flaws and put them through some struggles. These struggles can include any number of things:

Job troubles
Financial troubles
Relationship troubles (romantic and friendships)
Family drama

That is just naming a few.

Usually, it’s most effective to write your main character(s) as round and dynamic. Give them deeply complex personalities. In addition, brings them through some change and growth as the story progresses.

Not every character needs to be like this. That would be exhausting and flat characters have special functions of their own. But, your main characters need to be multi-dimensional to create the maximum level of believability and relatability

8. Present the Love Interest

Much like your heroin, imperfection is the key to creating a successful second character. Or in this case, the love interest.

Like any character, they should be flawed. Perhaps his more prominent flaws cause your heroin to wonder if they made the right choice or if he is the right one.

It can be tempting to write a perfect love interest because a perfect person is easy to fall in love with. However, this is a bad choice. It will take away from the conflict in the story and the believability of the character.

Don’t Make Them Hated

Many stories start with the heroine hating or at least disliking the eventual love interest. This is effective, but it doesn’t mean the readers have to hate the love interest as well.

There is usually a specific reason your heroine hates him – a past betrayal, something he has done, who he was before a transformation took place, etc. This makes the distaste personal and your readers don’t need to share her opinion.

Give him some redeeming qualities that appeal to the reader, and don’t objectify him. Even if your main character hates him for a while, the readers should be able to tell that he genuinely loves her and is a good person at the core.

From here, you can positively develop him. As your heroine begins to fall in love with him, your readers will just like him that much more.

Don’t Fall Victim to the Stereotype

When we speak of romance, our minds often drift to the typical tanned, tall, well-built Don Juan who sweeps her off her feet. He is suave and charming. But, this puts you at risk of creating that too-perfect love interest.

These characters are sometimes effective, but it’s not the only type of man that can be romantic. Sometimes, a shy, nerdy gamer is what your character will love.

Don’t be afraid to go outside the box and create a unique love interest who is charming in his original way.

9. What is the Driving Force?

In her popular book GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, Debra Dixon says: “External motivation is necessary to establish early in the book. Internal motivation can take a bit longer to develop and be woven into the fabric of the story one thread at a time.”

This is the perfect illustration of the driving force. There is a difference between goals and motivation. Both of them combined are what create your character’s driving force.

For example, let’s say you have a character training for a marathon. He may have a couple of goals here. One might be to make it to 5k. Another might be to win and get the glory.

These goals are logical and important, but they are not enough. What makes him different from every other person training for that 5k marathon and wanting to win? His motivation.

What is really behind that desire to win? It could be a burning desire to feel powerful or superior. Maybe he wants to prove wrong someone who never believed in him. Perhaps he wants to honor a family member or even a beloved coach who has passed.

Each of these motivations will have different people doing the same thing – training for that marathon. But, it’s what drives them that speaks to who they are as a person.

Determine What Drives Your Characters

So, what drives your characters together?

To answer that, you need to dive into your characters and figure out every little, personal detail. Motivations often come from their past. This is why it’s important to know everything about your character , even if the reader doesn’t.

For example, your heroine might struggle to trust in a relationship because she was cheated on by an ex-fiance of five years. This part of her past will drive her behavior within her current romantic relationship as well as other actions and decisions throughout her life.

At some point in the story, this betrayal may be revealed to your audience. But, you need to keep it in mind from the very beginning. Her actions need to remain consistent even before their reasoning is made known.

10. The Intimate Scenes

Within the romance genre, you will find different levels of intimacy.

On one end of the spectrum is straight erotica. Here, physical intimacy is the focus. Writers go into excruciating detail with every scene. And there are a lot of scenes.

But, graphic sex scenes are not a requirement for successful romance. If you are writing about teenagers for teenagers, it would be highly inappropriate. On the other hand, if you are writing for grown women and you mention nothing more than a kiss on the cheek, they may feel a bit ripped.

Knowing your audience is crucial in determining how intimate you get in your romance writing . Your level of comfort will also come into play. Not all romance writers want to be known for the straight sex appeal of their books.

You may also just not be into it, and that’s fine! If sex scenes aren’t your thing, your book won’t necessarily hurt for it. Much can be implied and well, people have good imaginations.

Don’t Neglect Them

Regardless of how much or how detailed you get with your more intimate scenes, knowing how to write romance in a romance novel does not mean you need some .

The general “show, don’t tell” rule works well with scenes of physical intimacy, especially between characters who already have a deep connection. You don’t have to be graphic to let your reader know, through her reaction, how a kiss from her partner makes your female protagonist feel.

Unless you are writing young adult romance, your intimate scenes should have a specific purpose. They should serve to advance the plot in some way. Whether it’s the moment you’ve been building up to for half the novel, or it’s a means to create conflict, it shouldn’t be there just because.

If you are interested in writing intimate love scenes, that are more detailed, there are some things to keep in mind:

Remember that pushing or breaking physical boundaries requires a building of trust.
Don’t do everything all at once. Build intimacy over several scenes before finally reaching the finale.
Don’t skip steps. In real life, some people will go straight to kissing and straight from kissing to sex. While it may happen at times, it is not interesting. Make the process slow and intense. One thing at a time. This will keep readers turning the page rather than yawning.

11. Secondary Characters are Important in Writing a Romance Novel

While secondary characters are important to any story, they play a unique role in a romance. For a female main character, it is usually her sister and/or her best friend from whom she seeks relationship advice.

This right here is a limitless pool of potential conflict. Sometimes, best friends give well-intentioned but very poor advice. And then, the advisee follows said horrible advice and lands in a highly compromising situation.

Sometimes these poor results can be hilarious, other times they are heartbreaking. Either way, they add tension and conflict.

Crazy sisters, eccentric best friends, jealous guy friends, and protective family members all add value and drama to your story. Don’t neglect these characters and their relationship to your heroine and/or hero.

12. Learn How to Write a Romance Novel With Tools

Knowing exactly how to write a book takes time. While nobody will ever write a perfect book the first time, there are ways you can tighten up the process and make things easier on yourself.

There are many book-writing software out there, and most of them have something good to offer.

For editing, you have things like Grammarly and Hemmingway . These are powerful editing tools that scan your work and give you a lot of helpful insight.

Grammarly scans for and alerts you to basic grammatical errors:

Punctuation
Missing words
Repeated words

It will highlight your mistake and offer a solution. To use their correction, simply click on it and the document will change itself. Text can be edited in the Grammarly app, or you can integrate it with Chrome, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs.

Hemmingway is a different novel writing software that checks for readability. It won’t tell you if you’ve spelled something wrong, but it will tell you how easy your piece is to read. It does this by looking at a few specific things:

Passive Voice
Complex words or phrases
Hard-to-read sentences
Very hard-to-read sentences

The editor is available to use online for free, or you can pay $19.99 for access to the desktop version as well as a few other bonuses and features.

Before you can edit, you need to have written something. The writing process has many elements:

Brainstorming
Note-taking
Planning/outlining
Storyboarding
Writing the story

Squibler is an AI book-writing software that can help you with all of these. It has a place for notes, research, your book’s actual content, and everything in between.

It teaches you how to write a book in the most efficient way possible with AI. This will have you on your way to publishing before the novel starts dragging on for months or even years. In the end, this will make you a better writer .

The Smart Writer lets you develop and expand your love story in just one single click. If you want to add more intensity to a current plot, describe a specific scene, or rewrite a chapter, Squibler does all this in just one click with the help of AI.

Squibler is equipped with advanced organization features. It is not just a writing editor, but also a place where you can format, organize, and collaborate with authors and editors. It offers a lot more than just writing. The drag-and-drop feature for your chapters and scenes means you don’t have to worry about writing in chronological order. You can write whatever you want, whenever you want, and reorganize later.

The existing templates for romance, fiction, biography, and self-help books make the work 50% easier for authors.

Squibler also offers assistance when it comes time to publish. Once finished, you can export your manuscript to PDF, Kindle, or print publishing formats.

Most book writing software helps you publish , but not many include print publishing as an option within the software. This is where Squibler is powerful and unique.

13. A Happy Ending

There is an unspoken rule within the romance genre. And that is the happily-ever-after. Or at the very least, a happy-for-now. No matter how much trauma and emotional turmoil an author puts their characters through, readers just know that they’ll be okay in the end.

Many criticize romance for being too formulaic. This is because romance does have a formula, which isn’t always a bad thing.

But, the formula does include the HEA. It’s like an invisible line of trust between the author and the reader.

Some try to break conventions. They write a wonderful , romance story but end it with a less-than-happy situation. These often conclude with one or both of the lovers dying. Some argue this would no longer even be considered a romance, but a tragedy.

The issue is up for debate. But, the fact remains that a romance without a happy ending will leave readers, and especially dedicated fans of the genre, feeling betrayed.

That’s not to say you can’t think outside the box. Just be aware of what people are expecting. With romance, unhappy endings can lead to failure if you are not very careful.

If you want to break the mold without enraging your readers, you can try to compromise.

Types of Happy Endings

Here are the common happy endings that you can adopt for your novel:

Let the lovers end up together, but one is permanently sick/disabled.
They are together but have a constant thorn in their side – like a nasty and manipulative mother/mother-in-law who disapproves of the relationship.
A historical romance could have them ending up together but still living in a war-torn, poverty-stricken country.
Let them be together, but their relationship has the permanent stamp of someone’s mistake or betrayal – perhaps a child with another person.

These types of melancholic endings will still give your readers the satisfaction of seeing the lovers together forever. But, it lets you add a sense of realism and tragedy. Some people will love stories with a darker twist and will appreciate an ending like this.

Learning How to Write a Romance Novel is Always a Good Idea

Romance novels will always hold a special place in the hearts of everyone. Even those who are too “tough” or “hardcore” to admit it, will always have a soft spot for a good romance.

This is due to our inherent desire for love and companionship. Everyone craves it – needs it, even. We have many connections throughout our lifetime – friends, colleagues, family – but our partners become the most important.

It’s this love of love that has people gobbling up these romance books like there’s no tomorrow. Be it a novel that is entirely romance, or a romantic subplot in a different genre, readers love it when there’s love. It adds an element of relatability that lets them connect to the characters .

For this reason, it is smart to know how to write a romance novel. Whether you want to be known as a career romance novelist or not, writing great romance novel is a crucial skill.

Romance is becoming more and more popular, with many romance novels being turned into movies and TV series.

While there is much to be gained from taking formal classes, there are ways you can learn how to write a romance novel on your own. This includes research, experience, and practice.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be head over heels in love at the very moment. Your love life is your business – which is why I have outlined all the essential elements of writing a romance novel. Perfecting the craft will take time, but you can use these strategies to get started.

Romance Novel Template

The steps outlined here will no doubt help you write your romance novel. If you want to make the process even easier, I suggest using a template as well. Squibler has a great romance novel template to spark your creativity:

The template will guide you through each step of the process and make sure you don’t miss anything that a good romance needs.

Final Remarks

Whether you want to learn how to write a novel with romance woven throughout, or you want to write in the romance genre specifically, you can now write your first romance novel with confidence.

The basics of outlining and structuring a novel are the same across all genres, but romance does have a few of its own quirks and unwritten rules. Familiarize yourself with these things and you’ll be able to expertly craft that winning romance in no time.

Here is a list of common questions that authors ask on writing romance novels:

How do I create engaging and relatable characters for my romance novel?

Focus on their quirks, desires, and flaws. Develop characters with relatable qualities, allowing readers to connect emotionally. Give them goals and challenges that resonate with the romantic theme.

What’s the key to building tension and chemistry between the main characters?

Establish a balance of conflict and shared experiences. Create situations where emotions run high, and the two characters must navigate challenges together. Allow their connection to evolve naturally, building anticipation for romantic moments.

How can I write realistic and heartwarming dialogue in a romance novel?

Capture the authenticity of human interaction. Use colloquial language, sprinkle in humor, and express emotions through dialogue. Keep it concise and let the words convey the emotional depth of the characters’ feelings.

Should I follow a specific structure when plotting a romance novel?

While flexibility is crucial, a classic three-act structure often works well. Introduce characters and their worlds, build tension in the middle with obstacles, and resolve conflicts in a satisfying conclusion. Let the romance unfold organically within this framework.

How do I avoid clichés and bring originality to my romance novel?

Infuse uniqueness into character traits, settings, and plot twists. Challenge traditional romance tropes and add unexpected elements to keep the love story fresh. Focus on the specific dynamics between your characters, steering away from overly predictable scenarios.

Published in What is Novel Writing?

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Last updated on Jun 24, 2022

How to Write a Romance Novel: Your Adoring Readers Await!

Romance novels have always captured our hearts — they contain the intrigue, intimacy, and basic human drama that all readers love. Once a “shameful” genre read mostly in secret, romance today is having a huge moment, with mega-popular books like Outlander and Crazy Rich Asians even being adapted for film and TV. If you already understand romance fiction's many subgenres and tropes , why not try to write some of your own?

Though love itself may be hard to explain, the process of writing love stories isn’t. Using examples from a variety of media, here are seven steps for writing romance:

1. Find your niche

2. set the stage effectively, 3. write a strong main couple, 4. use tried-and-true tropes, 5. carefully construct intimate scenes, 6. don’t neglect secondary characters, 7. give your main couple a happy ending.

If you've never even tried to write romance before, don’t worry — we’ll start you off easy. The first thing to know is that the genre, like Walt Whitman, is large and contains multitudes . There’s no one right way to write romance, as evidenced by the fact that it encompasses so many subgenres !

Popular subgenres of romance include:

Contemporary
Young adult
Paranormal /supernatural
Religious or spiritual

So if you’re concerned that your writing won’t “fit” with the genre, never fear: you just have to find the right niche. And the best way to do that is by reading romance yourself! Of course, you may have already read quite a bit within a particular subgenre and you’re confident that’s where you fit in. But if not, now’s the time to explore romance's many glorious facets.

Step into your local bookstore’s romance section (or, you know, the relevant Amazon category ) and select a few titles to peruse. Take your time with them: the subgenre you most enjoy reading will likely end up being the one you write as well.

That said, despite the wide range of subcategories and niches in romance, certain tips and tricks are universal to every single type. So no matter what romance you write, the rest of this article should still be relevant.

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Close up of hands, moving dolls of characters and trees onto a book, which itself looks like a meadow.

