Alright, I’m sure I’m not the only person to think of this one, but it did take me three years to figure it out.
Romance is bred from conflict. The more hoops the main characters have to jump through to reach their Happy Ever after, the more interesting the story, right?
I’ve often thought of my characters as magnets (cue the scene from The Cutting Edge, where what’s-her-name compares her love for Doug Dorsey to magnets, repelling each other until one is flipped.) If you have no idea what I’m talking about, rent the movie. It’s a classic.
That magnetic push and pull is easy to create with one simple step. Think opposites attract. If your hero has a strong moral compass, than let the heroine veer off the virtue path. Maybe the heroine is an animal lover and the hero a deer hunter. You get the point. The push and pull creates conflict and a multitude of natural obstacles for both the LF and LM to overcome.
After all, the Happy Ever Afters that take great effort to reach are the ones we all swoon for. Make those heroes and heroines work to reach them!
Happy Writing.
Ann, this post really hit home. I'm trying to create conflict between Liam and Alice in Shattered, and you've given me an idea. He likes his liquor, so what if Alice is a temperance type because her father drank too much? Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteGlad to help, Jennie!
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