Tag: Romantic tension

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Romancing Your Story

Romantic Tension

In the romance genre, it’s a given that your hero and heroine will end up together for a happily ever after. Or at least a happily for now. The challenge for the writer is coming up with the obstacles (AKA conflict) to keep them apart.

The most satisfying stories are those with organic differences that seem insurmountable, but the couple, because of their love for each other, are determined to find a way. Deanne Gist is a master at this. In Tiffany Girl, it’s 1892 and Flossie Jayne is a New Woman. She’s moved from her parents’ home to a boardinghouse, to take a position at Mr. Tiffany’s glass studio. Most young gentlewomen don’t leave home until they marry. And they certainly don’t work at jobs. Reeve Wilder is a resident at the boardinghouse who disapproves of the New Women and believes all women should stay out of men’s business and their domains. He even writes a newspaper column about the proper place for women in the home and in society. I had to keep reading to see how they would reconcile such differing beliefs and come together.

Susan May Warren is another author gifted at creating characters with deep wounds and flaws that seem diametrically opposed, but ultimately can only find healing in each other. I just finished her The Way of the Brave. Orion Starr was a pararescue jumper who was injured in Afghanistan in a mission gone wrong. He’s angry and wants answers. Jenny Calhoun was the CIA profiler who gave the okay for the mission that cost Orion his knee and his teammates’ lives. How can they end up together? But Susie makes it so that not only can they get past these issues, they must, to heal each other and to move on.

In The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck, there are two story lines, one contemporary and one historical, (that also intersect with two other timelines). In the historical timeline, Emily is engaged to a suitable young man, Phillip, whom her parents approve of. Daniel, the man she thought she loved once, has returned to town, eager to renew their relationship and upset to learn she’s moved on. Phillip is perfect for Emily and wedding plans proceed. The only problem is Emily and her mother disagree about her dress. And the little things Emily notice that lead her to believe her fiancé may be hiding something from her. If she breaks her engagement, her father will lose his standing in his business and in the community. Her mother will be devastated. Daniel knows Phillip is not what he seems, but if he tells Emily she will be broken-hearted and blame Daniel. Now that’s conflict.

Conflicts and obstacles are not something that can be solved if your characters would just sit down and have a conversation. They’re something deeper and organic. They demand really knowing your characters. They’re hard work. But they make for a richer, more satisfying read that will linger with your reader long after they close the book.

Carrie Padgett lives in Central California, close to Yosemite, but far from Hollywood, the beach, and the Golden Gate Bridge. She believes in faith, families, fun, and happily ever after. She writes contemporary fiction with romance. Carrie and her Stud Muffin live in Central California with their cat and dog and within driving distance of their six grandchildren.

You can find her online at:

Twitter: CarriePadgett

Instagram: carpadwriter

Facebook: WriterCarriePadgett

Amazon Author Page: Carrie Padgett

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Tension is Necessary in Romance Fiction.

If you are writing a clean or Christian romance, you still need to build tension in your story. Depending on the story you are telling, the tension may or may not begin with a denial of attraction. Perhaps they will experience an initial dislike for the other person or have accepted that they are “just friends.”

Romances, by their nature, promise a love story with a satisfying happily-ever-after ending. Your characters must find a way past the denial stage and realize there is more to their relationship. This is a critical turning point in the story.

Foundation for growth

The first look or the first physical contact may cause butterflies, but there needs to be more of a foundation for a relationship to grow. For some characters, it will be a wish or a desire for affection. Maybe a dream of having a happily-ever-after, no matter how unlikely it seems with the person they feel attracted to. 

The wishing for a relationship must turn to your characters to wanting to spend time together, even if one or both are still in denial. They need to begin looking forward to seeing each other. Maybe external circumstances draw them together, which results in them becoming more comfortable with each other.

That doesn’t mean they are suddenly emotionally on the same page. They may have intense disagreements about something in the story. Perhaps one wants to sell a ranch, and the other wants to keep it, but neither is willing to walk away. So builds the push and pull of their relationship. 

As they learn more about each other, they learn to coexist in their story world. Your characters develop a daily routine, whether they are sharing the same space, as in the ranch example, or regularly seeing each other over a common situation. 

It’s at this stage, that each partner will begin to accept and even appreciate the strengths in the other person. Appreciation is vital in building a relationship. Without it, one or both have no reason to stay connected to the other person. 