Romance is all about escape — and if the setting isn’t immersive enough, readers won’t be able to lose themselves in the story.
Many romance authors go on to write a series based on their first novel (more on that later). So the setting needs to be a place both reader and author will want to return to, book after book.

What defines a strong setting in romance?

Contemporary romances tend to have cozy, small-scale settings: quaint villages, college campuses, etc. There might be a local haunt where the main characters frequently meet (such as a diner or bookstore), and gossiping friends and neighbors hang around to add a bit of comedy. If you’re sticking to the standard, you’ll want to have one of these “compact” settings where people can’t help but run into each other. 😉

However, your setting could take on different qualities if you’re writing for a more specific subgenre. For example, the historical romance Outlander takes place in a small settlement in the Scottish Highlands. Still, the constant tension and violence there don’t make for a cutesy, cozy setting . Nevertheless, it works for the story because threats from the outside ultimately bring the main couple closer together.

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No matter where your story is set, the most important thing is that it is immersive and feels real. Consider drawing a map of your setting to keep the geography consistent while taking details from real life to enhance authenticity. For instance, if your favorite coffee shop has a red brick exterior with a broken neon sign in the window, maybe your characters’ favorite coffee shop should look like that, too!

As you might expect, romance is an extremely character-driven genre, so your main couple needs to have your readers head over heels (so to speak).

Certain character types have thrived in Romance for decades and, naturally, they play into stereotyped gender roles. Traditionally, the "hero" of a story would have been a man, and the "heroine" would have been a woman. But with an ever-increasing diversity of books written by authors of all backgrounds, it should be noted that heroes and heroines can be male, female, or non-binary.

With that caveat, let's talk about a popular character dynamic in romance fiction:

When you think about the “hero” of a romance, you probably imagine a swarthy, muscular man sweeping a princess off her feet. But writing a great romantic hero isn’t about chiseled good looks and dramatic gestures; it’s about emotional depth and vulnerability.

“Every hero needs a past — and I mean a past ,” says pro romance editor Kate Studer . "Heroes in romance have often had a rough childhood, experienced a traumatic event, or been in a relationship that left them heartbroken." This has caused the hero to become closed-off and insecure, even if he projects total self-assurance.

Christian Grey from Fifty Shades is actually a perfect example of this. Despite his confident persona, he is scarred from his dysfunctional relationship with a much older woman when he was only fifteen.

In any case, the hero meets and is drawn in by the heroine — who could be a bright-eyed ingénue, a spirited single parent, or a sex worker with a heart of gold. Something about this new person breaks through our hero’s shell. By the end of the story, the hero should be a changed person , more open and much happier — all because they have a love in their life.

The heroine

The heroine, for their part, should have some trouble as well. A common plot finds the hero helping a financially struggling heroine (for instance, by offering them a job), only for the heroine to turn around and solve one of the hero's problems (like getting over an ex).

Indeed, the heroine should be just as strong a figure as the hero, if not more so. The trend these days is to make the love interest resilient with a mind of her own — think Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman . This kind of assertive character often coaxes the hero to get out of their comfort zone. Even if the heroine starts out timid and self-conscious, they should gain the courage to eventually stand up for themselves!

There are a million different ways for your hero and heroine to interact, but the main thing is that their relationship should be dynamic. After all, if they meet and fall in love immediately with no issues to work through, it’s not much of a story.

On top of all that, each one should be a three-dimensional character in their own right. Give them realistic motivations and flaws, ideally tied into their backstory. This will ensure that your main couple is realistic and engaging, so readers will root for them immediately.

If you want to write complex and fully fleshed-out characters, check out this handy cheat sheet: our free character profile template.

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

Fill this out to develop characters who will have readers smitten.

Now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of the story. Again, there are so many possible paths for your main couple to take that it would be impossible to describe them all! But here are just a few tried-and-true devices that many romance authors have used successfully.

Friends/enemies to lovers

Two of the most beloved romantic devices of all time. The main couple knows each other, but they just don’t see each other that way — or they may not like each other. 😧 Luckily, all that's about to change.

Friends to lovers tends to work best when there’s another big conflict or project distracting one or both of the main characters, so they don’t get together until the very end. This is basically the plot of that Netflix movie Set It Up : the two main characters are so focused on getting their bosses to fall in love, they don’t realize that they themselves would make a great couple.

Enemies to lovers is the perfect device for two characters who clash in some fundamental way. For example, one might be very Type A and the other more Type B (see: 27 Dresses ). Or one is a hardworking single parent while the other is a spoiled rich bachelor/bachelorette who’s never had to work a day in their lives (see: Overboard ).

And of course, there’s always enemies to friends to lovers — arguably the most effective and realistic iteration of this trope, as evidenced by Pride and Prejudice and When Harry Met Sally . The hero and heroine hate each other at first sight, gradually get to know one another and become friends, and ultimately fall deeply in love. It’s the perfect combination of fiery tension and genuine connection, and if you can pull it off, the payoff is incredibly satisfying.

One helps the other one heal

As we discussed, the hero in romance often has some deep psychological wound inflicted by his past. (The heroine can, too, but it’s more common among heroes.) It might just be a backstory detail, but it can also serve as a source of conflict for your couple: the damage impedes their relationship or his mental health, so the heroine has to help the hero heal.

A prime example of this device occurs in Me Before You , in which the heroine, Louisa, literally becomes a carer for a quadriplegic man named Will. Will is bitter and depressed at first, but eventually he opens up to Lou and becomes much less negative — not to mention he helps her see own potential. We’re not going to give out any spoilers, but it’s safe to say that he’s much better off for having met her, and both agree that their time together was invaluable.

Choosing each other all over again

Ah, the quintessential trope of Rachel McAdams movies. For those who haven’t seen The Notebook or The Vow , this device involves the hero and heroine either being separated for a very long time, or one of them outright forgetting who the other one is — due to amnesia, dementia, or some supernatural phenomenon. Then they have to choose each other all over again, hence proving that they’re well and truly soulmates. (For a more recent example, check out the season four Black Mirror episode “Hang the DJ.”)

Also, remember that, as much as readers love these devices, it’s still important to put your own spin on them. Infuse unique elements to add intrigue/suspense, or just for entertainment! For example, Ten Things I Hate About You is based on Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy The Taming of the Shrew — but it’s set in modern day with high schoolers, which makes it much more fresh and accessible.

You can’t talk about writing romance without touching on physically intimate scenes — though this doesn’t necessarily mean sex scenes, or even almost-sex scenes.

R-rated scenes are more likely to feature in certain genres, such as urban fantasy romances and erotica. But romance novelists in other genres often keep it pretty PG-13, skipping sex altogether (especially in historical or YA romance ) or “fading out” right before the act. In the latter case, passionate kisses and electric touches substitute for actual sex scenes, and are part of what we count as "intimate."

And the same rule is true of all intimate scenes, no matter how explicit: be careful about how you write them. Craft all descriptions of physical intimacy with a light touch, and only after sufficient buildup — make your readers eagerly anticipate each encounter. Also try to steer away from overwrought, euphemism-filled romantic language that can border on parody (you probably know the kind we’re talking about).

One of the best tactics for writing intimate scenes is simply studying those you think are written well. The author you emulate will depend on your subgenre and personal taste, but some mainstream authors who write good, nuanced love and sex scenes are Curtis Sittenfeld, Sally Rooney, and Nicholas Sparks. The more you read and hone your language for it, the better your love scenes will be. Trust us: your readers will thank you.

How to Turn Up the Heat in Your Romance

10 lessons on how, when, and where to add steamy scenes to your novel.

While the main couple is obviously where most of your characterization focus should be, secondary characters are critical to a well-rounded romance. After all, when the heroine’s agonizing over her hot-and-cold text conversation with the hero, who’s she going to ask for advice? Why, her Tinder aficionado roommate, of course.

Secondary characters fill out the world of your romance novel. Friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and even arch-enemies — say, someone who’s competing with one of your main characters for the other character’s interest — all contribute to making the story come to life.

the supporting characters in the film Notting Hill

Best friends are typically the most important secondary characters in romance, since they’re the ones who dispense advice, give pep talks, and generally add color to the story. They’re often a little bit quirky , but that’s why the main characters love them… and why readers do too!

Still, ensure that most of the focus remains on your main couple, as we mentioned. Former Harlequin editor Ann Leslie Tuttle notes that secondary characters can sometimes become “too pervasive” in romance, which is a big no-no. “You don’t want to risk making them more interesting than your own hero and heroine,” she says.

Series potential?

Having a solid secondary character presence is especially important if you want to turn your novel into a series . There are a few ways to create a series from a standalone romance, but one of the easiest (and most enticing to readers!) is to write the next novel about one (or two) of the secondary characters — especially best friends, siblings, or romantic competitors of the main characters. Emily Giffin does this seamlessly in her novels, Something Borrowed and Something Blue : two of the heroine’s best friends in the first book, who initially seem like opposites, end up getting together in the sequel.

This strategy is great because it ensures a smooth transition from book to book, since readers will already be familiar with the setting and cast of characters. Plus, it sets you up for a cycle that you could theoretically repeat ad infinitum: each new sequel simply centers around characters who were secondary in the previous book.

One of the romance genre's implicit promises is the happy ending. No matter how much turbulence your main couple experiences over the course of your novel, they should end up in each other’s arms. It doesn’t need to be a “happily ever after,” but it should at least be a “happy for now”: something to reassure the reader that these two characters are stable for the foreseeable future.

There are special cases that don’t adhere to this rule, such as the endings of Me Before You and Dear John (which raises the question of whether or not they’re "true" romances). The main characters in these novels don’t wind up together, but they have grown because of one another and don’t regret falling in love. Still, this is a pretty difficult resolution to pull off — so if it’s your first romance novel, stick to the traditional happy ending.

What else should the ending do?

The ending of your novel should also tie up any loose threads that you weave throughout the narrative. Again, romance readers want to be fully immersed in the story, and that immersion suffers if they’re left wondering about questions you posed but never answered. The only exception to this is the question of what will happen to the secondary characters who have great chemistry — because, of course, you might be setting them up for a sequel!

And with that, you should be well on your way to writing a romance novel that’ll make your reader swoon like a corseted Victorian. However, if you'd like advice from a serious expert, we recommend checking out our free 10-day course with professional romance editor Kate Studer. And... if you're still stuck for an idea, why not have a play around with our Romance Plot Generator.

Best of luck and have fun romancing your readers! 💘

In the next part of this guide, we'll show you how to publish your romance novel (and hopefully turn a profit from it).

2 responses

Maren says:

08/07/2020 – 16:41

How to write a kiss scene?

Saher c says:

06/08/2020 – 18:37

loveliest article I've ever read....swoon like a corseted victorian ;D

Comments are currently closed.

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Romancing the beat: plotting a romance from hook to happy every after, a step-by-step walkthrough of gwen hayes' four-phase, twenty-beat outline for writing romance novels, romancing the beat..

Book cover for Gwen Hayes' Romancing the Beat book on plot structure; peach-colored rose on book with pages open.

Boy meets girl. After some high jinks, hardship, and good old-fashioned self-doubt, they fall in love and live happily ever after (HEA).

Sound familiar?

That simple structure is the basic outline of most romance novels. It’s also what Gwen Hayes codified in her romance novel structure known as Romancing the Beat .

What is Romancing the Beat?

Romancing the Beat is a popular story structure for romance novels. The outline breaks down key moments of internal struggle and romantic connection that romance novels need to meet reader expectations.

Many romance authors turn to the Romancing the Beat sheet when outlining to make sure their novel has the important moments of tension and tenderness that audiences crave.

Writing a Romance Novel According to Gwen Hayes

Author Gwen Hayes popularized this method in her book, Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels . According to Hayes, romance readers have specific expectations of their stories.

For instance, romance readers expect their stories to have a happily ever after . If your main characters don’t end up together and in love, you haven’t written a romance novel.

Romance readers also expect the main characters to go through an internal transformation that opens them up to life-changing love. The characters should start the story “hole-hearted”—they have fears, misconceptions, or flaws that prevent them from finding a meaningful partnership with another person. By the end of the story, the characters should be “whole-hearted"—they have addressed their shortcomings and are now ready for love.

The Romancing the Beat outline helps you take your characters from hole-hearted to whole-hearted by providing a clear blueprint of beats your story should include to ensure this transformation.

Romancing the Beat Step-by-Step

There are four phases to the Romancing the Beat structure.

Phase 1: The Setup... Introducing the love interests and setting the stage for their romance.
Phase 2: Falling in Love... A period where the love interests get to know each other better, but are not quite firmly in a relationship.
Phase 3: Retreating from Love... One or both characters begin(s) to doubt the relationship entirely, leading to a breakup.
Phase 4: Fighting for Love... The love interests face their darkest moment, realize they can't live without each other, and go on to live happily ever after.

Each phase includes key beats that your novel should include to craft a believable, swoon-worthy love story. Let’s look at each phase in more detail.

Phase 1: The Setup

This phase makes up between 20–25% of your novel. Your objective of The Setup is to introduce your main characters, and the world they live in, and give a hint to the troubles that will threaten to keep them apart.

The key beats for this phase are:

Introducing your main characters: During The Setup, you must introduce your two main characters and show why they are compelling. Give your readers a look at the characters’ normal lives before they’re turned upside down by true love.
Meet Cute: This beat is when your two main characters meet for the first time. This moment should be memorable, though it doesn’t actually have to be cute.
No Way #1: During this beat, one of your main characters should explain (internally or externally) why they most assuredly will not be falling in love with the love interest they just collided with.
Adhesion of Love Plot Thrust: Your main characters have met and sworn that they are not falling in love. Fortunately for them (and fans of true love), the Adhesion beat is next. In this beat, something happens to keep your main characters close to each other for the duration of the story.

Phase 2: Falling In Love

During this phase, your job as the writer is to show your readers why your characters are meant to be together forever. You will increase the tension between them and begin to show why they are stronger together than apart.

