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Basic Elements of A Romance Novel
Romance novels are written with one goal in mind, and readers buy them for one particular reason; to explore a couple's emotional conflicts and eventual joining in a happily-ever-after ending that leaves us all sighing from the feel-good sense the story gave us. The concept sounds easy. Romance novels are about two people hitching up. But the truth is, a romance novel is a complex creation involving raw emotion that hits readers hard and draws them into drama and conflict, all the while balancing a plot (and sometimes two) while developing an intertwining love story between two main characters that ends in fulfillment. Whew. Does a romance novel still sound easy? Your basic romance novel writing formula should begin as it would with any other novel, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is a beginning, a conflict, crises and obstacles, a climax, a turning point, and a conclusion. But romance novels have differences in their elements from other genres of fiction, in that more than half of the story is plot involving the character's relationship, and less than half geared to another plot that carries the story along. It isn't enough for the hero and heroine to combine forces to slay the dragon and save the world. The two characters have to slay the dragon and save the world while figuring out how they're going to end up together - once they realize they've fallen in love, of course.   If you want to become a novelist, a good one, and you’re not sure what you must to do to develop the skills you need, Andrea Rains Waggener wants to help you. A novelist who sold her first novel for a nice advance to one of the biggest publishers in the world, Bantam Dell, Andrea Rains Waggener has created a plan that makes it easy to go from novel idea to completed, publishable novel. There has to be enough conflict that the characters who feel attraction can't just remedy their unrequited love by realizing they care for each other, having a sit-down to chat it over, and getting up from the table united forever. A romance novel has to have obstacles to the couple's love, and conflict that makes the reader question if the two lovers will ever be able to unite at all. That's important, as without an emotional conflict that spans the entirety of the book, a romance novel falls flat. In fact, without lasting conflict of the heart, there is no romance novel at all. The emotions involved in a romance novel have to be ones that readers can relate to intimately. Loss, jealousy, sadness, disappointment, pining away, wishing, hoping, desiring, taking a chance… All those are things anyone can relate to. A good romance novel bares the soul and uses raw emotion to draw readers in. In fact, the best romance novels are ones where the reader not only roots for the main characters, but even falls in love with them. A good example is James Fraser of Diana Galbadon's historical romance Outlander series. Most female readers would drop everything they had in a heartbeat for James Fraser, if they were lucky enough to have the kilted character come to life and knock on the door. Ah, the feel-good factor. This possibly may be the most important element of your basic romance novel writing formula, and one that has to end the story, otherwise the charming, engaging romance isn't a romance at all. It's a drama, and that's not what romance readers want. They want a good love story that ends well. To that purpose, the fulfillment of the main characters' relationship should be the very last thing a romance novel accomplishes. All other plots should be neatly tied off and concluded, and the final matter to finish off is having the two lovers united. The story is, after all, character based and emotional, and what better way to end a romance story than with the flourish that has the reader sorry to close the cover and already hoping that Book Two has hit store shelves.
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