How to Write a Good Romance?

[Rainbow]

Romance seems to be an easy genre, but some people have their difficulties with it. Writing a good romance story can be complicated, so here are a few tips and tricks on how to write a good romance!

1. Setting

The setting of your story plays an important part. Not only can it make your story stand out between all the others (how many stories are there about love in a spaceship?), it also sets the right atmosphere for the plot to unfold. Sometimes going into more detail with how the room looks like sets the right mood for some romance.

2. Character Development

Readers want to see the characters fail, learn and try again. The MC and the LI should grow together, go through different stages. So choose a plot that allows character development, preferably for the MC and the LI.

3. Backstories

It’s always great to have a backstory to a character, but for romance it plays an even bigger role. How do the characters’ backstories affect their relationship? How was their life before they collided? There’re a lot of possibilities to make your story unique at this point.

4. Believable Obstacles

You’ll see this in every romance story. There need to be some obstacles, problems or struggles that stop the new love. This also contributes to point 2. Let your characters face problems and grow from them! Romance stories lose their suspense when everything is easy from the start. However, the obstacles should be at least a bit realistic and believable. Add some everyday problems to your story, maybe one major obstacle that’s a bit extraordinary, but make them fit to your story.

5. Subgenre

Most romance stories have a subgenre. Whether it’s fantasy or comedy, it needs to fit to your characters and the plot. Makes sense, right? Thereby, you’ll also attract readers that aren’t that much into romance stories. Some people might like your subgenre and accept the fact that there’s also romance.

6. Background characters

Something really important in romance stories are background characters. Let them have their own side story to make the story more realistic. This helps you show the whole picture of the MC’s life. Some people only focus on the romantic parts of the story and forget to add anything else which makes the story rather unrealistic. Just think about reality, if you’re in love you’ll focus on that but there’s also so much more going on in your life! Other people’s lives don’t stand still just because your MC fell in love.

7. Tropes you should avoid

There’s a great blog post about this on Shannii’s blog! You can find it here.

8. Too sappy?

Don’t get scared of making it too sappy. Some readers look for sappy stories, others don’t. If you want to write the most romantic scene of all times, please do! Sometimes those parts make the story interesting. Romance can’t be shallow throughout the whole story.

9. Vulnerability

If you want your characters to bond on a deeper level and really find love, they’ll need to open up to each other. Write scenes where they express their feelings, show their weaknesses or share secrets. How should they be able to grow closer if they know nothing about each other? These scenes also help with making the readers feel connected to the characters.

10. Happily Ever After

Happily ever afters are widely appreciated. Of course, there are some famous stories that don’t have a happy ending, but your story will probably be more appreciated if the MC and the LI end up together. If you really want to have a not-so-perfect ending, maybe have a side story that ends sadly?

---

Those are all the tips I found, but there’s probably a lot more. If you have any helpful tricks to write a good romance story, please share them with us!

[Emmzy]

Can I add some really sappy but in my veiw romantic dates…

So I guess you could say I’m unlucky in love I don’t get to go on many dates but these are the type of dates I would love to go on with the right guy after being together a while

1. A picnic- something so simple of going to a nice location and having a picnic with the guy I love.

2. Star gazing… this is something I really really want to do go to a quiet field or mountain on a clear night sky and watch the stars, listen to the crickets and just talk!

[WritingWithStars]

One thing that I see in romance that annoys me soo much is characters seeming to “know eachother” but the readers don’t even know what the character’s interests are!
Like I read this gang story and all I know about the character is her current personality and her background and family issues. THe only thing I know about the LI is that he treats his gang like his family and has those common values you kind of see in every gang story… bad but she changed him… yadda yadda yadda… we know some of his family issues and backstory and romantic backstory as well but like you know what we don’t know?

Their interests! Like I don’t understand how you can “love” someone fully without knowing what they like, hate, dislike, what their beliefs are, what their views about the world are, what their religion is, what their fears are, just… none of those. Like what?! You don’t know them then if you don’t know ANY of those! It really annoys me. I’ve never been in a relationship but I feel like this is just common sense! And this is also an important aspect of a character that i JUST don’t ever see on Episode.

[Rainbow]

I like your ideas! Having romantic dates in a romance story is really great but sometimes they are not written well or well placed in the story.

[Emmzy]

Definitely agree dates seem to be thrown in with out any reason or preparation, It also annoys me when all the dates seem to be expensive… like seriously no one can afford to go to fancy places all the time… unless they are rich (most romantic stories seem to be) but same as I say a simple date such as a walk in the park, a picnic or star gazing (seriously someone needs to take me on this type of date !!) ect I think are quite romantic as it shows that the couple want to actually be with each other and aren’t just there to be treated all the time.

I also like secret dates that turn out to be cute… have you ever watched a walk to remember where he drives her out to the state line and is like dead excited to get her there and she has no idea why… until he reveals the purpose (won’t say what it is due to spoller.) but it’s so simple but so cute!!

Adding to the list of my pet peeves… I hate when characters constantly use the word
Babe, bae, sugar, sweetheart ect like ok use it in the story as it can be cute but they do have names their is no need to use those terms every time they talk!

[ChaoticDeluge]

So since my favourite type of romance in stories is action-romance, I have a bit of a fresh opinion on these kinda of things in a lot of ways. I feel what can really help a romance in a lot of cases is having it not be the main focus (at least for a while). Characters can’t bond over attraction alone, they need to have other things that tie them together. In the types of stories I love, characters bond as they fight together and overcome challenges and hurdles as a couple (or potential couple).

This can also be a mutual interest or hobby as well! If the romance is the main focus, then pull back for a bit to show the characters accomplishing something together or taking part in an activity of some sort. That’s my opinion anyways!

[TheDancingFryer]

As a person who can’t stand most romance stories, I say only if a romance scene is well written will I read it.