WHAT I LEARNED FROM YEARS OF WRITING ROMANCE FOR HARLEQUIN, SILHOUETTE, AND DELL. IT’S ALL ABOUT CONFLICT BABY BY LOUISE TITCHENER I may be counter intuitive to think that romance novels are all about conflict, but it’s the fact and must be tackled when starting a first chapter. Conflict is central to any story telling. But in Romance the conflict is strictly defined and must be introduced in the first chapter, or at least, very early in the story. Readers are surprised when I tell them that a romance is not the same as a love story. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a love story. The conflict in that classic play is not between the lovers. The lovers are in perfect accord. The conflict rocking their world, their parents’ feud, is outside of them. Jane Austen’s Price and Prejudice is a love story, but it’s first and foremost, a romance novel. The conflict is between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Until that conflict is resolved they cannot find happiness. So, as you begin writing your romance novel, figure out what the central conflict is going to be. Of course, there can and should be several conflict in a romance novel. That’s true of any good story. But in romance the central conflict is always between hero and heroine. Here are the rules I’ve found to work best. Your conflict should be as interesting and unique as you can make it. Not easy when you consider how many romance novels are out there. A good conflict, I find, often springs from the needs, likes, dislikes, and life goals of the main characters. If your hero’s life goal is to be the first astronaut on Mars, and your heroine hates flying and wants to settle down in a rose-covered cottage, they have a problem. Can a powerful attraction overcome this situation? I don’t know. At the least, it’s going to be an interesting struggle.
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