No Way #2: Despite the fact that your main characters are stuck together, they will want to fight their feelings. The No Way #2 beat offers an opportunity to reiterate why this relationship simply won’t work.
The Inkling: This beat is where your characters start to realize that they might fall in love. Perhaps they get a look at a different side of each other, or have an inexplicably romantic moment.
Deepening Desire: There’s no denying it anymore: your characters are falling for each other. This beat shows the characters growing closer.
Maybe This Could Work: Your characters start to believe that love could work—there’s something different about their connection than what they’ve experienced before.
Midpoint of Love: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The sparks have been flying between your two main characters and at the midpoint, the tension culminates in an expression of their affection, usually through a kiss (or maybe something more).

Phase 3: Retreating From Love

It would be too simple for your main characters to overcome all their difficulties after one kiss or passionate night. After all, these two characters have internal issues they need to work through. During the third phase of Romancing the Beat, your characters experience hesitation and doubt that drives them apart.

Inkling of Doubt: After the high of their connection at the midpoint, uncertainty sets in. The love interests start to let their fears get the better of them once again.
Deepening Doubt: Insecurities are running high. Maybe your main characters have a misunderstanding or are driven apart. Whatever reasons they had for not falling in love back from the No Way beats are exploited in this section.
Retreat: It’s all becoming too much. To stay safe, your love interests retreat and continue to misunderstand each other. There is too much pain in their connection. Maybe they won’t be able to overcome their internal flaws and be together.
Shields Up: It happened again. Your characters trusted someone else, but they were let down. During this beat, they reaffirm their commitment to hardening their hearts and being alone.
Break Up: It’s over. The breakup might have happened during the shields-up moment, but it’s permanent now. (Or is it?)

Phase 4: Fighting for Love

Phase 3 of the Romancing the Beat outline might have ended with your characters separated, but you’re writing a romance novel. You need a happily ever after.

In Phase 4, your characters come back together and overcome the internal flaws keeping them apart, once and for all. Here are the beats in this phase:

Dark Night of the Soul: Your characters wallow after their break up. How did things go so wrong again?
Wake Up: After some time in the darkness, the sun rises again. Your characters realize that they have agency—they are choosing to be miserable, and they can choose to be happy. They just need to address their flaws, once and for all.
Grand Gesture: Cue the boom box. It’s time for a big moment. One of your characters takes a big risk to show the other that they have changed and that their love can conquer all.
Whole-Hearted: It worked! Your characters are together, They have addressed the individual issues that kept them apart and are ready for their happily ever after.
Epilogue: Romance readers love a sneak peek into the future: what does it look like for your characters to be living their lives completely and together?

Variations of Romancing the Beat

Like all novel structures, you can customize the Romancing the Beat method to suit your story. Let’s look at some ways to accomplish this:

Adding Custom Tension Points

Want to heighten the anticipation for your main characters (and your readers)? Try adding custom tension points to your Romancing the Beat outline.

Consider placing your main characters in close proximity or having an unexpectedly intimate conversation earlier in your story, before the “Maybe This Could Work” beat. These tension points will increase the potential passion.

Incorporating the 12 Stages of Intimacy

The 12 Stages of Intimacy are ways that two people express intimacy through physical contact and connection. As two individuals grow closer, their proximity increases, starting with eye contact and moving all the way to intimate sexual touch.

Progressing your characters through the 12 stages of intimacy can make their connection feel more realistic. Learning about the stages may also give you ideas for what to write about as you’re developing your Romancing the Beat outline.

Layering an External Plot

Gwen Hayes’ Romancing the Beat focuses on the internal arcs and romantic trajectory of your main characters. Hayes purposefully does not cover external plots.

You can customize your romance novel by layering an external plot that matches your genre . For instance, in a romantic suspense, there might be a mystery to solve. This external plot will provide additional structure to your story.

Conversely, if you're writing a cozy romance , you might adapt the method to minimize high-stakes drama to instead focus on all the good parts of a relationship.

Will Romancing the Beat Work for You?

The Romancing the Beat template is popular for a reason: it gives writers a clear, step-by-step method to follow when writing a romance novel. It is also highly customizable and can work for many types of love stories (short or novel-length).

If you don’t know where to start when writing a romance novel or simply want to make sure your story hits the key moments readers expect and builds tension realistically, Romancing the Beat will work well for you.

If you prefer to write without an outline, you might find the Romancing the Beat cheat sheet too prescriptive. That’s okay! Follow whatever works best for your creative process.

Romance to the Beat With a Campfire Template

The Timeline Module in Campfire offers a versatile canvas to plot out each basic component of your story while featuring nested "notebooks."

Simply double-click on each event card in your timeline to open up a canvas specific to that card. This allows you to look at your plot at the highest level, while also adding as much detail for each plot element as needed!

If you're just hearing about Campfire for the first time, it's free to sign up—forever! Let's hit all the right beats in your romance novel 👇

Final Thoughts on Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

Romancing the Beat helps romance writers craft believable and compelling love stories of any length.

Have you tried this method yourself? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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How To Write A Romance Novel in 13 Easy Steps

POSTED ON Apr 11, 2024

Written by Sarah Rexford

Romance is one of the bestselling fiction genres, which means learning how to write a romance novel is a solid (and incredibly fun) business decision. In fact, in 2021, 18% of adult fiction sales were from romance alone, making it the second highest-selling category in fiction.

Readers love romance, and for good reason. Stories about love, the tension of forming relationships, and happily ever afters are aspects of life we resonate with. Who doesn’t enjoy cracking into a new novel and finding inspiration in our favorite fictional characters?

But learning how to write a novel is an entirely different animal. How do you compete with the millions of books already published?

In this article, I will cover what exactly this genre is, a few of its sub-genres, and how to write a romance novel in 13 simple steps (including how to write a romance novel outline).

Need A Fiction Book Outline?

This Guide to How to Write a Romance Novel Will Cover:

How to write a romance novel: defining the genre.

Romance novels are one of the most popular types of fiction to write , where the key plot focuses on two characters and their love story.

Jane Austen is a classic example of an author who does this well with her beloved characters. Whether it’s Mr. Darcy believing Elizabeth Bennet is beneath him, or Emma pushing herself into the love lives of those around her, romance books center on love.

The depth of focus on the topic, as well as the subplots surrounding it, define what type of romance you write.

For instance, fantasy romance books incorporate fantastical elements that add to the story, such as time travel or mythical creatures . A few classic examples of this sub-genre include The Princess Bride , Twilight , and Diana Gabaldon’s 1991 novel, Outlander .

Related: The 7 Best Fantasy Book Series Of All Time

It's helpful to read young adult fiction books when learning how to write a romance novel. This popular sub-genre includes titles such as To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before , The Fault In Our Stars , and The Sun Is Also A Star.

A List Of Romance Sub-Genres

When learning how to write a romance novel, it's helpful to understand that there are many sub-genres. So before we take our deep dive into the steps for how to write a romance novel, let’s make sure you have a good understanding of where your next novel fits on the shelf.

Here is a short list of romance sub-genres:

Fantasy romance (Romantasy)
Young adult romance
Dark fantasy romance
Dark romance
Historical romance
Romantic comedy
Romantic suspense
Contemporary romance
Enemies to lovers
Love triangle
Forbidden love
Medical romance
Second chance romance
Time travel romance

The list could go on, but you get the point. Romance is a massive genre filled with sub-genres and further sub-genres within those sub-genres. If you’re worried you won’t be able to master the art of how to write a romance novel, rest assured, your plot likely fits somewhere, as long as there’s a focus on love!

Related: Master List of Book Genres

How to Write a Romance Novel in 13 Simple Steps

With the foundation laid, how do you write a romance novel? What are a few practical steps that can take you from idea to final draft? Writing a successful romance novel involves several key steps to engage your readers and create a compelling love story.

First, set yourself up with novel writing software so you are ready to go. Then, here are the 13 steps you should take when learning how to write a romance novel:

1. Define your target audience

The first step in learning how to write a romance novel is deciding who your audience is. Determine the specific audience you want to cater to—contemporary romance, historical romance, young adult, LGBTQ+, etc. Understand their expectations and preferences and keep that audience in mind as you write.

2. Mindmap your novel

One of the easiest ways to learn how to write a romance novel is to start with a mindmap. This is a way to brainstorm your book and get all your ideas down on paper. It will make it much easier to learn how to write a romance novel outline afterwards.

I like to use a simple bubble method. I write down a key concept, theme, or event in the novel – such as “enemies to lovers.” Then, I create smaller bubbles around the main bubble to flesh out the concept. Why are they enemies? How did/do they meet? What prevents them from liking one another? What are the events that will start to chip away at their resolve?

You keep going and going until you have all the details you need. You can continue mindmapping your concepts until you know exactly how to write a romance novel on the topic.

3. Develop well-rounded characters

Create relatable, multi-dimensional protagonists with distinct personalities, motivations, and flaws—embodying the essence of beloved romance tropes that will keep readers rooting for their love story. Your protagonist is the hero of your story and should be the character who drives the action.

While experienced authors can make almost any types of characters in fiction a leading one (consider Suzanne Collins’ book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ), it’s helpful to choose the character who makes the most sense.

If Collins had written The Hunger Games from Katniss’s mother’s point-of-view, readers never would’ve entered the games or experienced the Capitol. In the same way, if Nicholas Sparks had cast Travis’s dad as the protagonist in The Choice , the love story would’ve had an entirely different feel.

Make sure that as you choose your protagonist, you keep their love interest in mind. Just as directors cast actors with good chemistry, make sure your lead and their love interest can work as a pair.

4. Develop a strong plot – and start with an outline

While romance is central when writing a romance novel, your story should have a plot beyond the romantic relationship. Include subplots, challenges, and character growth to keep readers engaged.

There are several reasons why outlining can help you learn how to write a romance novel and, better yet, learn how to write romance in a way that draws your readers in. An outline helps you to:

Write your book faster – When you choose to spend time upfront crafting an outline, you greatly cut the amount of time it takes to write the actual scenes. Instead of finishing a chapter and wondering where to go next, simply reference your outline and keep writing.
Know how your story ends – Writing toward an ending helps keep you on track. Additionally, when you know how your story ends you can drop hints throughout your chapters leading up, a type of easter egg to keep the reader turning pages.
Eliminate writer’s block – Part of learning how to write a romance novel comes down to making sure you actually write . Outlining, and maybe even using a book title generator to come up with a working title, provides you with a rough map for when you feel your creative energy is lacking.

Types of romance novel outlines

There are many helpful methods for writing your book and various ones to choose from. You can determine what works for you by simply trying several of the options below and then sticking with the one that’s most helpful.

Finding the right method is crucial when learning how to write a romance novel. Remember, these methods are meant to help you toward your end goal of completing your draft, so refuse to get stuck on a method that’s not helpful to you.

Simple table outline

One of the most efficient tools to aid you in writing your draft is via a simple table created in an Excel spreadsheet. A table outline is extremely helpful if you have a difficult timeline or perhaps two overlapping timelines.

For example, Nicholas Sparks’ book, The Longest Ride , combines many shifting elements. If your romance book falls into a similar category, you may want to try a table to keep track of any moving pieces.

Remember that the point of a table outline is to help keep you moving as you draft your manuscript. The quicker you can get your initial draft down, the more likely you are to stick with edits and publish!

Post-it note method

Discovering how to write a romance novel efficiently can be difficult. This is where the tried and true post-it note method comes into play. Post-it notes are an extremely visual, interactive way to plan out your various love stories.

If your story focuses on a love triangle, you may want to try out the post-it note method. This method allows you to easily structure and move post-its around. If you want your protagonist to fall in love sooner rather than later, or introduce the third player in the triangle a bit sooner, simply move your post-it note up the line.

Snowflake method

Randy Ingermanson is responsible for what we know as the snowflake method . Writers often design great plots and draft compelling drafts from this method.

Put simply, the snowflake method builds off each element of your story. Start with a line, build to a paragraph, chapter, and so forth, until you complete your rough draft.

If you prefer to write as a pantser, this is the most minimalistic, basic method and will likely work perfectly for you. Simply plan out your chapters, write down a few bullet points of the main ideas and supporting events taking place within the chapter, and then get to writing.

Related: What is a Rough Draft?

Template method

You may want to browse various templates or research your favorite romance authors and see which method they use. Open your favorite search engine and look up “how to write a romance novel template” or “ book outline template .”

Many, many different methods should pop up at your fingertips, including what you should include in acts one, two, and three of your romance novel.

Reverse outline

Alright creatives, I see you. If the above methods seem too straightforward or you want to give yourself a different type of challenge, you should attempt the reverse outline. As the name implies, when you use a reverse outline you start at the end of your novel and work backward.

This type of planning allows you to make both your plot and your characters even more complex. Because you know X falls in love with Y at the end, you can develop their character arcs accordingly, drop hints, and craft character journeys you wouldn't be able to otherwise.

5. Build sexual tension

Slowly develop the attraction and chemistry between your main characters. Use subtle gestures, dialogue, and emotions to create anticipation. The build-up is one of the best parts of a romance novel!

Introduce obstacles and conflicts that keep the lovers apart or make their relationship challenging. This can include external and internal conflicts.

6. Show, don't tell

Use descriptive language and sensory details to immerse readers in the characters' experiences and emotions. Allow them to feel the love and passion between the characters. This is important when writing ANY book, not just when learning how to write a romance novel.

7. Remember that dialogue matters

When learning how to write a romance novel, practice crafting authentic and engaging dialogue that reveals the characters' personalities and furthers the plot. Conversations should be natural and meaningful. Keep reworking them until they feel right.

You should consider which types of tones you should use to convey the correct mood and personality for each scene.

Explore the emotional journey of your characters. Show their vulnerabilities, fears, and growth as they navigate the ups and downs of love.

8. Resolve conflicts believably

While romance novels typically end with a happy ending, make sure the resolution feels earned and realistic. Avoid clichés or overly contrived solutions.

When learning how to write a romance novel, remember that the ending of your story should be emotionally satisfying and leave a lasting impression. You want your readers to have a book hangover when they slide out of those pages!

Tie up loose ends and show how the characters have evolved throughout the story.

9. Self-edit

Learning how to write a romance novel doesn't actually end with writing. You have to edit your book, too! Revise your manuscript multiple times to eliminate errors and refine your writing. You can do this on your own at first, but once you think your manuscript is in top shape, it's time to get someone else's eyes on it.

10. Hire a professional editor

The next step in learning how to write a romance novel is seeking feedback from an outside source. You can find some beta readers, and hopefully a professional book editor . A book editor will catch issues with flow, grammar, and readability that you yourself have been blind to.

