I personally am not into romance stories and I’ve practically given up on reading them on episode because I really want to find good ones to read. I’m currently writing a story with a co-author and I need some suggestions/ advice since this is my first story (not sure about my co-author). How do I make a romance story engaging/ interesting?
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Personally, communication in a relationship is really necessary for a good romance and a healthy relationship.
I don’t recommend doing things like “Mc seeing Li kiss somebody else and then ghosting them for 3 weeks” and then its just a “misunderstanding” because the Li didn’t want to kiss them.
Another thing is that the whole story does not have to be about the mc and Li’s relationship and undeniable love for eachother. Make them have hopes and dreams just like any real person.
And just make them have chemistry and keep the reader’s waiting for the first kiss or when they will admit they like eachother. The reader will feel rewarded then, and all of the reading they did had a good and satisfying outcome.
You should do that Instead of making them heads over heels for eachother,when they literally just met.
Iam not strong at writing romance,but i hope those tips helped! : )
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Like @/_sparclelluna said, communication is essential in a healthy relationship, and when you have your characters communicate honestly and openly about their feelings, it’ll probably eliminate many of the cliches we’ve come to see in romance stories today! On the flip side of this, when you’re dedicated to avoiding cliches, you’re going to have to work a little harder to make your story uniquely engaging for the reader. If you want drama, instead of surprise babies and vengeful ex’s, try to build an environment that’s naturally competitive and stressful to maintain a relationship in. In an apocalyptic setting, think of natural ways the end of the world would put stress on a romance. If you’re a senior in high school applying to med-school and you’ve just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, think about how that would effect your relationships. So, with that, I guess it’s really important to have a story lol. Make sure you have a plot, even a loose one, and then involve romance. Don’t try to build a story around a romance. Just be logical, really. Also, use your characters!! I understand it’s easy to get attached; but when you’re writing, characters are tools just as much as diction or foreshadowing. If you know two characters have shared experiences but wildly different outlooks on life, that’ll cause tension that may give way to endearing moments. Your characters should advance the story; rarely, if ever, should the story advance your characters.
Lastly, here are some articles on Springhole regarding relationships you may find useful: (I recommend all new writers take a peruse through the whole website as they cover almost every topic you may have questions about and provide various informative resources.)
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Barely mine, Sinful, Papercut Bliss, Anyone But You, and Under You are some of the best ‘non-cliche’ romance stories on episode in my opinion. Check them out.
A lot of the advice I could give has pretty much already been said by @_sparclelluna and @Ara.Pia! The only thing I would like to add is a really easy way to avoid cliches is to think of real life scenarios! Listen to the way you’re parents or friends in committed relationships/marriages talk to each other. Ask them about how they met, and how they fell in love, what their first dates were like and stuff like that. Knowing how real people’s romances played out can help you build more realistic original romances. Study real love in the real world!
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Well, engaging romance scene can be as cliche as you want as long as you know how to write it well.
I would say try to prevent the characters from overdramatizing everything. It’s fine if the characters are love fools who never fell in love before and do all sorts of stupid stuff but realistically speaking, you don’t need their grandma’s daughter’s stepfather’s grandson’s girlfriend to stop the MC and LI from falling in love during early episodes.
I would say, keep it simple and steady as the more you write, the more loose ends you need to tie. It’s not the drama that makes most cliche romance bad, it’s that they ended unrealistically at in contrast to how it started.
But if you want to capture reader’s interest, you need something new. Romance can take many forms, so let your wildest imaginations run free!
Do beware though, I do not encourage toxic romance. It’s pretty established as to what’s toxic and what’s not but believe me, if you want to write a romance with happy ending, toxic relationships is not the way to go.
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Personally, what I look for in romance is the believablity. I want it to make sense why Person A fell for Person B. People fall for different reasons, but that’s the fun part. Why?
I would advise creating the character traits first and thinking how they would fit each other. For example, Person A is a strong woman who is selfish. Person B is a normal guy who is sometimes a little too brutally honest. When B noticed A’s tendency to be selfish, he calls her out and tells her she’s like that sometimes.
Some friction would be good, too, as it provides tension, so maybe A will take offense at first and she would be hostile towards B. Yadda, yadda. Later, they would find out the other is not so bad, and B finds that maybe her selfishness isn’t such a villainous trait, or A will find that she appreciates having someone tell her honestly what they think about her. From that, it kind of keeps you on the edge of your seat, because no matter how cliched, if done well, any romance can be interesting!
It’s like creating two puzzle pieces then figuring out how they can fit together, in the context of your story. In the end, if it’s engaging/interesting for you to write, it most likely is the same to readers.
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The best thing I can come up with is writing about a wholesome platonic relationship instead of a romance since nearly every Episode story has at least one LI.