by Maggie K. Black
As a romance author with over 40 published novels, I make imaginary people fight and fall in love for a living. And I’ll let you in on a secret on how to write romance—no matter how many fictional couples I invent and write books about, I feel absolutely intimidated every single time I face a blank page!
Each story is a completely new challenge. Which is why I do genuinely turn to The Story Engine whenever I need romance writing prompts and I recommend it to every new author who asks me how to write romance.
Inspiration is easy. Turning inspiration into a full plot is always hard. So today I’m answering your questions and sharing my top romance novel writing tips as a USA Today bestseller who still gets stuck sometimes.
Why I Recommend Using Romance Writing Prompts
Once upon a time I had this great idea which I thought would make for a foolproof book…
It went like this… there was a man, down on his knees at his wife’s headstone in a cemetery. Suddenly he hears a sound behind him, turns around and sees his very alive wife standing there! She has amnesia and has no idea who he is, who had faked her death and why.
And then…
… I started writing it and I got completely stuck. I knew how to write romance, and I knew exactly who the heroine was. But I didn’t know who my hero was, and a romance needs two equally strong characters.
Who was he?
What did he want?
What motivated him?
And most importantly how did all that create conflict as he tries to woo his amnesiac ex-wife?
After about a week of pacing the floor questioning if I’d forgotten how to write romance, I decided to try some romance writing prompts. I grabbed my original Story Engine deck and dealt out an Agent Card, Aspect Card, an Engine Card, an Anchor Card and a Conflict Card.
Romance story prompt (created using the main Story Engine Deck): A tormented guardian wants to save an election but their community will reject them.
I still remember staring down at the cards in surprise, even as the idea for a political thriller began to form in my mind.
I’d been stuck for a week, and all I needed was a few minutes with the right romance writing prompts.
Using Romance Writing Prompts to Answer Your Questions
Today, I’m delving back into The Story Engine to create some new romance writing prompts and answer your questions about how to write romance from my romance writing tips livestream with The Story Engine team.
How to Write Romance That Feels Authentic
“I struggle writing any sort of romance. It just feels forced. Do you have any advice on how I can make it better?” @TerraColunga
Romance is like a dance or a fight. Characters are constantly in motion – emotionally. And boy do they have a lot of messy and dramatic emotions! Things pull them together. Things push them apart. And through it all they stay hopelessly attracted to each other.
So how to write romance that achieves all this?
I’m going to randomly pull some romance writing prompts from the Written in Love and Longing Romance Expansion and create an example…
Romance Story Prompt: A business partner wants to fix a bad relationship with an old flame but it will all get confusing once money is involved.
So, how to write romance based on this prompt?
Let’s imagine Samantha and Bobby used to own a business together back when they were lovers. Bobby then ran off leaving Samantha with a failing business. Now, Samantha tracks Bobby down, because she wants him to sign the business over to her. But Bobby had changed while they’ve been apart and he delays signing the papers in the hope of winning Samantha back. But little does Bobby know that Samantha has been keeping a huge secret… she is planning on selling the business to a developer for billions once Bobby signs the papers giving her full ownership!
This story has so much tension! There’s Bobby’s betrayal over the past relationship and the secret which Sam is keeping.
Romance writing tips takeaway: Look for opportunities to emotionally push and pull your characters using their past, their secrets, and their evolving relationship.
Elevating the Mundane: How to Write Romance Using the Everyday
“How would I make the day to day/mundane things more impactful?” @edwardelric10001
Continuing with the Samantha and Bobby romance story prompt, there are a lot of little mundane thing which could be involved in fixing up the store that makes the romantic tension fizzle between them.
Maybe the store floods. They argue over who’s at fault. Bobby’s mouth goes dry when he sees how incredibly sexy Samantha looks up to her knees in water as she’s bailing out the store.
Samantha is touched by Bobby’s thoughtfulness when he picks up her favorite dinner. Meanwhile, fixing up the store makes them both deal with emotional issues of trust, honestly and willingness to work together.
Romance writing tips takeaway: Small everyday moments are opportunities to explore the larger emotional tensions between your characters.
Avoiding Cliches: How to Write Romance That Feels Fresh
“What words do you find people overuse in the genre that make things sound a bit stale? Do you know of any good resources that help with romance genre vocabulary?” @natwooding
The number thing I see overused in books are physical gestures. Sometimes my characters touch hands multiple times during one book and I work hard to make sure that every single one is different.
Whenever you hit a cliché word or expression, see if you can brainstorm five or six other ways of saying the same thing until you find something fresh. I tend to use a Thesaurus while writing, but I’ve also learned that common words can sometimes hit a bigger punch than obscure ones.
I also find the biggest thing a writer can do to prevent stale writing is to read, read and keep reading. This is especially true with reading books from different time periods and different genres. I got one of my best romantic gesture ideas once from a sci-fi book by Michael Chricton, the author of Jurassic Park.
Key romance novel writing tips: Brainstorm multiple options to find fresh ways to approach cliches and read widely to fuel your brainstorms.
