Romance: The Story of One Relationship

Romance is a genre with a definition, and a stricter one than people assume. Its central story is the development of a romantic relationship, and it ends in an emotionally satisfying and optimistic way. Two characters are drawn together, are separated by obstacles that come from their own natures or their circumstances, and come through to a commitment. A love story that ends in loss may be a fine piece of writing, but in the genre's own terms it is not a romance, and knowing that distinction keeps the promise to the reader. Romance overlaps with every other setting: it can be historical, magical, comic or suspenseful. Where it overlaps with a genre of plot, both contracts are in force, so a romantic mystery must satisfy the puzzle as well as the relationship. Characteristic techniques - The first encounter, charged with something more than politeness. - An obstacle, both external and internal; the internal one is what the story must actually solve. - Escalating intimacy across scenes that change the balance between them. - The moment where it appears lost, and a resolution earned by a change in the character rather than by coincidence. - Point of view that lets a reader feel both people, often by alternating between them. An original example, written for this platform He came to return the ladder three weeks later, which was two weeks and six days longer than the job had taken. She was on the step with a paintbrush and did not come down, and they conducted the whole conversation at that height, he at the bottom of the ladder he had come to return and she above him with her hands full. "You could have left it in the yard," she said. "I could," he said, and stayed where he was, and looked at the unpainted half of the door. How the example works Both of them want something and neither says it. The obstacle is already visible — the ladder returned too late, the conversation held at a deliberate distance — and the two speeches do the work of a page of explanation. The scene ends on the unspoken, which is where a romance usually begins. Practical guidance Decide what each character wants and what each fears, since the obstacle must come from inside them or the story becomes an accident. Keep the two on the page together, and let each scene change the distance between them. End on change, not on certainty alone. Exercise to try Write a first meeting of four hundred words in which neither character admits attraction and both act on it. Let one object — a returned ladder, a borrowed book — carry what they will not say. Revision tips Check that the obstacle could be removed by a conversation; if it could, it is not an obstacle yet. Check that both characters have wants and failings of their own. Cut any dialogue that states a feeling outright. Then read the ending and confirm the commitment has been earned by change rather than granted by luck.