by Melissa Tagg, @Melissa_Tagg
This is a post for the romance writers—or anyone with a romantic thread in your book. Ever watch a movie or TV show where the romance just fell completely flat? Or read a book in which the romantic thread had you ready to do that angry-reader-cliché of throwing your book across the room?
Obviously as romance writers, that’s the kind of thing we want to avoid at all costs. So I’m going to give you a little trick today to hopefully keep your readers happy, swoony, and satisfied. And it’s as simple as creating a little list.
Two lists, actually, that essentially boil down to two important questions for my hero and heroine: Why do they belong together? Why don’t they belong together. Yep, that’s it. I call them my WHY / WHY NOT lists.
In my WHY list, I scribble down all the reasons my two characters make a great match. In my WHY NOT list, obviously I do the opposite.
Now, it probably goes without saying (but I’m gonna say it anyway!) that I’m not talking little things. I’m not going to say my characters belong together because they both love bacon and hate crickets. Nor am I going to say they don’t belong together because their height difference makes that whole kissing thing a bit of a challenge. Lol!
I’m talking about the deeper stuff. For instance, on a WHY list, maybe the characters share common goals or values. Or, on a WHY NOT list, they’re facing conflicting goals or competing values.
An example: I’ve just done some mega brainstorming on my next book, and I completed WHY and WHY NOT lists for both of my characters. In the beginning of my book, my heroine finds out she’s the sole guardian of three newly-orphaned children. On my heroine’s WHY list—her list of why she adores and belongs with my heroine—is the fact that throughout the story, she sees that the hero would make an amazing dad. The children adore him and, in fact, they connect with him earlier on than with her.
But on her WHY NOT list is the fact that she’s going to have to fight for custody of these children—and because the hero has a messy past that includes a prison record. In other words, he doesn’t look great on paper and that’s something an opposing side can use against her.
Creating WHY / WHY not lists is so helpful in so many ways, but these are the two biggest:
- It helps ensure your romance is packed not just with conflict, but with deep tension. (Conflict is stuff that happens on the page. But tension—that’s what the reader feels. That what we connect with, what makes the reader feel as if these are real people.)
- And speaking of conflict, those lists help you identify potential sources of conflict that feel more rooted in the story. Ever read a romance in which it seemed like the author just kept throwing conflict at characters for the sake of the plot—sort of in an episodic way? Or watched a will-they/won’t-they story unfold on a TV show and roll your eyes at the dumb things the characters fight about? That’s a sign of shallow conflict. Instead, when you pull your moments of conflict from those WHY / WHY NOT lists, they’re going to feel more significant.
Here’s the best part of this trick—the kicker: You want your WHY and WHY NOT lists to have equal weight, to have the same or at least close to the same amount of items on each list. Why? Because that’s what deepens the tension of your romance!
If there are waaaaay more reasons your characters do belong together than don’t belong together, the whole thing is going to feel too easy! The tension won’t feel, well, tense, and the conflict won’t have any weight because they so obviously are going to make it work.
If there are a ton more reasons your characters don’t belong together than do, then the whole thing won’t feel believable. Worse, readers will sit there getting more irritated at one or both characters with each page they turn as they wonder what So-and-So sees in So-and-So.
So try to make sure your WHYs match your WHY NOTs in weight and scope. Making those lists is a simple little trick, but I’ll tell ya, I use them all the way throughout my drafting process. In fact, often when I get stuck or begin to feel as if I’ve lost the tension in my story, simply reviewing my WHY / WHY NOT lists helps me get back on track. Give it a try!
Last year, after traumatic circumstances forced her from her job as a nanny, Mara Bristol finally found a place to belong—the winsome Everwood Bed & Breakfast at the edge of Maple Valley, Iowa. For months, she’s helped its owner, Lenora, maintain the ramshackle property despite their shortage of guests. But when Lenora fails to return from a month-long trip and the bank threatens foreclosure, Mara worries she’s once again alone . . . abandoned . . . about to lose the only true home she’s ever known.
Detective Marshall Hawkins is no closer to whole today than he was two years ago . . . the day his daughter died. Between his divorce, debilitating migraines, and a dependence on medication, his life is falling apart. And when a reckless decision on the job propels him into administrative leave, he has no other plan but to get in his truck and drive. A one-night stay at the Everwood was supposed to be just that. But there’s something about the old house—or maybe its intriguing caretaker—that pulls him in.
Together, Mara and Marshall set out to save the Everwood. But its secrets run deeper than they could’ve imagined. As they renovate the house and search for its missing owner, they’ll each confront the pain that brought them to the Everwood in the first place . . . and just maybe discover a faith and love to help them carry on.
Melissa Tagg is the award-winning author of the popular Walker Family series, the Where Love Begins series and the Enchanted Christmas Collection. Her latest release, Now and Then and Always, kicks off a new series set in her beloved-by-readers fictional town of Maple Valley. Melissa is a former reporter, current nonprofit grant writer and total Iowa girl.
Melissa’s books include a 2018 ACFW Carol Award Winner (One Enchanted Noel), an RT Book Reviews TOP PICK (All This Time) and a Publishers Weekly Spring Top Ten Pick (Like Never Before).
Melissa has taught at multiple national writing conferences, as well as workshops and women’s retreats. When she’s not writing, she can be found hanging out with the coolest family ever (not that she’s biased), bookworming, watching old movies, and spoiling her nieces and nephews. Melissa loves connecting with readers at www.melissatagg.com and on Facebook and Instagram.