For this post, I'm going to depart from my usual rule and actually try to tell people what to do. Shocking, I know. But recently I've read a number of books which did
not do this well, and ended up souring my love for an otherwise excellent book (sometimes an entire series!) Since I can't actually talk to the offending authors themselves, I'm talking to you.
Before I want to go any further, I want to clarify that I'm talking about writing books with romance
in them, not romances. There's a distinct difference, and I don't actually have any experience writing romances.
That said, I'm sure the following rules apply to
any love story.
1. CHARACTERS BEFORE RELATIONSHIP: Writing Excuses had a few excellent things to say on this subject a while back. (I believe it was in
this podcast.) It ties into the concept of character-driven plots versus plot-driven characters. If you want your readers to fall in love with a relationship, first make them love the characters. When we love both characters, we will want them to be happy.
This will make your job much, much easier. If your heroine is whiny and suicidal and your hero is a jerk ... well, you might be able to pull it off. But only if you follow the next rule
perfectly.
2. BUILD THEM UP: Loving each other should make your characters better people. I mean, if you want their relationship to last, there has to be something deeper than attraction involved. Identify your characters' emotional needs and weaknesses. Now figure out how their loved one meets those needs and builds up those weak places.
This is the reason I was Team Peeta every page of The Hunger Games. It's the reason Elizabeth and Darcy are meant for each other. They complete each other. They build each other up. No matter how good your individual characters are, their relationship won't go anywhere if you can't find some concrete reason they should be together. And once you have ...
3. KEEP YOUR PROMISES: I cannot stress this rule enough. This is where so many good books go wrong. Once you've made two wonderful characters and drawn a connection between them -- even if it's just the barest hint of foreshadowing -- you MUST follow through. You must.
I'm not saying that every couple you've ever hinted at has to end up together. If that were so, love triangles would be much more creepy. I'm saying that if they don't end up together, you need a really solid reason. Right now, I can only think of three.
a) One of them dies. That's a pretty good reason not to get married. It's also one that will make a lot of people angry with you, so be prepared. Also, it's a good idea to have some satisfying resolution before death steps in, to make your readers feel less cheated.
b) There's someone else who's TRULY a better match. This is a very tricky line to walk. Love triangles are becoming more and more popular these days. I've never written one myself, but I have enjoyed several books that utilize them. (See Hunger Games above.)
This solution itself has a few rules, the first and biggest one being FORESHADOWING. It boggles my mind when I read a five-book series where a possible relationship is very clearly underlined, then disrupted with an alternate love interest who turns out to be evil, leaving the way open for the relationship again ... and then in the VERY LAST BOOK a spanking new character shows up and skips away with the main character's heart. I mean, really? I put that book down feeling cheated and generally dissatisfied.
Do not do this. I beg you. If you're going to end with an alternate relationship, introduce the other character at least half-way through the book (or if it's a series, even the penultimate book will do.) Make it clear to the readers what advantage this second character has over the first.
c) Your book is a tragedy, or otherwise an exception. I hate tragedies, myself. I don't just think they're depressing -- I think they're unrealistic. I personally believe that everyone's ending is happy, even if it involves their own gory death. If a book ends sadly, it ends too soon. But that's just me, and there must be plenty of other people out there who like sad endings.
As far as other exceptions go, the only thing I can think of is Star Wars. There were several hints of a possible Luke/Leia relationship throughout the movies. Obviously, this turned out to be impossible, since they were actually twins. Still, I've always been a little disappointed with Luke's ending. He obviously wants someone, yet he seems doomed to live his life alone. Depressing. But I still watch the movies, even though they broke their promise to me and to Luke.
I have several more rules for my own romance writing, but those are the only ones I really think should be universal. To be honest, I don't understand why so many people break them. Perhaps they're afraid of being 'too predictable', or doing the same thing everyone else does. I have news for those people -- good plotting is not cliché. It's what makes me read a book more than once. And as a reader, I would a million times rather be able to predict the ending than feel that it was contrived and unnatural.
Please, please, please write romance that builds my faith in love, rather than convincing me that I'm better off alone. The world needs your help. So do I.
Rant over. You may turn the Christmas music on now. (December! Eee!) (Does this mean I'm allowed to wear my snowman pajama pants now? Cause I sort of broke them out in October ...)
