Writing a Romance...

Writing a romance is very easy. But writing a good romance is a little more difficult. Writing an amazing, best-selling romance is very difficult. But hey, some people can write like they breathe, as I've said before. But what I am saying applies to the majority of people. Anyway, where do I start?

Romances have a system. Naturally, the human race thinks romantically. It's mostly women, but believe it or not, some men have a little romance in them... I'm not trying to emasculate you, guys, don't worry. But despite the presence of these lovey-dovey cogs in our minds, we get very bored of romance easily. Ever read a romance book, which you've put down disappointedly, after just reading a few pages? Maybe, like me, you'll think, Nah, it'll start up soon, surely, it has to. So you get through a quarter of it, and still it's just...boring! I am adamant that you and I - with the inclusion of all writers - never want our books to dishearten a reader so much. So, good on you for visiting this blog, because I am going to tell you how to avoid that devastating result. 

Back to that system, now. The terminology I am going to use in a second is not made-up by me. I have acquired the words from research. Anyway, in a romance, you have a heroine (the female character) and the hero (the male character). On the contrary, you could be writing a homosexual romance, but in most gay relationships, one of the men/women take the male role and one takes the female role. Both characters have different characteristics - which are created and designed by you. Whether your hero is masculine, hot, ugly, feminine, horrible, kind or whatever, it is up to you. But the more different your heroine and hero are, the better your story will be. 

Most romances have the women: a wishy-washy, weak, emotional, vulnerable, beautiful little lady. Some steer away from that and make them masculine, strong-headed or sharp-tongued. With men: it's hot, sexy, dark, tall or thoughtful, kind, mysterious etc. But it doesn't all rely on the characters in your romance. There needs to be some corruption, a clash between the characters, a drama! This is what most authors like to call a conflict. 

Conflicts are anything from: the heroine not liking the heroes interests, such as aquariums, or the hero finding out that the heroine is taking heroine and strongly disagrees with it. (Haha, my imaginative thinking). It is a rift in their relationship, something that pulls them apart and hence makes the story exciting. If everything was la-de-da and butterflies and roses, readers would get bored. They want tragedy, death, loss, adventure! It's up to you to come up with those conflicts. They should be original too, not too ordinary. 

From my writing of romances, I have come across some tips for how to make a successful one. 

1. Don't jump straight into the romance part, unless you know it's going to benefit the story. Let your readers get to know your characters, so that they understand them better and know the reasons for their actions or thoughts. For instance 'why Sally kissed Lee right after he had flirted with a random girl.' If you knew that Sally liked competition and found the relationship more hot when she has to fight for Lee, you would understand. When the reader doesn't understand, they feel unsettled and get bored easily. Result: unsatisfied reader.
2. Draw out the tension. This links into my last point, kind of. Use that conflict to stop them from falling in love, to stop them for kissing or entering a relationship. That will piss the reader off, when someone walks into the room just as they're about to kiss, but that's good. It keeps them coming, as the saying goes. Warning, though: don't 'over-draw' it out. That will eventually make the reader bored and they will give up waiting for that romantic moment. 
3. Moreover, don't base your story on sex. I, myself, have never done this, but I have read books that have and trust me, it's boring and very unimaginative. You're just expecting the hero and heroine to make love in every chapter. And when they do, you sigh and flip through the rest of the book, scanning for dirty words that show you if the rest of the book is just sex, sex, sex.

Well, people that's all I have today on the writing of romances. Thank you for reading this and putting up with my crazy persona. More to come, still!