Editors know all about what sells in the publishing industry, so while you ultimately have creative freedom when it comes to your work, consider their advice seriously when learning how to write a romance novel.

11. Create a title and book cover

Once your manuscript is in top shape, it's time for the finishing touches. While you might have thought up a book title before you even started writing, it's time to examine if that title is still actually the best fit now that all is said and done. Get your editor's opinion, and don't let yourself get attached to a title that isn't doing you any favors.

You should also consider hiring a book cover designer to help you create a cover that is truly eye-catching and does justice to your story.

12. Format your book

Formatting your book should not be overlooked. Book formatting ensures your font is easy to read and there is nothing that visually takes your readers out of the story. You can use free book formatting software , but for most people, it makes more sense to hire a professional book formatter to get this taken care of promptly.

13. Market your novel and get ready for book launch!

Now comes the most important part of learning how to write a romance novel – book marketing . If you don't properly market your book, no one is going to find it to read it!

One of the best ways to get attention quickly after book launch is to have a big launch team. I recommend gathering around 100 people from your email list, social media channels, work network, etc. These people will be given an advanced reader copy of your eBook for free in return for an honest review of your novel.

This is SO important when learning how to write a romance novel. Having reviews straight away on Amazon will boost your visibility and make potential readers more likely to snatch up your book.

You should also make sure you have a professional author website set up, as well as a social media presence and an active email list .

Marketing will make or break your book sales come launch day! If you are concerned about how to market or set up a launch team, our Author Advantage Elite program comes with your first authentic Amazon reviews guaranteed!

Examples Of Successful Romance Books

Now that you've learned the steps for how to write a romance novel, it’s time to look at concrete examples of successful romance books.

People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

Emily Henry’s People We Meet On Vacation is one of the best in the Contemporary Romance genre. Here are a few things Emily does well that we can all learn from.

First, she casts two unlikely characters in leading roles: Poppy and Alex. They are completely different from each other (a common romantic trope), but she highlights their differences with concrete details. These details are a second aspect she does well.

Emily Henry’s characters feel human, relatable, and even whimsical, yet she puts them both on a one-week timeframe. The clock is ticking, and readers have to keep turning pages. This added tension sets her book apart.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

John Green’s instant bestseller, The Fault In Our Stars , went on to sell over 23 million copies worldwide. Despite incredibly tragic circumstances, both of Green’s main characters share a comedic optimism that reminds readers of the importance of hope.

Another compelling facet of this romance novel is its writing style. If you want to learn how to write a romance novel, read John Green.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Francine Rivers is best known for her romance novel, Redeeming Love , although she has written many other books as well. Redeeming Love was originally published in 1991, but became so beloved by readers that it was made into a feature film in 2022.

What makes Rivers’ book so iconic is both its references to the Biblical characters in the book of Hosea, but also her unflinching description of her protagonist’s experiences.

Price and Prejudice by Jane Austen

We can’t discuss historical romance without mentioning Jane Austen. Her classic novel, Pride and Prejudice , has hit the screen twice, in 1995 and in 2005, and her characters feel like they belong in a history book. So, what did she do so well?

Austen’s characters embodied the culture of their time:

They battle the tension of class
Struggle through the proper etiquette of courtship
Work with their own strong feelings both against, and ultimately for, each other

In fact, the love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy is similar to an enemies-to-lovers novel, showing that romance writers can mix sub-genres for an original take on classic plots.

The Witness by Nora Roberts

New York Times bestselling author, Nora Roberts, paves the way in romantic suspense with her 200th book, The Witness . Her fascinating plot reveals the unromantic perspective of Abigail Lowery, paired with the local police chief’s interest in not just her, but her past.

If you want to stay up all night reading, taking notes on how to write this genre well, and keeping the light on, pick up a Nora Roberts novel.

Start Writing A Romance Novel Today!

No matter what romantic sub-genre you choose to write, if you create at least a brief outline, follow the process that works best for you, and take notes from the leading authors in romantic fiction, your first draft will hold a quality few first drafts can rival.

It takes daily commitment to learn how to write a romance novel and finish your manuscript, but we’re here to provide you with all the resources you need.

Feel free to check out the below resource to help you start on your outline. Even the most simple outline can empower you to finish your first draft. Happy romance writing!

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How to Write a Genuine Romance

by Lewis / February 11, 2020 / Character Development

Storytelling has taught me that romance is complex.

All too often, fictional romances end up stilted and hollow or outright creepy. Common romance tropes tell us that surprise kisses and fatal attraction are the building blocks of a good romance, when in reality these tropes miss the very foundation that makes romantic relationships work—love.

Of course, romance can be a truly heartwarming part of your novel. The key is to understand what creates true romantic chemistry, and to avoid the many pitfalls and tropes of the genre. Fortunately, by understanding the various stages of fictional romance, you can write a loving relationship worth swooning over!

The Problem With Romance Tropes

1 The Problem With Romance Tropes
2 The Challenges of Writing a Realistic Romance
3.1 Establishing Their Flaws:
3.2 Sparking Mutual Interest:
3.3 Creating Some Conflict:
3.4 Making Time to Bond:
3.5 A Period of Separation:
3.6 Finally Coming Together:
4.1 Characters on Two Sides of a War:
5 A Well-Written Romance is at the Heart of Your Novel

Sexual attraction doesn’t equal love.

One of the most common mistakes writers make when creating romance between two characters is assuming that a mutual—or even one-sided—physical attraction is enough to justify instant love.

While “love at first sight” definitely exists, there’s more going on behind the scenes than you may think. Even when two characters feel that immediate spark, it’ll take time for them to build a genuinely romantic relationship.

Robbing your readers of the chance to see that relationship grow is a surefire way to leave them disinterested or even disgusted by your romantic duo. For instance, imagine this:

What if Gaston was Belle’s love interest, rather than the villain?

Beauty and the Beast works as a love story because Belle and the Beast learn to love one another through a slow, genuine process. Their relationship feels natural, and they both have to earn each other’s love over time (and no, their story isn’t about Stockholm syndrome).

Contrast that with Gaston, who takes one look at Belle and decides he’s going to marry her, and you can quickly see the difference. Gaston is a creep, and definitely deserves the title of villain—can you imagine a love story where he was Belle’s love interest? Yet, many novels take this trope to heart, basing their love story purely on an instant physical attraction.

This isn’t the only negative romance trope out there either:

Surprise/unwanted physical advances
Stalker-like behavior
Extreme emotional dependence
Emotional manipulation

Not only do these tropes set a bad example, but they make for worse love stories too. Unfortunately, it’s easy to lean on them anyways, simply because writing genuine romance is hard. But what makes writing romance such a challenge?

The Challenges of Writing a Realistic Romance

Writing romance is hard because human emotions are hard—and love is one of the most complex emotions we have.

To make matters worse, writing a compelling novel requires you to create conflict , and love stories are no different. There needs to be a certain level of resistance between your lovers to make the story interesting, but there’s a fine line between interesting and harmful levels of conflict. Is it ok for your lovebirds to fight, and at what point does that fight go too far? What is the line for each character, and how much conflict is healthy or ok?

Honestly, writing relationships is one of the most difficult parts of storytelling.

This is why many writers lean on tropes they’ve seen in other stories to make writing romance easier, and society doesn’t help them with this. In the past, many people have touted extreme tales of emotional dependency as some of the best and most romantic stories around, such as Romeo and Juliet . Meanwhile, stalker love interests like Edward from Twilight are often revered, while we brush aside the disturbing things they do to their lover.

Though I don’t personally understand why these tropes ever became popular, I can confidently say that there are better examples out there. Astrid and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon stand out, as well as Zuko and Katara from Avatar; The Last Airbender and Baby and Johnny from Dirty Dancing .

The trick here is balance—all of these couples come into conflict at various points, but they eventually circle back around to building each other up, not tearing each other down (we’ll get to Zuko and Katara’s more complex relationship later in the article). In fact, many of the best examples of fictional romances follow six distinct stages…

The 6 Stages of a Genuine Romance

This article is more about writing a genuine, loving relationship than it is about mastering the romance genre. The romance genre and its readers have a ton of expectations, many of which deal more with story structure and pacing than with relationship building. If you’re trying to write a romance novel, check out the guide below—it’ll still be useful to you—but also read up on some of the obligatory scenes of the romance genre here.

Establishing Their Flaws:

Before a relationship can begin, you need to establish both of your soon-to-be-lovers’ flaws.

Like I mentioned above, your love story will need a certain level of conflict to engage your readers, and your characters’ flaws will be the core of at least some of that conflict. Their flaws will be what prevent them from developing a strong relationship from the start, and they’ll have to make a genuine effort to overcome these flaws to come together.

Essentially, your lovers will be a catalyst for each other’s growth.

What’s more, their early flaws will not only inject some healthy conflict into your story, but will also give readers a starting point from which to judge their progress. When they complete their character arc and earn happiness at the end of your novel, it’ll feel even more deserved.

Sparking Mutual Interest:

Once you’ve introduced both sides of your romantic duo, it’s time to light the flame of romance!

As we’ve discussed, this is often done through physical attraction, and at this stage that’s ok. The key is that you’ll continue to develop and expand on that relationship going forward, adding some much needed depth. Of course, sexual attraction isn’t the only way to create romantic interest.

Your characters could feel drawn to one another for a variety of reasons:

Sexual attractiveness
Intelligence
Social status
Wit or charm
Spiritual connection

The form of initial attraction you choose will depend on your story and the personalities of your two characters. Think about what each of them would admire in a person and then show off that quality in their love interest.

Once your pair is interested, you can begin building on their romance.

Creating Some Conflict:

Conflict is the core of every good novel , and that’s no less true for romance.

However, when dealing with a romantic relationship you need to balance conflict and compassion between your characters—or risk damaging their relationship beyond what readers will accept. Fortunately, conflict can come in many forms, and it doesn’t always need to be interpersonal conflict.

For instance, your two characters could be separated by the plot of your story. Perhaps social taboo prevents them from being together, or maybe they’re on opposite sides of the world. Likewise, they may be separated by other characters who don’t want them to be together.

Of course, interpersonal conflict can also add some healthy tension to your love story.

Many lovers start out at odds because of their flaws as characters. They may be interested in the relationship, but resist pursuing it because of their own fears of commitment or a lack of trust. They may believe their relationship is wrong (especially if it goes against social norms) or they might have a personality difference.

Hundreds of successful love stories hinge on two characters who bicker like dogs, only to pine for each other in secret!

In the end, the most important thing is to understand where the line is.

How far can each character go before your reader backs out? Violence and abuse have no place in a healthy relationship. Unless you’re purposefully trying to create a negative relationship—in which case this article isn’t for you—then remember that both lovers should have each other’s best interest at heart, even if they disagree about how to achieve that.

Making Time to Bond:

Alongside conflict, you also need a chance to build on your characters’ relationship.

This is where many romances fall flaw—the author simply doesn’t give their lovers enough time to develop a genuine relationship. Creating a love story will take numerous scenes, because your characters need time to progress along their character arcs, come into conflict, and also bond as partners. Fortunately, this bonding can often tie into the plot of your story, meaning these scenes can pull double duty!

For instance, here are some ways your lovers can bond:

Achieving a mutual goal
Escaping danger together
Helping each other with a personal project
Impressing one another with their skill/wit/compassion/etc…
Learning more about each other’s history, personality, or worldview
Being supportive in moments of vulnerability

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are as many ways for your duo to bond as there are potential scenes for your story. Don’t be afraid to experiment and think about how your characters’ relationship fits within the overall plot of your novel.

And, of course, remember to inject bits of conflict among these more supportive scenes—even if that conflict is as simple as a misunderstanding or minor disagreement!

A Period of Separation:

Before your lovers can come together once and for all, they’ll often experience a period of separation.

While this is by no means a requirement for your novel, it often fits perfectly within the Third Plot Point , or the darkest moment of your story’s structure. Not only is there a negative twist in the plot, but there is also an emotional downturn that pushes your lovers apart, either physically, emotionally, or both. This adds tension to your story and gives your characters a final chance to assess their relationship and fight to preserve it.

For example, maybe the pair has an explosive argument. They storm off, swearing they’ll never talk to their lover again. However, beneath the surface they both regret their actions and fear they’ve damaged their relationship beyond repair. This is the darkest moment of their relationship, and by the end of the story they’ll come back together, making amends and overcoming their flaws in the process.

Of course, this isn’t the only way to trigger separation. Your characters might:

Have a major argument
Be forced apart by rival characters
Have a misunderstanding (perhaps orchestrated by another character)
Be separated by a major plot event like a natural disaster

Fortunately, we know this isn’t the end for your romantic duo—or at least we hope not! Just like your protagonist will have to overcome the Third Plot Point and complete their character arc in order to reach the Climax, your lovers will need to confront their flaws and make amends to be together.

Finally Coming Together:

Last but not least, we have the culmination of your character’s romance!

This is where your lovers will come together to prove they’ve both grown into better people. Not only have they completed their personal arcs, but they’ve also recognized that this is a relationship worth fighting for. Whether they have to regain each other’s trust or overcome a war, they’ll find a way to be together in the end, bringing their romance to its conclusion.

Best of all, they’ve come to this point in a natural, genuine way.

They didn’t take one look at each other and declare their undying love, and they didn’t force each other into a relationship through emotional dependence or disturbing behavior. Instead, they developed their relationship as a pair, learning to love one another and treat each other right even in the face of their differences.

This is the finale of the heartwarming romance that your readers have been pining for!

What About Characters Who Start Out Hating Each Other?

While the six stages above will get you pretty far, not every romance is the same. Some characters will outright loathe one another, so much so that you’d never expect they could one day fall in love.

Of course, these are the romances readers seem to love most. 😉

Not only is it possible to write a romance where the characters start out as enemies, but it can be done to great effect. However, you’ll need to remember everything we’ve discussed above—these characters will need time to establish a genuine relationship, especially because they’re so at odds starting out.

If you’re trying to create romance between two enemies, pay extra attention to these things:

Don’t force either character into the relationship through violence or abuse
Both characters should play a role in helping the other grow and improve
Their romance will take more time to develop, and will hinge heavily on trust
Be careful what kinds of conflict you create—some wounds can never heal
Focus on common goals that can bring them together as allies, even if it takes time for them to discover those goals

Characters on Two Sides of a War:

Let’s look at Zuko and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender as an example. Yes, I know they don’t end up together by the end of the series, but this is a very popular fan pairing for a reason. There’s a lot of chemistry here!

