I love a great romance, with alot of tension and conflict, something with spark and romantic tension. But, if we don’t believe these two are meant for each other, then the fear that they won’t find true love (which is what drives a book) won’t matter. If their happily ever after isn’t at stake then we won’t care if they achieve it. We must believe that a hero and heroine are perfect for each other. Beat 8: WHY. Why are these two perfect for each other? The core reason they belong together saves the day. Along the way, you’ll be showing each of them WHY they belong together. But at this key moment, after the breakup, they’ll realize why they belong together, and this is bigger than the WHY NOT […]
Read the RestTag Archives | writing romance
Adding Spark to your romance (Ten Beats of a Romance part 2)
We’re talking this week about the 10 beats in a romance – those ten elements that help us craft and structure our romance. Today, we’ll build to Beat 5: Sparks! A great romance has a lot of Sparks! I love a book or movie with great dialogue. It’s that spark between the hero and heroine that make us fall in love with them. You want to build in some witty conversation, and especially FIGHTS! A great fight causes great tension. My two favorite scenes in While You Were Sleeping are the couch scene and the walk home/leaning scene. But have great dialogue where they share their hearts. Often this happens when they are in a fight…so, think of a place where your hero/heroine could have ONE great […]
Read the RestGive her a Backbone!
Yesterday here at MBT we talked about your heroine’s fears and flaws and how they work together to create a heroine that becomes heroic. Today, let’s touch on another element that a heroine needs — Confidence. Just like we don’t like wimpy heroes, we don’t like flimsy heroines. Give her a sense of self that is confident, despite her flaws. It’s easy for a heroine to have flaws – mostly because we write about ourselves, and we all have flaws. So you need to work at putting confidence into your heroine, and giving her something she’s good at, that makes us applaud her. Often, that confidence rises in the end to allow her to do something that she has never done before. However, we need to […]
Read the RestWhy Romance?
I love romance. My boys are convinced I am a hopeless romantic, from the way I make them learn to dance (yes, I’m a firm believer that every boy should know a few foxtrot and swing dance steps) to the advice I give them on dating. (What on earth has this world come to that kids don’t date anymore? They…hang out. Travesty). I admit, that a small part of me lives in that happy world where people break out into singing, make grand gestures for each other and say deep, profound things. (one of my favorite movie lines: “I ache for Gracie” – send me an email at susan@mybooktherapy if you know what that’s from, and I’ll enter you in a drawing […]
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