“Seat of Your Pants” Writing vs Plotting
“Are you a ‘seat of the pantser,’ a planner, or a ‘plantser'?” @KimeeC-c5c
I’m a pantser by nature but learning to plot and plan is an important skill I’ve had to learn in order to work as an author, because publishers like to know where your story is going. You can hear more of my romance novel writing tips on the “How to Write Romance” livestream I did with The Story Engine back in February.
Romance Writing Tips for Strengthening Characters’ Voices
“What sort of writing exercises do you use to practice strengthening your "voice"…? @KimeeC-c5c
Each character has their own unique voice and I actively cultivate it. I’ll choose a specific song which reminds me of each character and a stock photo picture of what I think they look like.
Sometimes I spend hours talking out loud, writing and channeling in a character’s voice—like a monologue—just to get a better handle of who they are and what they want. I always know a lot more about characters than what makes it in a book.
How to Write Romance Crossed With Other Genres
“Do you have any thoughts on how to incorporate romance into other genres?” @kiryanna:
Romance is the most flexible genre there is, because it can be any genre. I’ve written both romantic suspense and romantic paranormal. For me, it’s essential that the romance characters fit fully in the world of the other genre.
Let’s try another example mixing Written in Love and Longing with the Written in Blood & Alibi Mystery Expansion to create a mixed genre idea for testing romance novel writing tips.
Mystery + Romance Story Prompt: A stubborn matchmaker wants to start a forbidden relationship with a swindler but it will mean hiding part of their identity.
This gives us some great mystery and thriller elements. How to write romance mixed in with those?
Let’s say Emily is a young and ambitious junior matchmaker at a big agency. She changed her name when she moved to the city and doesn’t tell anyone the truth about her past.
While attending a lavish wedding, celebrating the latest big money marriage match the company has made—police descend on the wedding and try to arrest the groom! The groom, Rafe is only pretending to be a wealthy man! In reality, he is a swindler who fooled the matchmaking agency, his bride and high society. As bullets fly, Rafe takes Emily hostage and kidnaps her! But, to Rafe’s surprise, Emily is no helpless victim. Instead, she turns the tables and tells Rafe that if he helps her rob a major target, she will give him enough money to be set for life. Of course, Emily is keeping secrets from Rafe about who she wants to rob and why.
The trick to how to write romance mixed with another genre is making sure the genres complement each other, instead of conflict. For this romance story prompt, I’d combine a mystery/thriller plot with the emotional push-and-push mentioned in my earlier romance writing tips.
If Rafe and Emily are caught in a firefight, working together can bring them closer. If one of them is shot, helping the other can bring them closer. When they discover how the other has lied to them, it destroys trust and pushes them apart. Then, of course, they can risk their lives for each other at the end.
Romance writing tips takeaway: Romance mixes well with other genres, but the characters and story have to fit well with both genres.
Slow-Burn Romance Novel Writing Tips
“How do you advise mapping emotional progression in a slow burn so it doesn’t stall? And with that, how do you make readers root for a relationship that logically shouldn’t work?” @geminightmares
For every romantic couple, there are two key questions for how to write romance paced at a slow burn:
a) Why shouldn’t they work?
and
b) Why are they perfect for each other?
So, with the Rafe and Emily romance story prompt, it shouldn’t work because:
- He’s a criminal.
- He kidnapped her.
- He’s a liar.
- She can’t trust him.
- He can’t trust her.
- She’s a liar too.
They’re being hunted by both police and bad guys who want them dead.
With Samantha and Bobby, it shouldn’t work because:
- Bobby betrayed her.
- Samantha is lying to Bobby.
- They don’t trust each other.
- They’re planning on going their separate ways once this is all over.
You can probably come up with many more ideas for both.
But why are they perfect for each other? Answering this is the key to how to write romance characters your readers root for.
- Maybe they understand each other better than they’ve understood anyone else before.
- Maybe they complete each other.
- Maybe they have strengths that are the perfect fit for the other’s one’s weaknesses.
- Maybe they make each other feel uniquely understood, loved and safe.
A slow burn comes from using all these elements to push them closer together and them pull them apart. Usually at the start of a book, outside forces push the characters together but their own hearts push them apart. Then as the romance unfolds, the outside world starts to push them apart, and their own hearts pull them back to each other.
Key romance novel writing tips: Answer why your characters shouldn’t work, and also why they’re perfect for each other.
Independent Protagonists: How to Write Romance With Agency
“How can we make sure that characters who end up in a couple stay interesting, and each individual retains their own agency?”
To me, writing couples with agency comes from making sure each character is a complete person with their own wants, needs and problems. One character in a couple should never just exist to live in the other character’s story or be just a “love interest”.
Going back to the romance story prompt of the man at the graveside: in that case, I had a great heroine, with amnesia, who was being chased by killers. But I didn’t have a good, solid hero to pair her with.
Which again, is why I honestly turn to The Story Engine over and over again when I’m plotting how to write romance. It always makes me focus on who my characters are, what’s motivating them and why.
Inventing characters and making them fall in love isn’t easy. But it’s fun—especially when I’m dealing myself a random Story Engine hand and seeing what I get!
Happy writing!
Maggie