These two start out on opposite sides of a literal war, but this isn’t a star-crossed lovers kind of situation. In fact, these characters hate each other, and would be thrilled to see the other one dead. Both are extremely flawed as well. Zuko’s desperate need to be accepted by his family has driven him to murder and pillage, and Katara’s resentment for her mother’s death is slowly pushing her in a similar direction.

It isn’t until both characters have begun to overcome their flaws that they come together. Zuko uproots his life after recognizing the harm his actions were causing. Katara refuses to trust him at first, and with good reason, but he makes it his goal to prove he has changed. Eventually, she enlists his help in getting revenge on the general that killed her mother, but in the process comes to the same realization he did—you have to learn to forgive.

This is the real heart of their relationship, and why these types of romances work.

Both characters had to grow as individuals before they could open themselves up to a healthy relationship. Not only that but, once they completed their individual growth, they then helped each other grow as well.

Katara was vulnerable in that moment of revenge, and Zuko did his best to support her and help her heal—likewise, Zuko made himself vulnerable by asking for Katara’s forgiveness, and over time she recognized that he had changed. Despite starting as bitter enemies, they end up as one of the most compelling romances in the entire series.

A Well-Written Romance is at the Heart of Your Novel

While writing romance is complex, it definitely isn’t impossible. At the end of the day, the key is to focus on building a relationship between your lovers that feels real and earned, even if it takes more than one scene to do so.

Here are some final tips to consider:

Think about how your characters’ arcs will affect their romance
Learn your characters’ personalities so you can write them realistically
Look to couples that you admire and find what sparked their love
Don’t be afraid to build friendships that don’t grow into romances until later on
Remember that love is a two-way street—both lovers need to support each other

Above all, avoid creepy romance tropes as much as possible—trust me, you’ll know them when you see them! While they’re an easy crutch to lean on, your novel (and your lovers) will be better off without them. 🙂

How do your characters fall in love? Let me know in the comments!

Thoughts on how to write a genuine romance.

Wow. This is amazing advice. I was looking for ways to develop my character’s relationship without it looking hollow… and this is the best advice for anything like this I’ve read. Sometimes I just can’t STAND reading anything with romance because it just doesn’t seem realistic, and they haven’t progressed enough as characters or emotionally bonded together enough to ever really be able to have a sustainable relationship. Thanks so much Lewis!

Hi there! I’m aromantic, so I have a lot of trouble expressing the emotion of love in writing. This article really is good for talking about how to build a healthy relationships. Currently I’m writing two novels, both with romantic subplots, so I’ve been looking for advice and this is the best I’ve found so far. One of them involves the LI finding the MC injured and alone, and taking him in and bandaging his wounds. As the MC adjusts, their relationship evolves into one of mutual dependence, but both have secrets keeping them apart. I’m not sure if this would put too much on the LI, as the MC becomes paralyzed and they live together out in the woods.

Thank you so much for this article. I write Romance, I guess, lol, but this was a big help.

This is a great article! Thank you for the advice! I’m writing a dystopian novel and am struggling with the romance with my characters. They do escape danger together, as mentioned in your article, which helps them to bond. But I’m not sure how to give them ways to connect outside of the danger they’re in, or how to let them joke around without it feeling out of place in the type of novel it is, if that makes sense.

Obviously this will depend on your specific story, but I don’t think a few quiet, lighthearted moments would be too out of place. These scenes don’t need to be loud parties or side-splitting slap-stick, but even a subdued night before an attack or before a major plot point could give your lovers a chance to bond and you a chance to develop both of their characters. Most of their connection will probably come from the danger they’re in, but they could still have smaller things in common (especially things like their hope for the future, etc…).

Found this off of Google search results; it’s so good and puts this idea into words so well, and I wish more authors and storytellers could see it! I, as a person, am definitely NOT a fan of any romance, but it took me a while to realize that maybe part of the reason I was especially put off by some of it in stories was because the romance that I was seeing was creepily-written, poorly-executed, and unrealistic in every way. Looking back, the romance plots (often subplots) that I did somewhat enjoy were always the ones that felt like what is being described here. Buildup in a story based around a growing character relationship is so essential, and it’s so important to portray it in a healthy and realistic way, so it’s kind of surprising to see how it’s become so common to forget about it that now we have an entire concept of “love at first sight” in the vein of poorly-crafted romance arcs.

I love this advice. It’s so important to establish boundaries, healthy communication and sustainable behaviour in romance novels. So many people base their ideas and expectations of a relationship on what they read or watch so it’s all the more important. I read twilight religiously as a teen and internally swooned at behaviours that I cringe at as an adult. Thank you for putting content like his into the world!

I think you’re absolutely right Olivia! Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with bad boy/girl romances or even questionable behavior in fiction. The most important thing is that readers know what they’re getting into, and that they also have enough healthy romances to look towards to judge what is or isn’t right for them.

Loved your content Lewis, very well-written! Successful romance stories does not happen immediately at first sight. They are build up to get readers in the heart.

Cheers, Monique

How to Write a Romance Novel: The Complete Guide

Krystal N. Craiker

So you want to write a romance novel ?

The romance genre has consistently remained one of the best-selling genres of all time and is currently the most lucrative one. People love love, and love sells. It’s no wonder so many authors want to get in on the action.

But if you’ve never written a love story, you might be wondering how to do it. Have no fear. Today we’re going to answer all of your questions. And we’ll take it a step further. You don’t want to write just any romance novel. You want to write a good one.

Before we get down to the heart of the matter (see what I did there?), there’s one piece of writing advice that applies to every genre.

How Do You Start Writing a Romance Novel?

What are the subgenres of romance, how do i choose my romantic leads, do i need world-building in romance writing, how do i structure a romance novel, what are the most common romance tropes, how do i pick the right pov for my romance novel, fall in love with your characters, do you want to write, publish, and sell a bestselling romance novel.

Read in the genre you want to write.

And read extensively. You need to read the genre to have a full grasp of reader expectations. So, load up your shopping cart with all the romance you can find. Start with the best romance books of all time to get a broad sense of the genre.

All read up? Good. Now we can get to the juicy stuff.

Romance is a wide umbrella. The only essential component of a romance novel is a romantic focus and a happy, or hopeful, ending.

Before you get started, you need to narrow your genre down. Let’s look at some of the popular subgenres of romance.

Contemporary Romance

Contemporary romance is the book form of a chick flick. The setting is realistic and familiar, even if it takes place in a fictional town.

Within contemporary romance you might find even more niches, like military romance, mafia romance, billionaire romance, and small-town romance.

Historical Romance

One of the most popular subgenres is historical romance. You might have heard these referred to as “bodice rippers.” But I’m here to tell you that no bodice has to be ripped to write historical romance.

Any story set more than about fifty years ago is considered historical fiction. Many historical romances take place in the Regency era, such as the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn.

Wild West romances and World War II romances are also very popular. But romance has happened throughout time and space, so pick the era that feels right.

Paranormal Romance

Werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters. Oh, my! Paranormal romance, often abbreviated to PNR by authors and fans, is any romance that involves the supernatural. Typically, one or both of the main characters is/are a supernatural creature. A Discovery of Witches series by Deborah Harkness is an example of paranormal romance.

Fantasy Romance

If you prefer your love stories to occur in another world full of magic, then fantasy romance is the subgenre for you. When magic occurs in a real-world setting, the line between paranormal and fantasy gets blurry.

If you’ve created an alternative world, you’re writing fantasy.

Within fantasy romance, fae romance is extremely popular. Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black are two bestselling fantasy-romance authors.

The difference between fantasy and paranormal fiction

Religious Romance

If you prefer your romance clean with a focus on spirituality, then religious romance might be the way to go. Most religious romances are Christian fiction.

They can be contemporary or historical. Besides the normal plot structure of a romance, one or both of the main characters should also find salvation by the end of the story.

Young Adult Romance

Move over, Romeo and Juliet. The young adult (YA) genre is one of the most lucrative genres out there for writers. It doesn’t appeal to just teenagers. Young adult fiction, especially young adult romance, appeals to readers of all ages.

There’s just something about young love that everyone can relate to. Just look at Divergent by Veronica Roth or The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Queer Romance

As the publishing industry continues its push for diversity, queer romance is gaining in popularity. People are glad to have characters that they can relate to falling in love. Rainbow Rowell is one of the bestselling queer romance authors.

Erotic Romance

Most of these genres can feature explicit sex scenes, with the exception of Christian romance and YA romance. But in erotic romance, sex is one of the key points of the story, but the love story is equally important.

In erotica (different to erotic romance) sex is the focal point, and any romance or character development is secondary.

Blending and Bending Genres

You might have noticed some overlap with the genres listed above. For example, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is a young-adult paranormal romance. You can blend genres in any way that makes sense to you.

You can also bend genres . Take genre expectations and mash them together for something completely unique.

One example is the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. These books are both paranormal mysteries and paranormal romance. The stories don’t work without both the mystery and romance aspects.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is steeped in two different eras of history, but the author also throws in time travel for a fantasy element.

Do you want to write a queer, young-adult, sci-fi mystery romance with alien werewolves? Go for it! The sky’s the limit for writing romance. As long as the love story is the most crucial component of the plot, it counts as a romance.

A lot of advice about writing romance tells you to pick your setting first. Of course, setting and characters go hand-in-hand. However, romance arcs require strong character growth. For a compelling romance, your story should be primarily character-driven.

What sort of traits do you want your characters to have? Are you writing brooding heroes and brazen heroines? Are your characters rich or poor, timid or outgoing, humble or arrogant?

Your two love interests should have some conflicting personality traits. This creates the interpersonal conflicts that drive the romance forward.

Examples of conflicting character traits

Also, make sure that your heroes and heroines fit the subgenre that you write in. A noble duke might be out of place in your small-town werewolf paranormal romance.

How do you want your characters to grow together? How do you want their love to change each other? The point of a romance is that love makes both main characters better. What character flaws do they overcome by falling in love?

World-building is an important part of any story. You might think you don’t need to focus on world-building if you aren’t writing a fantasy or historical romance. But the world your story takes place in is important, even if it looks like our world.

Setting is crucial to world-building. Setting determines the logistics of your story. What do your characters do for a living? How will they meet? Social expectations and character behaviors are also dictated by setting.

If you’re writing fantasy or paranormal romance, you’ll also need to define your mythology and magic systems and determine how your characters fit into them.

The world-building stage is a great opportunity to find a plot conflict if you haven’t thought of one. In religious romance, the world-building might show you the two different, conflicting belief systems and how they converge in your characters.

In historical romance, you might find class or race differences are a great starting point for conflict.

You might think all you need for a romance novel is love, right? Well, if you plan on marketing your love story as a romance novel, there are some basic guidelines that avid romance readers expect.

The typical plot structure of a romance novel, in its most basic form, looks something like this:

1) Meet cute

2) Building of romantic tension

3) Couple gets together/almost gets together

4) Couple is torn apart

5) Happily ever after

Let’s dive into each of these in greater detail.

She’s a barista who wants to be an actress. He’s a playboy Hollywood exec who stops by her coffee shop.

He’s an earl with a dark secret. She’s a lady who has secrets of her own. They meet at a ball.

She’s a teacher in a small town. She falls in love with the new, mysterious woman in town after spilling coffee all over the both of them at the Fall Festival.

The meet cute is the term for the inciting incident in a romance. How do your characters meet? What draws them together?

The meet cute sets the tone for the entire story. While it doesn’t have to be love at first sight—and probably shouldn’t be for realism’s sake—you must establish strong romantic tension.

They don’t have to like each other at first. You could be writing an enemies-to-lovers story or have a grumpy love interest, but there should be a spark of something.

This is also an important place for characterization. How your characters speak to each other says a lot about their personalities and how their relationship will work. They might lean toward sarcastic banter or heated flirtations.

It’s also where you’ll describe the love interest through the eyes of your main character. Use description in a way that makes sense for the character’s point of view.

Need help with description? Use ProWritingAid’s Sensory Report to help develop the sensory details associated with your characters. It’s important to use all of the five senses and not rely too heavily on a single one.

A screenshot of ProWritingAid's Sensory Report

Build the Romantic Tension

Now your characters have to interact so they can develop a relationship. Some plot structures suggest that there should be a minimum of three scenes where they interact before the characters kiss or get together.

Determine what sort of events can draw your characters together. Be sure to give them ample opportunity to be alone together.

Through each scene, make their observations of one another deeper and more intimate. Hint at any emotional wounds or baggage, and show how falling in love might heal them.

Couple Gets Together but Is Torn Apart

Your couple must get together. After all, that’s the whole point of the romance. But your story will be very short and underdeveloped if your happily ever after comes too soon. I’m covering these two plot points together because they are so intertwined.

A first kiss or a tryst is common for this first union in romance. Your couple can date for a while as the external plot progresses, or they may decide that they cannot be together after just one night.

Work within the confines of your world and story to determine what this will look like. Here are a few examples.

The couple spends a night together, but then one is offered their dream job the next morning, and it’s two thousand miles away.

Something nefarious occurs after a kiss, and one of the love interests is kidnapped or is forced to run away.

Their love is forbidden, and they are discovered and pulled apart by family.

One wakes up with guilt because of the nature of their relationship (not accepted by society, is the enemy, is the widow of their childhood best friend, etc.)

How long the couple is able to be together before being inevitably pulled apart depends on the length of your novel and how you want any external plots to develop.

Are they able to meet in secret for months before they are discovered? Or is there just one night of passion before one decides to leave? All of this varies from story to story.

Happily Ever After or Happily for Now

You know how the fairy tales end: “and they all lived happily ever after. The end.” But we can’t end romance novels quite that simply. What does a happy ending look like for your characters?

If there is one plot component that is expected by the vast majority of romance readers, it’s the happy ending.

Happily ever after means that you somehow show or imply that your couple is together forever. Nothing will tear them apart, and the worst of times are behind them. But that might not work for your story.

Happily ever after versus happily for now

Enter the world of “happily for now.”

