How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (24 page)

Of course, there must also be something holding them apart, or it would be love at first sight. Which means we need to return to the Why Nots. What obstacles have you put before your hero and heroine? If you are constructing a Why Not/Why romance structure, then the Why Nots at the beginning should be looming. There should not be a doubt in the hero’s and heroine’s minds that this is
not
the one. This makes that hint of Why ever more important. They have to have a smidge of an impulse to connect with the other again.

If you are constructing a Why/Why Not romance, then the Whys will be large and beautiful, and you’ll need to hint at the Why Not, a blip of why things might go wrong.

Return to Me
is a Why/Why Not romance because from the hero’s and heroine’s POVs, they have no obstacles until the big Why Not at the end. So, the Whys seem glorious and beautiful until they begin to get closer and she might have to tell him about her surgery. And then, the Why Nots are devastating when she has to tell him the truth about the origin of her heart. But, the first hints of the Why Nots are when they are on their first date and she is telling him about her dreams and riding her bike and why this is so wonderful. She can’t really tell him why, can she? The author has hinted at the Why Not to come.

I
know
it’s
a
lot
to
think
about.
And
yes,
you
can
stretch
some
of
these
elements
over
the
first couple
chapters.
But
as
you
put
together
your
romance,
you
need
to
know
how
to
let
elements
do double-duty
and
lay
a
firm
foundation
for
every
story
thread.

These
three
ingredients
comprise
the
bulk
of
Act
One.

By the time you enter into Act Two, you should have already accomplished setting up your character’s home world, thrown in the Inciting Incident combined in some way with hero and heroine meeting as well as hinted at the Why/Why Not. If you don’t have that firm foundation of your characters’ wants, their fears, their Whys/Why Nots of the romance and their lies, then you aren’t ready to move into Act Two.

If
you
are
putting
the
ingredients
into
standard
Story
Structure,
it
might
look
like
this:
(Again,
refer to the
Appendix)

ACT Two (Fun and
Games!)

Disappointments

Y in the
Road Destruction)

Y in the
Road

Devastation
(and
the
transition
to
Act
3)

If
you’ve
taken
the
time
to
build
this
for
your
character,
then
you’re
ready
for
the
fun
part
of
the book:
the
Sparks
and
the
Wooing,
as
well
as
Sexual
Tension
(the
Kiss!).
We’re
building
tension and
romance
in
order
to
create
the
Breakup
and
Black
Moment
at
the
end
of
Act
Two.

Let’s take a look at the
ingredients: Wooing

This
is
the
fun
stuff—all
those
“dates”
or
events
they
have
that
make
them
fall
for
each
other. Just
as
a
reminder,
what
are
some
of
the
dates
or
wooing
we’ve
seen?

One
of
my
favorite
is
in
While
you
Were
Sleeping
--
Moving
the
sofa!

Notting
Hill
--
Reading
lines
together.

How
to
Lose
a
Guy
in
10
Days
--
Learning
to
ride
the
motorcycle
and
playing
cards
with
his family.

The
Wedding
Planner
--
Going
to
the
outdoor
theater
and
eating
M&M’S

50
First
Dates
--
Classic
dates,
over
and
over
again.
Meeting
the
sea
creatures
and
the
waffle
dates.

During
wooing,
it’s
important
to
pick
scenes
that
will
engage
the
reader,
something
the
reader
might like
to
do.
You
really
can
be
creative
with
the
wooing
moments.
I’ve
used
motorcycle
rides,
trips
to the
dump
to
watch
the
bears,
a
late
night
hockey
game,
an
overnight
car
ride,
a
trip
to
the
library,
a snowmobile
ride.
Think
outside
the
box.
Where
would
you
like
to
go?

For
every
romance,
I
try
and
plot
at
least
one
great
date
scene,
and
a
couple
smaller
scenes.
Need ideas?
Look
at
the
Whys
chart.
Have
you
plotted
a
scene
for
each
of
these?
Whys
make
fabulous wooing
scenes.

Sizzle!

Now
remember,
your
goal
in
a
romance
is
to
draw
your
hero
and
heroine
together,
and
cause
them to
fall
in
love
(even
if
they
don’t
know
it),
all
the
while
honing
that
final
Why
Not
to
a
sharp
point. It’s
a
delicate
balance.
Let’s
look
at
how
to
do
this.

You
do
this
best
by
creating
some
Spark
and
Sizzle.

Spark
happens
when
two
stubborn,
hard
objects
(like
flint!)
that
are
hit
together.
Another
way
to create
fire
is
to
create
tension,
or
friction,
between
two
objects.
With
flint
stone,
these
objects
are both
sharp,
and
the
force
of
them
colliding
causes
a
tiny
bit
of
rock
to
break
off,
and
thus,
a
spark
is made.

Let’s
apply
this
to
our
romance.

