(Editor’s Note: You may want to go back and read the previous blogs on putting together all the beats of a romance into Act 1-2 before you read this blog. Just as a recap, over the past two months, we’ve talked about how to incorporate the 10 beats of romance into the three act structure, covering the elements of Act 1 and Act 2.)
It’s time for the messy ending. The breakup. The Breakup is Beat 7 in our romance lineup. This is when the biggest WHY NOT rises to push them apart. Every romance has a Breakup. Without it, we have no triumphant run into each other’s arms! We have no giant sigh of happiness.
I was fortunate to only have one bad breakup before I met the Man of My Dreams. (and thankfully, once we met, we never broke up. J 22 years and still going….but that’s another story.) I thought I was going to marry this other guy, spent a year crying my eyes out. (yes, a year.) But, after I figured out that this was probably a good thing, a couple things happened. 1. The breakup helped me realize what I wanted in a guy. 2. The breakup allowed me to see my own areas of weakness. And 3. I was able to surrender my dreams of romance to God.(and incidentally met the MoMD only three weeks later.)
Your breakup for your character should function in the same way. A great breakup in a romance should cause your characters to see what they want, see their flaws and surrender to the truth. A breakup is essential to the romantic growth of your character, to allow him/her to finally be the person they need to be to live happily ever after with the person of their dreams.
I know there are a few novelists who don’t want to be mean to your characters—but you must make your hero/heroine break up because if you don’t, then they don’t see why they need each other, see their own flaws, then hit their knees, find the truth and change into better people. And we want them to be better people, right?
How do you create the breakup? We talked about the Black Moments/Epiphany and how to create them earlier this year, but as your sketching out your novel, pick the biggest WHY NOT. It is this element that causes them to break up. (The Black Moment archived posts: http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/?cat_63)
If you need a hint, try relating the Why Not to their wounds from their dark moment in their past. Here’s an example from a recent WIP: My hero’s mission is going to get an untrained person hurt. AND, he can’t fall for her, so he stages a breakup. This fight embarrasses and hurts her, and she believes all his feelings for her were just an act, which gets at her core wound that she’s unlovable. In response, she does something that makes him think she is betraying him (his wound). With both of their wounds bleeding, they can’t be together anymore. They breakup!
So, how do you incorporate the Breakup?
The Breakup is separate from the Black Moment Event – that event that causes the Hero and Heroine to believe their lies and their greatest fears are revisited – but it is integrally tied to the BME. They affect each other.
The Breakup can either happen before the Black Moment Event – something that then moves the character into their BME…e.g.; they break up, and then (in a romantic suspense, for example) the villain captures the heroine and the hero (because of the breakup) isn’t around to protect her, thus leading to his Black Moment.
Or, it could happen during the BME – using the same scenario, they break up while they are both being held hostage by the villain, because they realize that neither of them trusts each other. (or some other reason).
Or, it could happen as a result of the BME – after the hero rescues her, he realizes that it is too dangerous for her to be in a relationship with someone who brings danger to her door, thus, he breaks up with her.
Where ever you put the Breakup, it needs to affect, or be affected by the BME in some way.
So, you need to ask: How does my Breakup affect the BME? Or, vice versa. If there is no connection, then you need to find one in order to use the Breakup to the fullest potential.
Because…(Stop back tomorrow to find out why!!)
Susie May