She says romantic fiction is a world of escapism. The first point she makes is that one need not be embarrassed about reading a romance, but one must ‘own’ it. She says in order to write good romantic fiction, one should enjoy reading romantic fiction. You can’t write if you don’t read. Andaleeb’s favorite romance writers: Nora Roberts, Marian Keyes, Diana Gabaldan, Sandra Brown, and Sylvia Day.
She asked us if we liked the character or plot in the romantic fiction we read. Romances are character driven. She feels the plot is important, but it is secondary. That’s why sequels happen. Readers have to root for the characters in your novel. The characters have to be fleshed out. Before doing that, some questions you might want to ask include:
Who are your protagonists?
What are they like?
What are their quirks, behavior?
Are they relatable?
As a writer, you need to know what makes them tick.
Typically, romances are known from the heroine’s point of view. You need to know whose story you are telling. Are you covering the hero’s perspective as well? If you are writing a book of 40 chapters covering both points of view, the chapters have to be split 20 for the heroines POV and 20 for the hero’s POV.
- How are your heroines?
- Are they strong?
- Opposite of damsels in distress?
- Can your heroine take care of herself?
- How are your heroes?
- Are they vulnerable?
A combination of a strong heroine and vulnerable hero makes for a good romance.
Common Tropes
- Some common tropes include boy meets girl
- Boy already married to girl; they get separated
Develop conflict
Conflict is crucial. Think of ways to keep the hero and heroine apart until the end although there have to be a few meetings. Conflict could be internal – hero/heroine have a backstory- something went wrong with them in childhood- fear of commitment. Conflict could be external – People keeping them apart – or forbidden romances
A good plot, characters and conflict constitute a good romance novel.
Typically, romance novels have a happy ending – all conflicts are resolved, the path is clear for the hero and heroine to be together.
Andaleeb is a fan of the open-ended novel where it is implied that the protagonists are together rather than being clear about the union.
She says protagonists should be flawed, relatable and identifiable. For example, the heroine in her ‘A Sweet Deal’ is messy. Avoid clichés when describing people. Don’t make characters black and white or 2- dimensional. They should be 3-dimensional characters. She gives a tip – If you want to show what your heroine is like, show her through the hero’s eyes.
Chemistry
There is no such thing as too much chemistry. It could consist of flirtatious banter, sharing glances, unresolved sexual tension, bickering.
Love Scenes
Andaleeb implies intimacy. She is not comfortable describing the racy bits. She urges writers not to step out of their comfort zone when it comes to writing love scenes as it will show in the writing. An intimate scene shouldn’t make the reader cringe when he/she read it. Andaleeb gives us a tip – Read out your intimate scene aloud and check if it makes you wince. Her advice is to “stay classy” although you can “get dirty”. She says intimate scenes are an important element of romance novels, and there are people who read them for the sexy bits alone. So writers have to portray them carefully.
Q & A Session
- How to name a romance novel?
- It’s quite difficult. You could take a crucial element of the book and use it in the title. For example, ‘Will the oven explode’ is based on the name of the heroine’s blog in the book. A good title is subjective. You can rely on editors.
- Can a romance be written from the POV of a man?
- Yes, there is lad lit, though that's not exactly from the POV of a man. E.L James’s ‘Grey’ covers the POV of Christian. Not sure how big of a market is there for it.
- What are some of the clichéd romantic tropes in Indian romances today?
- The element of campus romances has become clichéd.
- Do you need to make the heroines cry for help so that the hero can save her; she will develop a fondness for the hero?
- Rewrite the script. She could save him.
- How do you keep the characters relatable and authentic?
- I can make them relatable but I don’t know if they are authentic. I give then qualities I wish men had. The state of the world is depressing. It is nice to create a fictionalized world where the men listen to what I say.
- How do you create chemistry between the protagonists?
- The hero and heroine could be thrown together under unusual circumstances. Chemistry comes through talking, interactions. Use your imagination to create chemistry
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