First,
we
need
to
get
the
hero
and
heroine
together.
It’s
hard
to
fall
in
love
when
you’re
not
talking to each
other.

This
is
when
spark
happens:
Two
people
from
two
opposite
viewpoints
find
themselves
in
conflict. You
must
have
scenes
where
they
are
together
and
have
opposite
goals.
Of
course,
as
the
wooing continues,
their
goals
will
become
more
aligned
but
initially,
to
start
the
flame,
some
sort
of
conflict is
necessary.

Even if you are building a Why/Why Not story (with the major conflict coming after they’ve fallen in love), you can create conflict. For example, in my book
Nothing But Trouble
, PJ and Jeremy meet and are driven by the common goal of escaping the scene of a murder investigation (and Boone, the former boyfriend and police detective) undetected. How they do this causes conflict. Not only that, but what they do afterward is also a source of heated dialogue. They belong together, their Why is leading the romance (and the Why Not comes up at the end), but their
goals in the scene are contrary.

So,
how
will
you
create
sparks
in
a
scene?

The
best
way
to
express
this
is
through
Dialogue.
A
great
romance
has
a
lot
of
Sizzle!
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.
But
as
we
talked
about
in
the
dialogue
section,
you
don’t
have
to
have
a
fight
to
have Sizzle.

My
two
favorite
scenes
in
While
You
Were
Sleeping
are
the
couch
scene
and
the
walk
home,
which ends
with
the
“leaning”
scene.
These
scenes
have
great
dialogue
because
the
hero
and
heroine
share their
dark
moments
and
greatest
dreams.
It’s
key
that
you
allow
your
characters
to
share
the
dark moment.
Let
them
actually
tell
us,
because
it
not
only
wins
the
hearts
of
your
hero
and
heroine,
but also
your
readers.
The
sharing
of
the
greatest
dream
works
likewise.
We
begin
to
root
for
their happy ending!

But
remember,
the
best
dialogue,
the
most
revealing
dialogue,
happens
during
a
fight.
Yet,
how
do you
make
the
argument
seem
real,
not
contrived,
and
not
about
one
being
childish,
or
about
a simple
misunderstanding?

1. A
   fight
   might
   start
   with
   a
   misunderstanding
   (as
   most
   fights
   do!)
   but
   in
   the
   end,
   they
   are often about Core Values.
   

What
the
hero
and
heroine
believe
about
each
other,
or
things
they
need
to
confront.
A
good
fight should
make
each
of
them
think
about
who
they
are
and
cause
some
shift
toward
change
in
their lives.
(As
do
all
good
fights.)
A
fight
built
on
a
misunderstanding
at
its
core
is
frustrating
for
readers. And
although
we’ll
buy
it
for
a
while,
as
the
hero
and
heroine
grow
deeper
in
their
relationship,
it needs
to
be
a
real
core
issue
that
holds
them
apart.

Let’s
take
You’ve
Got
Mail.
The
romance
tension
is
basically
built
on
“miscommunication.”
But
as
we go
deeper,
we
realize
that
he
has
unraveled
her
entire
life,
and
she
might
not
forgive
him
once
she finds out who he is. So he has to woo her in the flesh to get her to overcome the “little misunderstanding”
they
had
about
the
shop,
and
his
identity
online.

Another
movie
is
Return
to
Me.
This
too,
is
based
on
miscommunication.
We
want
to
say
to
the heroine
“Just
tell
him
already!”
But
when
we
see
that
the
core
issue
is
that
she
thinks
she’ll
always
be a
reminder
of
his
loss,
then
we
realize
it
truly
is
an
obstacle.

Get
at
the
core
of
their
misunderstanding
and
make
that
Why
Not
be
the
root
of
the
argument—not the
miscommunication.
The
biggest
fight,
the
one
that
keeps
them
apart,
should
be
about
core values.

1. Making
   it
   real
   means
   you
   weave
   your
   way
   into
   the
   fight
   .
   Don’t
   have
   them
   immediately
   blow
   up.
   

Peel
back
the
layers
until
the
characters
get
to
the
core
of
the
fight.
I
also
allow
my
characters
to fight
dirty.
I
use
sarcasm
and
name
calling.
I
will
even
throw
things
(all
things
I
would
never
do
in real
life
☺
).
Think
of
the
Zingers
we
explored
in
the
Dialogue
section.

1. Finally,
   don’t
   have
   a
   huge
   fight
   on
   every
   page.
   Save
   the
   big
   fight
   for
   the
   climactic
   moment that opens the wounds, or exposes their
   fears.
   

A
good
fight
scene
reveals
the
core
of
the
character
.
.
.
the
issues
they’ve
been
dancing
around.
A good
fight
scene
really
has
to
get
straight
to
the
core,
revelatory
issues.
Otherwise
it’s
boring
and
you lose
the
good
stuff
in
between.