They begin to ask the what-if question and begin to imagine what it might be like to be in a real romantic relationship. Maybe one or both of your characters start to wonder what a kiss feel like, or perhaps experience an encounter that makes them feel accepted and connected in a new way. They begin to toy with the idea that maybe it could work. However, if our characters come together too quickly, there will not be tension.

In Susan May Warren’s book How To Write A Brilliant Romance, she says, “The pull toward each other, is just one half of sexual tension. We also need the push away from each other or the fear of loss.” 

The fear of loss

An internal obstacle causes the fear of loss. The internal wounds of one or both characters may lead them to believe the risk is too high. The fear of losing the other person if their most guarded internal wound is exposed. One character may summon the courage to ask what the other person fears. Or even more powerful to risk rejection and ask them to stay. 

The internal wound cannot remain a secret from the other person if their relationship is to be realized. Each character must feel their love interest will accept the broken parts of them and all. They will be loved for who they are and will be there for them in times of hardship. Only then can they become more intimate with each other, both physically and emotionally, and have their wish for the happily-ever-after become real.

If you want to dive deeper into creating emotional tension, I’d like to suggest the following books:

  • Writing A Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger
  • How to Write a Brilliant Romance by Susan May warren
  • The Story Equation by Susan May Warren
  • The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler
  • The Virgin’s Promise by Kim Hudson
  • The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Mass
  • Troubleshooting Your Novel by Steven James

Rose Gardner’s writing journey has come in two phases. The first was focused on contemporary category romance. After a break, she returned to writing contemporary heartwarming stories about love, hope, healing and the power of forgiveness. During the first phase of her writing she was a finalist in thirteen contests and won her category in seven including a 2007 RWA Golden Heart finalist in the Long Contemporary Category, and 2nd runner up in the Harlequin Super Romance Conflict of Interest Contest in 2008. More recently she won 1st place in the Blue Seal Award for General/ Contemporary/ Romance Novels at OHCWC 2017.

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Does Romance Really Mean “Happily Ever After”?

As a little girl I was enthralled with the classic Disney tales of princesses finding their “Prince Charming” and living happily ever after—Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty. As a teenager I devoured Harlequin romance books and larger romance novels, each ending with the man and woman madly in love and the assumption that they lived “happily ever after”.

Therefore, like most girls, I dreamed of finding and falling in love with an incredibly romantic man, marrying, and living happily ever after. Now let’s pause a moment here to talk about what this idea of “happily ever after” is. When you watch the Disney princess movies or read the romance novels, there may or may not be any real tensions or problems between the man and woman that have to be worked through for them to continue having a “happy” relationship. Often, their relationship appears perfect—not a care or problem in the world. Is this idea of “happily ever after” realistic? Of course not.

Are we doing our readers a disservice if we paint this kind of perfect romance? My opinion is “yes”. I remember being quite upset when I realized that Disney princesses’ “happily ever after” doesn’t exist in the real world. To achieve happily ever after requires hard work from both the man and woman in the relationship because men and women are different. God created them to think, feel, and communicate differently, and that can present struggles and problems they must learn to talk about and work through in order to have a “happily ever after”.

Will including such problems in our romance stories, even before marriage, make our stories less, or lose readers? I think, by showing characters that face real-life struggles, our stories become richer and more relatable. Depending on how you choose to show how your characters work out such struggles, you may even be helping your reader with a struggle in their own relationship by showing them a possible solution they may not have thought about. Including such problems in our characters’ relationships can not only make our characters stronger, but strengthen the story as a whole.

As a romance writer, I have had several ladies say to me, “Why are the relationships in romance stories always so perfect? Why do they have to always have a happy ending? Real life isn’t like that. Just once I’d like to read a story that doesn’t end with “happily ever after”.

Does that mean you have to end your romance novel without a wedding or the happy couple walking into the sunset hand-in-hand? Not necessarily, but it could offer you a new option for some good tension or conflict in your novel. Or maybe, the boy doesn’t get the girl the reader thought he’d get at the beginning of the book. Maybe, he finds one that’s a better match, showing that not every relationship works out or ends in marriage.

Readers may find such a story refreshing.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Website: https://kellyfbarr.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyb_26

Facebook: Kelly F. Barr, Writer

Categories
Romancing Your Story

Crafting the Hero––Part III by Donna L.H. Smith

Nobody’s perfect, right? True. Neither can your romantic hero be perfect. Choose a character flaw that will irritate your heroine to the point where in order to love him, she’ll have to overlook it. Click to Tweet #amwriting #RomancingYourStory #AlmostAnAuthor #CraftingTheHeroine

Continue reading “Crafting the Hero––Part III by Donna L.H. Smith”