Happy Wednesday, my writing friends,
Romance! One of my favorite topics. So far we've covered the joy
of writing romance, and last week, we began answering the question: What are
the key elements of a successful romance novel? We started with characters (of
course!) and this week we'll take a gander at attraction and longing.
Attraction
I love this part of romantic stories! Hero and
Heroine meet, and immediately we know they belong together. This story is about
them, and everything must happen to move them toward a wonderfully satisfying ending. Why? Good, old fashioned romantic magnetism. Even if
outwardly Hero despises Heroine, the reader senses he can't help but be drawn
to her on some level. If we accomplish this, we've hooked our readers.
Quick tip: One subtle way
to show this is to have the hero state the opposite of what the reader
senses he’s feeling. Remember Mr. Darcy’s statement that there were no suitable
women at the dance in Pride and Prejudice.
His bluntness, and Miss Bennett’s reaction, clued us in that underneath it all
sparks were flying—even if the characters didn’t know!
Longing
The next step goes beyond that simple, ooh la la physical attraction to a
desire based on worthy character traits. It can be their smarts or joy or
compassion or strength—something that draws them.
Maybe our lovebirds can ignore their initial lure
toward each other, but this can’t be denied. And now, the aching begins. Heroine’s
sassy remarks intrude on Hero’s thoughts. Hero’s quick reaction to a crisis replays
in Heroine’s mind.
As the story builds, the longing grows stronger
until, even though plagued with obstacles, the longing wins—and love occurs!
Only to be thwarted one last time—but we’ll talk
about that next week.
Happy writing and God bless,
Ocieanna
