Today I bring you six super-hacks to writing a perfect imperfect romance. If you are a romance writer, chances are you’d have faced readers saying romance is all about escapism. I once had a ‘well-wisher’ telling me, ‘The reason so many girls are not getting married these days is because, I and authors like me fill their head with unreal nonsense’
There is nothing more real than romance. Romance is present in every epic – Krishna and Radha in Mahabharat, Savitri, and Satyavaan, Sita and Ram. Tommy and tuppence in Agatha Christie, Sherlock, and Irene Adler, even Harry, and Ginny. Love is an emotion all of us have felt in our lives, and the challenge is to ensure that you maintain the sanctum of reality with your romance. Here are six tips to help you along,
- The relationships – whatever genre you are writing, romance is consumed by the young impressionable minds. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure you write healthy relationships. The whole caveman angle, the brute strength, possessiveness, and jealousy, is not a good idea. One protagonist having a hero complex, and doing everything for both of them is a no-no. Write a romance that people believe in, which you see emulated in today’s world. That was one of the most common feedback UIL as a book received.
- Meet cutes - In any romance, the first meeting has to be perfect, depending on your trope. If its frenemies, then you know you’ve to create a scene with conflict. If circumstances keep them apart, then you know you’ve less time to show they are head over heels. In each of the scenarios, you need to have enough impact that the audience believes that there is a possibility of love between the two. Like both in Pride and Prejudice and the Notebook, the meetings were seamless and in that setting believable!
- The dialogues - and I don’t mean mush, mush was last season. Romance needs a good dose of realism. It is no longer an escape. People would want to feel it is a possibility. Feel in another universe, this story could have been theirs! Hence you need to keep the dialogues real, connecting, and flowing. The conversations also play an essential role in building characteristics. Present their wholistic lives through dialogues, make love a part of their whole lives.
- The best friends - every romance needs a best friend or a close sibling. Half the dilemma of Hero’s head or his heart needs to be poured out to someone. They need people to put them back on track when they can’t see beyond their nose. The sane voice in their heads.
- Constructing the Intimate scene – No romance can work without a scene or two thrown in. There has to be something physical or smouldering like in the case of historical fiction. But you need to be comfortable with them. If erotica is your subgenre, ensure that the scenes are integrated into the plot. Remember, the scene should revolve around the story, not the other way
- Last but not least - Work an ending that suits the Character. I know romance lovers love happy endings, but if your characters have gone through a trial by fire and have grown into different persons, they don’t have to get together! I don’t mean kill them like Romeo and Juliet but work on their happily now. Could be an eventuality, could be someone new, could be they are happy to be single.
Thank you for reading. I hope these tips help you when you are bringing forth your masterpiece. If you are wondering who am I to give you tips, I am the author of Unloved in love, a contemporary romance, and I’ve also contributed to three anthologies in Readomania.
Rituparna Ghosh is a coach and the author of 'Unloved in Love'. She writes on relationships and lives in the United Kingdom.
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