It means that when the story ends, everything is going well. However, you don’t allude that everything will be fine in the future.

Sarah J. Maas does this in her series. The first love interests of her main characters are never the endgame relationship. If you’re planning a series, a “happily for now” ending might work well.

What if You Want a Sad Ending?

Some authors have had great success with tearjerker endings, like Nicholas Sparks. In this case, there should have been a “happily for now” or “happily ever after” before the end. In other words, the ending should leave the reader satisfied with the culmination of the romantic relationship.

If one of the characters dies, does the remaining character still have a chance at a happy life? Did the love story change the remaining character for the better?

Tread carefully with non-traditional romance endings. There should still be a degree of happiness at the end of the book. If your story ends too much like a Shakespearean tragedy, your readers will lose trust in you.

There is an endless number of romance tropes, and they stay popular because people love them.

Of course, tropes that are overused in the same way can become clichéd. Figure out a way to freshen up some of these tropes and use them in a new, creative light.

Romance tropes are great for developing plot and building romantic tension. Here are some well-known romance tropes that stand the test of time.

Enemies to lovers
Friends to enemies to lovers
Friends to lovers
Marriage of convenience
Fake relationship
Arrogant playboy finds his heart
Forced proximity (roommates, coworkers, hostages, etc.)
There’s only one bed!
Secret billionaire/secret royal
Love triangles
Forbidden love
Girl next door
Brother/sister’s best friend
Second chance romance

These are just a few. There are so many tropes you can play with. Mix and match them to create a completely original story!

The different point of views for a romance novel

The last major factor when planning and writing your romance novel is the point of view (POV). Alternating POV between two or more lovers is a common occurrence.

Third-person omniscient allows you to get in the heads of not just the couple, but secondary characters as well.

You can write in first or third person. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. All readers have their preferences.

Think about your story without writing. How do you imagine telling this love story? Is it easy for you to see both love interests’ perspectives? Does one character have a stronger arc than the other? Who do you want readers to relate to the most?

It’s okay to start a story in one point of view and realize it’s not working. You can always rewrite scenes with a new POV during editing.

Most importantly, writing a romance novel should be fun. Write in a way that makes you fall in love with your characters and makes you want them to have a happily ever after. Focus on the emotions rather than the events. Romance readers are in it for the feelings—the angsty, the warm, the cozy, the heart-wrenching.

The number one rule for writing a romance

They did just so and all the romance writers lived happily ever after. The end.

Learn from bestselling authors and writing experts like Taylor Jenkins Reid and Sarah MacLean at Romance Writers’ Week, October 24–28, 2022.

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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Tips for Writing Your First Romance Novel

Penning your first romance novel?

While romance may seem like the easiest genre to write, it is definitely not. The average romance reader is smart, discerning and not easily impressed. To create a successful romance, it takes a thoughtful strategy. It won’t just happen magically.

Let’s discuss what you need to know to create a romance novel that makes the reader fall in love and then tell her friends about it.

By the way, I apologize ahead of time for the double entendres and puns that are scattered around this post, but how could I not?

Need help marketing your romance novel? Subscribe to receive this helpful list of resources.

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Follow the Formula

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To create a satisfying romance novel, you need to follow a tried and true formula. It’s this:

Boy meets girl.

Boy loses girl.

Boy gets girl.

There’s no use in trying to reinvent the wheel here. Most romance readers will demand that your story follows this formula.

But the good news is, there are millions of different ways you can write this story without it sounding, well, formulaic.

Choose a Familiar Plot Device

Three of the most popular romance plot devices are:

Friends become lovers
You’re my soulmate, it’s fate
This is my second chance to love again

While there are different devices you can use in your story, such as rich and sadistic billionaire playboy meets mousy, unsure girl, you can’t go wrong with the above tropes. Readers want to see themselves in the heroine. They want to believe that this love interest exists. And they want the story to be in some way relatable to their own lives.

Understand Your Audience

When you write a romance novel, you start out with one big advantage. You already know who your reader is: it’s a woman. To be more specific, it’s a middle class and middle aged woman from the South. They like ice tea and hot romance, and I say that with affection as a true southerner.

You may think I’m just joking, but statistics show that 82% or romance book buyers are women . The majority of these women read romance novels at least once a month, but over a third buy more than one romance novel each month.

And these readers are seasoned. 35% have been reading romance novels for 20 years plus. If you crunch the numbers, the average reader was read well over 200 romance novels in their lifetime.

So, keep in mind that you’re probably not going to surprise them with plot (romance stories usually follow the predictable formula we discussed above), but you can provide them with interesting characters to care about and introduce them to a new world that they’ve never experienced before.

Introduce the Heroine

Now that you have a clear understanding of who your reader is, it’s easier to create a heroine that she will love to read about. Although it’s possible to craft a story around a teenage girl and her first love, it may not resonant if your reader is in her 40s. She wants to see a heroine she can relate to.

So, create a heroine that reflects your average reader. Your heroine and the reader should share some sympathetic characters. Here are some ideas you can use to reflect the reader in your romance novel:

The age of your protagonist
The mentality of your protagonist
Physical attributes of your protagonist (hair color, eye color, ethnicity)
Where your protagonist lives
What your protagonist does for a living

Psst, don’t forget to check out our guide on writing women here .

Introduce the Love Interest

So, how do you create the perfect love interest for your protagonist? Don’t make him perfect.

Make him imperfect. The protagonist shouldn’t immediately love him or, even if she does, there should be something that gives her pause (age, relationship, etc.).

Make the reader fall in love with him, too. It’s not enough for the heroine to love him, the reader needs to get it. Make the reader care about both main characters. Take your time to create rounded and realistic characters.

In other words, don’t just objectify the hero. He should have faults but a true admiration for the heroine. And he should have a growth arc through the story as well.

What’s the Motivation?

What is driving these two characters in a collision course with each other? For this, you’ll need to know the background for each character. I highly recommend creating a character bible . It’s an important part of the process for character creation in any genre but holds special significance in the romance genre. Here’s why:

Romance characters can often fall flat, if you’re not careful. In a bid to push the characters towards a happy ending, writers may ignore motivation.

So, what exactly do I mean by motivation?

Motivation is the reason why a character does something. It can be something they believe about themselves, something they believe about the other person, or something they want to happen (or not happen).

Motives are usually born in the backstory. The reason why a character opts for one course of action over another is based on something that the reader may not know (but you should definitely know).

Perhaps the heroine doesn’t trust men because her father left her mother. While that may or may not enter into the story, it’s important that you know your character well enough to know the meaning behind her actions. If you can understand her psychology, you can create a character that’s whole, authentic and realistic, even if you don’t tell the reader everything that you know.

You may give glimpses to the reader, but as the writer, should always know the motivation of each character at every point within your story.

Let’s Talk About Sex

Clutch your pearls, boys and girls. It’s time to talk about sex.

So, the question is, should you go graphic and ultra specific with a fully fleshed out (I warned you about the puns) sex scene? Or should you leave a lot to the reader’s imagination?

The answer depends on you. Do you want to write descriptive sex scenes? Or does the thought of using the word “throbbing” make you want to curl up in a fetal position and hum?

There’s no shame in acknowledging that “sexy time” writing is not for you. You can still create a wonderfully romantic, passionate story without going behind closed doors. However, if you do decide to write about sex, remember your audience is women, not teenage boys, and they prefer context to sex. They don’t want gratuitous sex, they want emotion that’s illustrated with sex.

Location, Location, Location

As you know, you use setting to create the mood and atmosphere of your story. But the setting can also become a main character in your romance novel.

You can do historical, you can do contemporary. You can do bucolic, you can do metropolitan. But choose a setting that adds tension to the characters in some way .

Additionally, think of ways to use the setting to differentiate your romance. Instead of setting your story in any town, USA, why not set it on a mission to Mars?

Choosing an unusual setting for your romance novel can help you stand out in a “been there, done that” genre.

A Happy Ending

You need to create a satisfying ending to your novel. If you don’t, it will completely ruin the story for your reader and, perhaps worse, discourage them from reading any other romance novel you publish in the future. That’s not good.

The best plot is the one where the boy gets the girl at the end. Period. So, no matter what it takes to get your characters to this ending, make it happen.

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Writing Genres

How to Write Romance Novels

Last Updated: May 17, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 352,445 times.

Writing a romance novel is a great way to practice creating compelling characters and believable relationships. Our guide will help you get started, from drafting an outline to crafting the perfect romantic ending!

Brainstorming Ideas for the Novel

Step 1 Use a real life romantic experience as inspiration.

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.

Step 2 Use romantic movies or television shows as inspiration.

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

Step 3 Create an engaging main character.

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 husband and copes by going back to her hometown.

Step 4 Focus on a particular type of romance novel.

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.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Off Campus by Amy Jo Cousins
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Dive deep into your chosen genre. "Focus in on the genre you want to write, and read books in that genre. A LOT of books by a variety of authors. And read with questions in your mind."

Writing the Novel

Step 1 Put your own spin on the romance 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Step 6 Wrap up the novel with a satisfying ending.

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.

Polishing the Novel

You can also read the novel aloud to catch spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Try reading the novel slowly so you can check that each word is spelled correctly.

Step 2 Show the novel to others for feedback.

You can also join a writing group or start your own writing group with friends so you can workshop your novel.
Be open to constructive criticism from others. It will only make your novel better.

After you have revised the novel, you may consider sending it out to publishers so it can be read by a wider audience.

Romance Novel Samples

Community Q&A

↑ https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/NETP17.pdf
↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVL7NamC9s/
↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn__v80q7_w/
↑ https://www.govst.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Services_and_Resources/Writing_Center/WC_Inside_Pages/Basic%20Rules%20of%20Grammar%20WORD%202003%20Document.pdf
↑ https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/2303/chapter/13/

About This Article

To write romance novels, create an engaging main character and develop a central conflict for your protagonist to navigate. To capture your readers' imaginations, be sure to create a strong setting and strive to write unique content that doesn't repeat typical romance novel cliches. You may want to focus on a specific type of story, like historical or paranormal, since the romance genre includes a lot of niche territory. Don't forget to wrap up your novel with a satisfying conclusion, since romance readers tend to prefer "happily ever after" endings. For tips on revising your first draft, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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The Structure of Romance

Apr 03, 2018 by Robin Lovett published in Writing

There’s no one way to plot a romance. Everyone has their own system of structuring. Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes is a popular one many romance writers swear by. I’m not great at following anyone else’s mold. The way I work is making things up for myself, and finding the way I need to do things. Below is the structure I’ve come up with for myself in the twelve or so romance novels I’ve written. But I’m not necessarily telling you to follow it. This is one example. Go forth and search for yours!

When I plot a romance, I plan for not one, not two, but three main character arcs. The main characters–the lovers–are arcs one and two. And then there is the relationship. The relationship gets its own arc, as though it’s a third main character.

The hero’s journey plot structure almost works for the relationship arc — just replace “the quest” with “the relationship.”

1) Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute

Here’s where the lovers meet. Where the seeds of their relationship are sown. There’s both attraction and conflict. The groundwork for the potential to reach an HEA (happily-ever-after), along with enough conflict to last the length of a novel, is set.

2) Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship

One or both of the main characters are in denial about the attraction, or there’s some external reason in their way, so that this cannot possibly work out. Here the relationship is still very much at odds. We learn the reasons why the relationship won’t work, and the external plot reasons why they cannot be together. But also… there are hints that they can’t quite stop thinking about each other, and something big is going to happen between them. It’s usually a situation of “they doth protest too much.”

3) Acceptance of the Quest / Giving the relationship a chance

This is the “First Threshold” or the beginning of Act Two. For some reason, despite their attempts to stay apart, they’re forced to work together, often toward a common goal, sometimes as a reluctant agreement to date. There’s often some challenge that cannot be overcome without the other. They must accept some sort of relationship is developing, though they are still adamant HEA is not in the cards for them at all. There’s still conflict and resistance to permanence and no mentions of love, but they must face the truth: in order to continue on their journey, they will need to work together.

4) Trials and Temptations / Three Dates

This is the first relationship development section. Usually there’s a first date that happens here, and other challenges. I’ve heard Liz Pelletier of Entangled say there’s usually three dates in this section, if there are dates, which not every romance has per say. But the lovers are together for a period of time, interacting in a get-to-know-you scenario demonstrating relationship chemistry in at least three major scenes. Each scene both deepens their affinity but also reaffirms the reason they cannot be together. It’s a “three steps forward two steps back” pattern.

5) Midpoint Crisis / I-need-you-but-can’t-have-you

In many romances, this is where some major form of physical intimacy takes place. A first kiss, a first love making, a first uninhibited admittance of, “I really like having you in my life.” There’s an intense moment of believing or seeing a glimpse of how meaningful this relationship could become. But it’s quickly dashed to pieces, often by one or the other getting scared by the growing intimacy and some external plot force tearing them apart.

6) The Road Back / Pulling Back Together

Something most likely in the external plot forces them back together for some reason. They’re forced to work together, and the attraction is stronger than ever. The relationship development that had begun in the first half now deepens. Often their deepest fears are confessed, they’re left vulnerable and open to each other, and real intimacy builds.

7) The Fall

They fall for each other, hard. There’s usually another big moment of physical intimacy here, often lovemaking in a way that is meaningful. In romances where the couple has been engaging in casual sex, usually the love scene here is truly making love for the first time. They will separately admit they’ve fallen for the other, though not necessarily acknowledging it to each other. Sometimes one will declare themselves, but the other doesn’t reciprocate for some reason related to their internal flaw or wound.

8) Dark moment / The Break Up

They’re done. They’re over. The relationship is never going to happen. Their lives are in crisis. They try to go back to their ordinary world, and it’s a dismal fail. They’re irrevocably changed by the other person. They’re lost and miserable in their loneliness.

9) The Sacrifice

There’s a decision made by one or both of the lovers. Their clinging to the fear of the wound/flaw is overcome. There’s a letting go or sacrificing of the misbelief they’ve been carrying around this whole time, and giving up on the external plot reason for them not being together. The realization that whatever fear was stopping them is insignificant to their love for the other person.

10) Declaration

There’s a declaration of love, a communion of the relationship. This is where the magic of the HEA comes to completion. It’s usually at first met with some trepidation. This is their first big leap of faith and giving of their hearts to each other. The trust circle between them is complete.

