ThreeDimensional Female Characters

Given that (statistically) the vast majority of romance readers are women, they obviously want to be portrayed in a realistic and respectful manner. Whether you’re writing from a male or female protagonist, the last thing readers want to see is an annoying, whiny, one-dimensional female character. And the stereotypical ‘manic pixie dream girl’ protagonist isn’t going to cut it either. Female readers don’t want to see themselves portrayed as simply plot points furthering a man’s character development and story- they want to be shown as complex, interesting, relatable, strong characters in and of themselves. Whether a female lead is a protagonist, love interest, or close friend- readers want to be able to love and root for them.

Swoon-worthy love interests

Romance readers aren’t picking up your book to get an action hero style gray, dark, cynical character. They want someone who they can gush over, that they fall in love with and constantly grow to love more and more throughout the story. If you’re doing the hate to love trope like in Sally Thorn’s The Hating Game, you have to be careful. You’ll have to craft the love interest so that he doesn’t do anything absolutely cruel or unforgiving in the beginning stages; otherwise, the character will cause more controversy than swoons. And, if this is the trope you’re going with, your readers will crave that moment where (plot twist) you find out he/she was only mean because he/she was attracted to your protagonist and didn’t know what to do with their feelings. Make sure you give your readers that moment.

Real Conflict

Emphasis on real here, fellow writers. A common mistake among romance writers is spending so much time focusing on the love story that the conflict feels disingenuous. Your readers may enjoy the romance in this circumstance, but there needs to be something keeping your characters apart to build up the tension. And there’s nothing more annoying than reading a romance about two people who have no good reason to not be together. Don’t make the mistake of the conflict just being words taken the wrong way or misunderstood- this isn’t real conflict. Use something external- like the protagonist’s parents disapprove of the love interest or one of them is sick.

Tension/Build-up

Romance readers crave a buildup of tension. They don’t want your characters to be hooking up on page two of the book, they want a gradual build-up of the characters’ feelings toward one another. They want to see their relationship grow; they want the characters to have little adorable moments where their hands touch and they feel sparks. They want them to question their feelings for each other, experience confusion when they feel things they didn’t expect and maybe don’t want initially. Make sure you build up the romance for your readers with little moments throughout the story until the characters (finally) get together.

Relatable/Average Characters

Gone are the days where readers crave these characters with rich, lavish lifestyles. When it comes to contemporary romances, they want to see characters with student loans who get gum stuck on their shoes. That may sound very unromantic, but the closer the character feels to themselves and the more relatable he/she is, the more a reader can imagine themselves in the protagonist’s place.

Happy Endings

We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again- romance readers want happy endings. You can spend the entire book tormenting your readers with super sad and tragic scenarios, but they want to be happy when they finish the book. Yes, there are romance novels that have sad endings and sometimes they work, but it’s not what the readers are looking for when they pick up a book in this genre. They want to leave with warm and fuzzy feelings inside–but that doesn’t mean it has to be unrealistically happy. The love interests should end up together, but maybe a character didn’t get their dream job–that’s still OK. It may even feel more realistic and, as long as the characters have each other, the reader still gets their happily ever after.

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Make your story different

This is a good rule of thumb for any novel, but especially with the romance genre. There are a lot of stereotypical tropes embedded in this genre. There’s the ‘bad boy’ who is broody and snarky, but really has a heart of gold. There’s the ‘unique’ or ‘quirky’ protagonist, where a novel constantly reiterates how special she/he is. There’s the plain girl who transforms into a beauty, suddenly gaining the attention of suitors. When you’re writing a romance novel, do your research and figure out what overused devices there are in the genre. Otherwise, you risk repeating what hundreds of authors have already done before you. Don’t get us wrong, avid romance readers won’t necessarily hate this. But, if you’re not (at the very least) taking a new spin on an old trope, your book won’t necessarily be cemented into the genre or gain very much attention.

So, if you’re writing a book with a love triangle between the broody bad boy and the sweet dorky guy- make sure to try to take a different spin on it in some way or another. Maybe the broody boy is just shy (like a Mr. Darcy type)? Or maybe the sweet dorky boy turns out to be a master manipulator?

Avoid Insta-Love

This is one of the most common tropes of romance novels. Insta-love is exactly what it sounds like- love at first sight. We’re not saying your character can’t immediately experience butterflies or have his or her attention drawn to their eventual partner. You can have infatuation at first sight, just not love. The sensation of falling in love in a fiction novel should feel as real as possible. Therefore, it should parallel the sensation of falling in real love as much as possible. And in real love, there is build up- different things your person says or the way they treat others or the way they make you laugh causes feelings to grow over time. If you start a relationship at the pinnacle of passion, then there’s nowhere to go but down. Readers want to feel the build-up and the pay-off of a love story and they won’t be able to if every moment is written with an equal amount of strength and feeling. Start in a reasonable place, where the characters are merely attracted to and flirtatious with one another, and then work your way toward love. It’s a big word and shouldn’t be taken lightly- even within the context of fiction.

Write imperfect characters

As previously stated, you want your story to feel as much like a real love story as possible. And guess what doesn’t exist in the real world? A perfect person. There’s nothing that will take your readers out of the story more than if your protagonist and his/her love interest are seemingly flawless.

There must be internal and external conflicts in every good story. It won’t be interesting for your reader if they’re just two perfect people that outside forces are trying to keep apart. They need to have their own issues and baggage because everyone does. Maybe they have a bad relationship with their parents, maybe they have had bad relationships in the past, maybe they were bullied and lack self-confidence. Either way, they need their own obstacles to overcome within the confines of the relationship. This leads to a better payoff when they, eventually, end up happy.

Follow the formula

The genre lends itself to creativity, but it also follows a very broad guideline that romance novel readers have come to expect. The key elements are a) A protagonist and romantic interest they’ll love and root for b) a believable conflict and c) a happily ever after. The first point is fairly self-explanatory, but a believable conflict is harder to understand. This is, essentially, a conflict that readers can sympathize with. It means that if you’re writing about your characters getting into a fight over a dumb misunderstanding that could be cleared up in five seconds if they just talk to each other…you’re doing it wrong.

In regards to your ending, romance readers tend to expect and want a happily ever after in some capacity. Tragic endings work best when the book is primarily another genre (like fantasy or sci-fi) with a romantic element on the side. Feel free to break their hearts if you want, but not every romance novel reader will be happy about it. And this doesn’t mean you need to have the stereotypical happy ending. Take The Notebook, for example. The ending is very bittersweet (spoilers). Noah and Ally end up together but, eventually, Ally gets Alzheimer’s and they pass away together in their sleep. So their end is fairly tragic, but they do get a long life together of love and happiness- which is their own unique version of a happily ever after.

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