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What does every romance need? A guy and a girl of course!
The hope for a silver band by the end of the book and a hunky hero never hurts…no,
I would say instead it helps a great deal. ;-)
But what are some great qualities of a good romance?
Sass and spark:
let’s just admit that the demure and naïve heroine has gone out with the
historical romance novels of yesteryear. Even your typical household, HR books
today have a go-getter heroine. Someone who knows what she wants and is going
after it. How you go about her “going after it” depends greatly on her
circumstances and the era she is living in.
Sass adds for great spice in dialogue. And every character
needs that spark on the page. The spark that makes them attractive to not only
the hero, but also to the reader so they want to keep reading, because the last thing we want to do is have the
reader put the book down.
Protective and
daring: Beth Vogt’s hero Stephen in Somebody
Like You plays this part superbly. A
strong, commanding hero, he is also
incredibly gentle and knows how to step into the Haley’s life without making
her feel as though he is taking over. Think about yourself as a woman: you want
to feel protected and provided for by your man right? How would you want your
man to go about doing that for you? Think about those things for your heroine
as you are writing the scenes and creating the characters.
Assertive: Your
heroine needs to fulfill a need in your hero and your hero needs to fulfill a
need in your heroine, otherwise, why should they get together? It needs to be
both a physical need—her house needs repairs before it falls around her ears—and
a spiritual need—he has never felt truly valued by those he has loved before.
Communication, or
lack thereof, does not make for conflict! If the conflict between your hero
and heroine can be resolved by them simply talking to each other, you are in
need for a few rewrites. The tension has to be stronger than what can be solved
by them sitting down in a coffee shop and chatting.
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Put your hero and
heroine in compromising situations. Drag your mind out of the gutter, I’m not
talking about those kind of
compromises. Back your characters into a corner. Send them out hiking and a
thunderstorm rolls in: what is their first reaction? Either to the situation or
each other? Don’t think along the lines of the perfect response they would make
to impress the other, but the gut level I-am-not-thinking-about-what-I’m-saying-or-doing
kind of response.
Explore these kind of situations and you’ll learn more about
your characters. Are they right for each other? because maybe you’ve created
two characters that should never be together.
Have fun with the dialogue—fill it with quips and jabs, fun
and humor—it makes the characters come ALIVE on the page and the romance all
the more saucy and quick paced.
Indulge in the tender moments and don’t forget to give your
hopeless romantic readers a kiss or two to sigh over. ;-)
What is the latest and greatest romance you just finished?
We learn from the best!
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Casey Herringshaw is a homeschool graduate and has been writing since high school. She lives in colorful Colorado where she gets to live her dream stalking--er--visiting with her favorite CO authors.
Casey Herringshaw is a homeschool graduate and has been writing since high school. She lives in colorful Colorado where she gets to live her dream stalking--er--visiting with her favorite CO authors.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteSweet Casey just said "Put your hero and heroine in compromising situations"
*wiping tears*
I think it's fun that we BOTH talked about sparks back-to-back without planning it!!! Just from different angles, LOL.
Ah! Casey--love this!
ReplyDeleteAnd I was laughing SO hard at that line Krista got a kick out of, too. Ohh my word. ;)