11) Denouement / The HEA.

The romance reader has to have their denouement. They want a glimpse of the lovers in their new HEA world, to make sure that everything is going okay. There’s usually a scene including friends and family, gaining an acknowledgement of the new relationship from important people in their lives. There’s a renewed promise of forever.

That’s not everything. There’s so much more to it. But that’s the broad stroke of what I’m thinking about when I plot the romance relationship of my romance novels. There’s separate work that goes into each character’s internal arc, and then there’s the planning of the external plot as well.

I’m sure you do it differently. Feel free to share what works for you!

Robin Lovett is a romance writer for Entangled Publishing and St. Martin’s Press Swerve. She writes some sci-fi erotic and some dark romance thrillers–but always intense sexy books. She loves to chat on Twitter @LovettRomance and every Sunday evening you can find her with other romance writers at #RWChat. She is represented by Rachel Brooks of BookEnds Literary Agency.

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How to plot a romance novel: 6 tips to sizzle

In a romance novel narrative suspense and tension keep your reader turning pages. Knowing how to plot a romance novel means mastering romantic tension and several other key elements of a beautiful love story (or twisted romance). Try these 6 tips to make your romance gripping:

Post author By Jordan
20 Comments on How to plot a romance novel: 6 tips to sizzle

1. Find romance plot ideas that promise intrigue

The relationship between two characters (or more, in the case of a polyamorous story such as a love triangle) can be full of intense drama, playful banter, heartwarming intimacy and other interesting elements of human relationships.

At the same time, the best romance plot ideas bring in additional elements besides the relationship that add intrigue. Study the way blurbs for New York Times bestselling romances promise interesting story arcs:

Examples of intriguing romance plots

‘Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.’ Publisher’s blurb for How to Walk Away by Katherine Center (2018)

Or this summary of Nicholas Sparks’s novel, Every Breath:

‘Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she’s been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family’s cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future. Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother’s early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . Publisher’s blurb for Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks (2018)

Each of these romance novel ideas contains fodder for interesting parallel plot lines. Center could explore how Margaret’s accident and rehabilitation impact her relationship. Sparks could explore how Hope’s father’s illness and Tru’s search for his own father might affect or deepen their bond.

Find a romance plot idea that includes additional parallel challenges, goals and desires for your love interests. This gives characters depth beyond just seeking a mate. Readers get multiple story arcs and unknowns to invest in, too.

2. Outline a romance where love doesn’t come easy

Sometimes love does come easy. For example, high school sweethearts stay close, marry, and live to old age.

Yet relationships that glide along effortlessly are rare. And can make boring reading. It’s the drama, the suspense and tension, that keeps us saying ‘I’m-only-going-to-read-the-next-page-before-bed’. The laughter, in the case of funny romance stories, which is it’s own kind of tension (as we wait on tenterhooks for the punchline).

The advantage of outlining your romance story and plotting key details upfront is you have an idea from the outset of possible challenges facing your lovers’ relationship.

Examples of plot points that delay romantic leads’ goals

Examples of plot points that can delay union and create romantic tension include:

Reappearing (or even interfering) exes
Disapproving/interfering friends or family
Misunderstandings and negative assumptions between potential lovers
Personal history or ‘baggage’ that potential lovers may bring to budding relationships

Many other possible obstacles can make romance plots exciting.

For example, lovers being separated by a war, like in Sébastien Japrisot’s A Very Long Engagement (1991) or Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook (1996). Unavoidable physical distance is a useful device for keeping the question open whether or not lovers will finally be together.

Lisa Gardner quote plotting romance | Now Novel

3. Plot goals and complications to build narrative momentum

Lovers often have goals and complications that work against their union. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , the doomed lovers’ feuding families are the complication standing in their way.

Goals and complications or worst case scenarios (the worst possible development that could come to pass, the fear lurking in the background) give a story narrative momentum ( direction and drive towards the next plot point).

For example, in a rags to riches story where a character desires a well-off lover but is also career-driven, part of the story’s momentum may come from the juggle act of balancing romantic desires and professional ones. Maybe a character cancels a date to work late, and the love interest mistakenly reads this as disinterest .

This is an example of a plot point, a development of a situation, that plunges your reader into new uncertainties (we ask, ‘how will this misunderstanding evolve or be resolved?’)

There are two main ways to figure out the romantic goals and complications of your romance novel. One way is to outline before you begin writing and the other is to simply begin writing the first draft and see where it takes you.

To find the plot points and and character goals that shape your story, use the ‘Central Plot’ section in the Now Novel dashboard . Add ideas to your outline automatically as you go – you can always deviate from your outline as you draft. Yet a useful guide helps to prevent getting stuck.

AVOID GETTING STUCK

Profile romantic duos and other characters and get helpful critiques.

4. Milk misunderstandings and surprises for tension

In a gripping romance story, the plot of an entire chapter could revolve around something as simple as one character’s parent coming to stay for a week unexpectedly.

A surprise scenario like this could complicate the story in many possible ways:

A love interest who is commitment-shy might be spooked by the ‘serious’ step of meeting the lover’s parent
The parent might disapprove of the relationship or be too controlling
The daughter/son might be frustrated by the fact their new partner gets along with their parent better(!)

In romance stories, plot points revolve around human drama and the complex entanglements of our desires, wants, needs and fears.

Milk potential conflicts and misunderstandings to create intrigue and suspense. For example, in Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice , the protagonist Elizabeth Bennett misunderstands her eventual lover Mr. Darcy’s gruff manner for rudeness and disinterest at first.

This is a classic love story of two people overcoming the prejudice that results when we rely on assumptions and easy judgments.

5. Know subgenre when you create romance plots

As with other popular genres such as crime, there are many subgenres of romance. These include:

Infographic - romance subgenres | Now Novel

Familiarity with your sub-genre is important too . Read several books in your genre, be it historical, contemporary or paranormal romance. Take notes on when major plot points occur and what they involve . How far into the story does the first big complication or turning point occur? Try to read in other subgenres (and genres), too. It enriches your author’s palette with many colours.

6. Plot the purpose of each story section

For a by-the-book romance novel, here are the plot points a reader is going to expect in the opening:

The characters meet
Characters’ background goals, fears and flaws that are separate from their romance (and will impact it) need to begin to emerge

In the middle section of a good romance plot , often:

The physical and/or emotional relationship between the characters intensifies
Seeds of the main conflicts that keep the characters from their goals and romantic fulfillment appear
A turning point occurs that incites greater romantic tension (the question of whether or not the lovers can find romantic fulfillment)

The final section, containing the final conflict and resolution, will occupy the final quarter of the novel:

The climax often includes a section where everything appears hopeless and the protagonists’ future together is completely in question.
The resolution and reward should be concise – short enough to be satisfying without being drawn out in such a way that romantic and sexual tension fizzle out .

Does the above structure sound a little too rigid?

The truth is that you should depart from it in any ways that seem logical for your own romance story. Unless you are following strict publisher-given guidelines for a category romance, find the love story you want to tell.

Join Now Novel and get peer feedback or a coach’s help turning your romance story idea into a sizzling novel .

Romance story ideas: 5 tips for affecting arcs
How to write a romance novel: Avoid romance writing mistakes
How to plot a novel: 7 tips for success
Tags romance writing

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

20 replies on “How to plot a romance novel: 6 tips to sizzle”

This site has helped me to work my outline out pretty well.I will upgrade soon. to start writing it.Keep up the good work.

GREAT ARTICLE. You gave me an epiphany.

Very helpful! Thanks for this.

It’s a pleasure, Morgan! Thanks for reading.

THANK YOU for this!! I had now idea how to structure my novel but this will help 🙂

I’m getting ready to write the first of three YA romance novels in a stand alone series – this was so helpful! THANK YOU!

I don’t know how I didn’t see the comments on this article long ago. Disqus’s notification system seems a little patchy. It’s a pleasure, Caroline!

Thanx for this. Its very helpful for me. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

It’s a pleasure! Thanks for reading.

I’m so glad I found this post because I decided to rewrite my novel into a romance. However, I am struggling with the Black moment in my story. I know my main character’s flaws, and my story has an outside antagonist, but I am stuck.

I know there needs to be a “test” of some kind that proves the character has changed, but I don’t know what to do.

Hi Marissa,

I hope you see this as quite some time has passed (I should read over older posts to catch questions such as yours). I hope you’ve overcome this hurdle! I wouldn’t say there are compulsory ingredients of a romance, like a template. But for a test, perhaps it could be a situation that brings your character’s faults to the fore? It’s difficult to advise without knowing the finer details of your plot. Good luck!

Late to the party, as usual. Romance is one of the hardest things for me to write and my first two completed MS have not a speck of romance as I feared writing it badly. This is good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

It’s a pleasure, Elias. I’d say everyone has their strong points. I’d hazard a guess from not writing them that you don’t read many romantic stories, so my suggestion would be to add a few more to your regular reading and note which romantic arcs you believe and enjoy and go from there 🙂 Personally an all time favourite for me is Love in the Time of Cholera (anything by Marquez really). That being said not every story needs romance.

Thanks for the hints. Certainly is a variety of themes but they all follow a similar pattern.

It’s a pleasure, James, thank you for reading our blog!

Thank you for this information, I have saved it for future reference as I transition from horror writing to romance — in one form or another. Best to you in the New Year!

Hi Sue, it’s a pleasure, and best to you for your transition into writing romance and for your year ahead. It’s an interesting genre switch, good luck with it. You can find more of our articles on romance writing here .

Thank you so much for this post -it is exactly what I needed help with! I am bookmarking this blog, as I am working on my first book and I can use all the help I can get.

I’m glad to hear that, Kelly. Thanks for reading our blog and best of luck with your book.

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The Romance Novel Formula: How to Use the Complete Structure of True Love for Your Breakout Romance Novel

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The Romance Novel Formula: How to Use the Complete Structure of True Love for Your Breakout Romance Novel Kindle Edition

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09J48ZHJF
Publisher ‏ : ‎ A.K. Leigh (December 7, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2452 KB
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Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
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Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
#606 in Romance Fiction Writing Reference
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#1,328 in Writing Skill Reference (Kindle Store)

About the author

A.K. Leigh (aka Leigh Hatchmann) is an unrepentant dreamer and romantic, trauma survivor, writing teacher, and identical triplet. Her multi-genre fiction transports readers into a world of cozy mysteries, suspense, crime, the supernatural, and time travel––all entwined with a heart-pumping HEA romance. Her non-fiction titles (as Alicia Leigh) take readers on journeys to strengthen self-love, heighten creativity, and increase imagination. Find her books, and follow her, at: www.amazon.com/author/akleigh. Join her exclusive LOVELEIGHS CLUB at: www.fallinlovewithleigh.com/loveleighs.

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In The Key Of Love

Author Alicia Leigh: The Romance Novel Formula

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions . Alicia Leigh will be awarding a paperback copy of The Romance Novel Formula to 3 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Is there a secret formula for writing a successful romance novel? Backed by research and professional expertise, The Romance Novel Formula provides everything you need to take you from idea to first draft of your breakout romance novel. Join best-selling romance author and academic researcher, Alicia Leigh, as you discover: *How to take your love interests on the “lovers’ journey” – inclusive of ALL types of romantic relationships: ménage, alien, LGBTQI, polyamory, etc. *A unique five-act structure to make your story easy to write and manage. *The specific story “beats” exclusive to the romance genre (and which other books on writing typically exclude). *The story and character arcs necessary to classify your book as romance. *How to avoid stereotypes by focusing on archetypes. *Popular romance tropes. *Essential writing techniques. *Advice on dialogue. *The most common writing mistakes . . . and how to avoid them. *Goal, motivation, and conflict. *Fear, need, and flaw (what are they, and do you need them?). *Much more! Complete with checklists and over 30 writing exercises, The Romance Novel Formula is the new essential romance writing guide for aspiring and experienced writers, plotters and pantsers, and professional researchers.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

“Romance novels are written to a specific formula.” The number of times I’ve heard this insulting and patronizing phrase throughout my career as a romance writer would fill its own book! Yet, regardless of urban legends and popular culture tales, the simple fact is this: There is no romance novel formula. Let me repeat that with emphasis: There is no romance novel formula.

Now, it may seem I have contradicted the title of this book by saying that. However, there is more than one way to write a romance novel. This book is intended as a guide to assist you while giving you the freedom to find your own version of a formula. While there is no set formula per se, there is a structure you can follow that will aid you in writing your breakout romance novel. This structure isn’t used solely by romance writers. Different forms are used by all novelists (see, for instance, books such as Story, Save The Cat! Writes a Novel, The Plot Whisperer, and Story Engineering, which have a variety of formulas, guides and suggestions). In that regard, writing a romance novel is almost the same as writing any other novel. I say almost because the romance genre has necessary inclusions that are applicable to it alone.

This applies to every genre. These are called genre conventions. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned writer, this book can lead you through the quagmire of structure and help you find the unique path for your characters to follow on what I call the lovers’ journey.

About the Author:

Alicia Leigh is a bestselling non-fiction author, international-selling romance author, identical triplet, writing coach, and hot chocolate addict.

She uses her postgraduate degrees in counseling from the Australian College of Applied Psychology and editing from Macquarie University to create believable, three-dimensional characters. Her certificates in forensic science and forensic anthropology from the University of Strathclyde add layers to the realistic crime elements in her stories. She has completed her master’s degree in writing at Swinburne University and is currently embarking upon her PhD in Creative Arts (writing) at Central Queensland University.

When not writing, reading, coaching, studying, or enjoying nature, she can be found having fun with her three gorgeous children (plus one laid-back dog and one hypersensitive guinea pig).

She is active on social media and encourages readers and writers to interact with her there. She writes romantic fiction novels under the pseudonyms A.K. Leigh and Leigh Hatchmann.

*Fall in love … with Leigh*

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3 responses to “Author Alicia Leigh: The Romance Novel Formula”

Thanks for hosting!

It’s a pleasure to have you here Alicia! Congratulations on this exciting release!

Thank you, and thank you for sharing! 🙂

Illustration of elements in a romance novel, with a writer on a laptop in the middle

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How to write a romance novel

Vikki Moynes, commissioning editor at Viking, which is an imprint of Penguin General, works on commercial and upmarket fiction – from laugh-out-loud romcoms like Emily Henry ’s Book Lovers to intoxicating, compulsive tales of deadly secrets like Heather Darwent ’s The Things We Do To Our Friends . Here, she shares what she looks for in a romance novel, and her top tips for debut authors.

What are romance editors looking for?

Think of yourself as a reader of your own book – if you were reading a blurb, what would make it a must-read? “First and foremost, I’m looking for the hook – something that feels unique and engaging. This is how I know I can get readers to be as hungry to read it as I am,” says Vikki. “A sense of plotting is also an absolute must. I want to be taken in by the tale the writer is weaving. I read so many books that it’s very hard to surprise me, so when it happens that’s a surefire way to catch my attention!"

Lastly, characters are especially important. “I’m also searching for writers that understand their characters intimately, who can bring them to life and make me care about them too.”

'I'm also searching for writers that understand their characters intimately, who can bring them to life and make me care about them too'

Vikki's top tips for writing a romance novel

1. Create off-the-charts chemistry

The fundamental thing for a love story is the connection between the two main love interests. It should be clear to everyone, but them, that they are meant to be. Your readers need to be aching for them to just get together already!

2. Rework the classic tropes

While there are certain beats and plot arcs that nearly all romances need to hit, writers that can put a fresh spin on those tropes are what always catches my eye.

3. Sweep the reader off their feet

Essentially a combination of the two above points – while we all know they’re probably going to end up happily-ever-after, you need to take the reader on an emotional journey, so they fall in love with each of the characters as much as the protagonists do with each other.

4. Add (at least) a hint of passion

From a flickering candle to a full-blown wildfire, no love story is complete without those all-important scenes where the two people you’re rooting for finally get together. The setting and build-up are key in making the wait worth it for the reader!

How are 'love stories' categorised in publishing?

"Love stories could fall into pretty much any category, as the simple act of falling in love is so universal and fundamentally human," says Vikki. "The love between two people can be so multifaceted: platonic, parental, familial."

'The love between two people can be so multifaceted: platonic, parental, familial'

Genres are a simple shorthand to clearly explain to readers what they can expect from the reading experience. Some readers know they like certain genres, so it helps to categorise books in this way, especially in bookshops, libraries or online. Things are rarely ever as straightforward as that in reality though – often novels sit across multiple genres, for example, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is simultaneously a murder mystery, a love story, and a coming-of-age tale.

Editors know their readers extremely well, and it can be instinctual when reading a new submission. "When I’m publishing books under the romance genre, that’s generally because I feel the hook would appeal most heavily to a core audience who reads romances," says Vikki.

"These readers tend to like novels which centre around two characters who fall in love and end up in a relationship – they want to feel the sexual tension, the angst, and be swept off their feet along with the protagonists."

'The hook is your one-line pitch that gives editors and booksellers the unique selling point of the story – the thing the plot hinges on'

The hook is your one-line pitch that gives editors and booksellers the unique selling point of the story – the thing the plot hinges on. Getting it right is a key thing to work on, and something you should keep revisiting during the writing process. You can also gather honest feedback on the hook from people you feel would be the target audience – do they ‘get’ the book straight away? How does it make them feel? Can they envision where it would sit in a bookshop? This can all be useful to help refine before sending it to agents and editors.

Trust your voice

Getting published can be a long journey, and understandably quite daunting, but editors are very aware that your book is incredibly special to you! Vikki says, “Don’t give up – so much of getting published is finding that person who connects with your novel as much as you do – a bit like dating to find your one true love in a way! While it can be a hard slog to find that right editor, it only takes one, and will all be worth it when you do.”

Illustration: Mike Ellis for Penguin

Romance with Humor, Hope, and Happily Ever Afters

Craft-of-Writing Series

Romance Novels: What Are “Formulas” and Are They Bad? #amwriting

How Can Formula Not Be a Bad Thing? When we talk about romance novels, the words “formula” or “formulaic” almost always come up. In fact, that’s one of the most common terms others outside of the genre use to insult it—they don’t like romance novels because they’re too “formulaic.” (As opposed to mystery novels or other genre fiction, right?)

As I wrote in the post Romance Novels: What Are They, Anyway? , romance readers expect their romance novels to hit certain “beats”—or, in other words, to follow a certain formula: The meet, the separation, the reunion, the happy ending. This expectation may seem limiting—stifling—to the creative process.

Actually, as a romance writer, I find that already knowing I have a built-in structure, that I have certain beats I need to incorporate into my story, makes it so much easier to write and be creative.

Why? Well, because my story already has something of a structure before I even start writing. I know I’m going to have two main characters. I know the H/H are going to have to meet pretty close to the beginning of the book, because I know that the plot of my book doesn’t get rolling until they meet (after all, the plot of a romance novel hinges on and is built around the developing relationship between the H/H ). I know I need to come up with conflicts that challenge the H/H’s developing relationship. I know there needs to be a major crisis/conflict that threatens the relationship (something that either separates them or that they need to face together, though one might not come out of it unscathed). And I know the ending of my book—the H/H will have a happy ending. I may not know how they have that happy ending, but I know that’s what I’m working toward.

But Doesn’t a Formula Make It Boring to Write/Read? Which would you rather eat? A cake made by someone following a precise recipe, or one made by someone who’s just throwing a whole bunch of ingredients together without measuring anything?

If you’re an accomplished cook, it’s likely that you can walk into your kitchen, grab a bunch of ingredients, and make a tasty meal without having to follow a recipe or do much measuring. But were you always able to do that? Or was there a point at which you had to follow recipes (or have someone telling you exactly what to combine and in what ratios)?

Writing is a lot like cooking—and writing romance is even more like baking. When you first start out, you have to follow a recipe—you have learn/follow the “rules” of writing, and in genre fiction, you need to learn the formulas/tropes that are common in the genre (because they’re what the readers are expecting). But eventually, you’ve learned the theory so well, you can just sit down and “throw something together” because you know your “flavors” and “ratios” and how to balance everything out to get a “tasty” outcome.

With romance writing, our readers are expecting anything from a pie with a perfectly flaky crust to a massive wedding cake. And if you’ve ever tried baking either of those, you know that it not only takes practice, it takes precise measurements from a tried-and-true recipe. However, there isn’t just one kind of pie. Nor is there just one kind of wedding cake. As authors, it’s our job to give our readers something different—a peach and cherry cobbler or layers of chocolate espresso cake with raspberry filling beneath that fluffy white frosting—so that they don’t get bored with the same old “desserts” every time they come to us for their “sweets.”

Yes, bakers experiment and create new stuff all the time—cronuts, anyone? But they have to know what they’re doing—they have to be experts with their craft, they have to know the rules of baking (does it need leavening? how much? how much is too much sugar? what about liquid—how wet or dry does the batter need to be? what cooking method should be used—oven, deep-fry, boil? etc.). It’s knowing the basic recipes, knowing the “formula” behind baking, that allows their creativity to soar. And even then, even with the experts, there’s a lot of experimentation followed by failures until the right balance of formula and creativity is struck. It’s the same with writing romance.

Could you add flavors like amaretto or strawberry or lemon-ginger? Absolutely. What about changing the color? Yep. Using a combination of several different types of frostings/coverings? Sure. How about edible flowers or some made out of fondant or gum paste? You betcha. But no matter how creative these bakers get, when we go to a wedding (or a birthday party) and see something that looks like a cake, we have a certain expectation as to what we’ll be getting. What’s served to us can fail, meet, or exceed our expectations.

It’s all still cake. And it’s our prerogative as to what flavors we like and dislike, whether we want square or round tiers, and how much decoration we want. But now I’m dancing on the edge of tropes and that’s the topic for tomorrow.

What do you think of when you hear the word “formula” when it comes to romance novels? In what ways do you expect there to be a formula, and in what ways does seeing a novel following the formula bother you?

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COMMENTS

How to Outline a Romance Novel
How to Outline a Romance Novel. In today's post, I'm going to show you how to write a well-structured romance novel using the Three Act Structure. The first thing you'll want to do when planning any novel is to decide upon a target word count. The average length of a romance novel is 80,000 words, so I'll be using that for my example.
Your Complete Blueprint for Writing a Romance Novel
Essentially, the three-act story structure involves splitting your romance novel into a beginning, middle, and end. Each of these sections include core plot points to keep up the tension and keep your reader turning the pages. Here's an overview of the three acts we'll be splitting your romance novel into: Act One: The Setup (0-25%) Act Two ...
How to Write a Romance Novel [In 13 Steps]
2. Create the Setting to Write a Romance Novel. No one who is learning how to write a novel should neglect to create a good setting. However, in a character-driven romance, it is especially important. The setting creates the atmosphere and the atmosphere can hold a lot of weight in what goes on.
How to Write a Romance Novel
Though love itself may be hard to explain, the process of writing love stories isn't. Using examples from a variety of media, here are seven steps for writing romance: 1. Find your niche. 2. Set the stage effectively. 3. Write a strong main couple. 4.
How to Write a Romance Novel (So Good They'll Remember It For Years!)
Go ahead and use whatever drafting method is best for you. If you're new to novel writing, check out the tips and tricks in the step-by-step novel-writing article linked above. The formula for a romance novel, as we've discussed, is super important, so let's talk about the main beats you'll want to hit as you write your book. The ...
Romancing the Beat: How to Plot a Romance Novel
Romancing the Beat Step-by-Step. There are four phases to the Romancing the Beat structure. Phase 1: The Setup... Introducing the love interests and setting the stage for their romance. Phase 2: Falling in Love... A period where the love interests get to know each other better, but are not quite firmly in a relationship.
How To Write A Romance Novel in 13 Easy Steps
Writing a successful romance novel involves several key steps to engage your readers and create a compelling love story. First, set yourself up with novel writing software so you are ready to go. Then, here are the 13 steps you should take when learning how to write a romance novel: 1. Define your target audience.
How to Write a Genuine Romance
Writing romance is hard because human emotions are hard—and love is one of the most complex emotions we have. To make matters worse, writing a compelling novel requires you to create conflict, and love stories are no different. There needs to be a certain level of resistance between your lovers to make the story interesting, but there's a ...
How to Write a Romance Novel: The Complete Guide
Well, if you plan on marketing your love story as a romance novel, there are some basic guidelines that avid romance readers expect. The typical plot structure of a romance novel, in its most basic form, looks something like this: 1) Meet cute. 2) Building of romantic tension.
Tips for Writing Your First Romance Novel
For romance writing: 1. randomly pick two people and craft a story of their chance meeting; 2. watch a couple and craft a story of how they have come to be together. I like to use my immediate environment to help me invent a story that leads to --- romance, thriller, etc. Best of luck in your writing adventure!
How to Write a Romance Novel: 5 Tips for Writing a ...
From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Nicolas Sparks' The Notebook, romance novels fill our hearts, ignite our passions, and help us consider the nature of love in a new light. There are many ingredients to a great romance novel, and first-time romance writers will need all of them to tell an effective story. From Jane Austen's *Pride ...
How to Write Romance Novels: 14 Steps (with Pictures)
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.". 6. 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.
The Structure of Romance
published in Writing. There's no one way to plot a romance. Everyone has their own system of structuring. Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes is a popular one many romance writers swear by. I'm not great at following anyone else's mold. The way I work is making things up for myself, and finding the way I need to do things.
How To Write A Romance Novel That Makes Readers Swoon
Urban Fantasy Romance. This involves characters who live in an alternate world that is very like our own, but with magical or fantastical elements in it. The setting is often a city, but, despite the name, it doesn't have to be. Examples include House Of Earth And Blood by Sarah J. Maas or Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.
How to Plot a Romance Novel: 6 Tips to Sizzle
Knowing how to plot a romance novel means mastering romantic tension and several other key elements of a beautiful love story (or twisted romance). Try these 6 tips to make your romance gripping: 1. Find romance plot ideas that promise intrigue. The relationship between two characters (or more, in the case of a polyamorous story such as a love ...
The Romance Novel Formula: How to Use the Complete Structure of True
Complete with checklists and over 30 writing exercises, The Romance Novel Formula is the new essential romance writing guide for aspiring and experienced writers, plotters and pantsers, and professional researchers. Read more Read less Report an issue with this product or seller. Previous page. Print length. 202 pages.
The Romance Novel Formula by A.K. Leigh
Complete with checklists and over 30 writing exercises, The Romance Novel Formula is the new essential romance writing guide for aspiring and experienced writers, plotters and pantsers, and professional researchers. Show more. 151 pages, ebook. Published December 7, 2021. Book details & editions.
The Romance Novel Formula: How to Use the Complete Structure of True
Is there a secret formula for writing a successful romance novel? Backed by research and professional expertise, The Romance Novel Formula , provides everything you need to take you from idea to first draft of your breakout romance novel. Join best-selling romance author and academic researcher, Alicia Leigh, as you discover: *How to take your love interests on the "lovers' journey ...
Author Alicia Leigh: The Romance Novel Formula
Complete with checklists and over 30 writing exercises, The Romance Novel Formula is the new essential romance writing guide for aspiring and experienced writers, plotters and pantsers, and professional researchers. Read an Excerpt. Introduction "Romance novels are written to a specific formula." The number of times I've heard this ...
How to write a romance novel
Vikki's top tips for writing a romance novel. 1. Create off-the-charts chemistry. The fundamental thing for a love story is the connection between the two main love interests. It should be clear to everyone, but them, that they are meant to be. Your readers need to be aching for them to just get together already! 2.
PDF Chapter 1 Romance Writing at a Glance
been a romance reader for a while), romance novels do not follow a prescribed formula. You just have the reader's basic expectations, which means that, as a writer, you have a lot of freedom in what you write and how you satisfy those expectations. 10 Part I: Welcome to the World of Romance Writing 04 525549 Ch01.qxd 3/31/04 4:15 PM Page 10
Romance Novels: What Are "Formulas" and Are They Bad? #amwriting
Writing is a lot like cooking—and writing romance is even more like baking. When you first start out, you have to follow a recipe—you have learn/follow the "rules" of writing, and in genre fiction, you need to learn the formulas/tropes that are common in the genre (because they're what the readers are expecting).
The Fabled Formula For Writing A Romance Novel
Learn the steps to write a romance novel that sells, from researching the market to delivering the elements that readers expect. Find out what makes a romance a romance and how to avoid common pitfalls.

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