How To Write A Romance Novel

By BookBaby author Jasmine Gayle

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes


Romance novels are so popular because they tap into the fundamental desires of the human experience: love, affection, passion, companionship, and intimacy. Shakespearean classics like Romeo and Juliet and modern novels like The Notebook resonate because they capture the hearts and minds of readers and hopeless romantics alike.
Passion and vulnerability create enticing tales that get people wanting to read romance novels again and again. But with so many subgenres and titles on the market, it may feel challenging to complete one that feels fresh and original.

Table of Contents: • Getting started with your romance novel • Developing your characters • Setting the mood • Creating tension and conflict • Internal and external conflict • Editing your romance story • Reducing repetition • Working with beta readers • Steps to publish your romance novel • Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing • Finding an agent or publisher • Tips for marketing and promoting your romance book

The appeal of romance novels is that they give us a chance to escape through dynamic characters and their romantic relationships. As a writer, you want to draw your readers into the minds and world of your lovers. This will excite your readers and entice them to purchase your romance novel.
Getting started with your romance novel
Romance novels are character driven. You must get your readers to connect with your characters before you capture them with a romantic tale.
Developing your characters
It’s not enough to simply say your character “wants to fall in love” or has “always struggled with finding love.” These are one-dimensional attributes that will make your character fall flat. If you create an overly simplistic character, you won’t evoke an emotional investment from your reader.
As a romance writer, you must create dynamic, complex characters through believable character development.
You might ask: How do I do that?
All people carry internal conflicts, contradictions, and idiosyncrasies. The best way to craft multi-dimensional characters is to pull inspiration from real life. Some authors use themselves as examples, people they know from their own lives, or let other love stories inspire them.
For your novel, try making a character sketch detailing what your main characters believe in, what they desire out of life, what their interests and hobbies are, and how family, friends, and community influences their beliefs.
Be specific. The more specific you are, the more unique and real your characters become.
Don’t just say:
She was an average girl and not many people noticed her.
You want to create layers and specifics: Amy preferred looking at black and white ink in the back of rooms where no one would see her; the world got quiet there and she liked that.
Your characters’ attributes and preferences are what will make them interesting to your reader. Creating a rich internal world will make romance readers care about your protagonist.
Once you have this illustrated, it will make it easier to understand how your characters will respond to each other. Your plot, dialogue, and conflict will flow naturally from there.
As you are developing your characters, this is also a great opportunity to research psychology and psychological love attachment theory. A successful romance novel should include this information to add depth and make your characters feel real.
Setting the mood
Good romance is all about mood. Setting the mood for your love story is the most exciting part of writing a romance novel. The tone you choose depends on your target audience. Young Adult audiences may enjoy a high school or college campus setting. Adult romances might involve work or meeting at an event that includes both protagonists’ mutual interests.
Once you have a clear understanding of your characters, you will decide how they will meet. This is traditionally called a “meet cute.” However, there are limitless possibilities for how you as a writer can introduce your lovers to each other.
Some examples are meeting in a coffee shop, at a festival, or on a cab ride. Love can happen anywhere.
You may want to consider some tropes that can give you a framework. However, you don’t want to copy and paste these frameworks and risk your writing sounding too cliché.
That said, the classic romance tropes can set the tone for your characters such as

Friends to Lovers. There is an air of innocence in this trope when beginning a love story. This is a great romantic setup because you can build a foundation of trust and understanding. The character sketches should make it clear how their personalities and beliefs build into an eventual romance that leads to a happy ending.
Enemies to Lovers. This trope is based on two main characters who exhibit dislike for each other and, over time, turn into each other’s romantic interests. This trope can be exciting because it can build emotional tension and conflict throughout the story. With this framework, your characters will have distinct conflicting personalities that build into a satisfying emotional climax. There will come a point where one of your character’s hate for the other will slowly dissolve.
Strangers to Lovers. This is a common trope. This is how most people fall in love in real life, so there will be some creativity in bringing your lovers together. Utilize their personalities, life goals, and the world they live in to create that epic build to when your romantic protagonists meet and have their moment.

Whatever trope you use, it will create an emotional build from when they first meet to whoever confesses love first — and when or if they decide to become a romantic couple. There is a lot of room to write how this will happen once you develop a clear understanding of your characters.
A good love story has a slow build and contains an element of surprise. Integrate this as you think of which romantic trope you choose.
Researching complex psychology and love attachment will add depth to your character and make your characters feel real.
Creating tension and conflict
Now that you understand your characters and how to set the mood for romance, this will create tension and conflict in your story.
Conflict is when two opposing forces, ideas, or people engage with each other.
In Romeo and Juliet, it is opposing families. In The Notebook, it’s class differences.
These examples demonstrate how external conflict may manifest in an argument or tension that gets in the way of your protagonists staying together romantically. How much and how often your main characters deal with conflict will be a part of either the strengthening of their love story or perhaps the weakening of it.
Internal and external conflict
When thinking of conflict, you don’t just want to think of things that happen to your characters. You want to establish an internal conflict for your character as well. What resistance does your character have to falling in love? This will depend on the trope you choose, but deciding on internal conflict with emotional depth will create an exciting contrast for your romance novel.
Putting these ideas into your story will help your readers see themselves and connect with the character arc your protagonists are following.
Emotions are at the center when you think of conflict, especially with romance. Internal conflict is what keeps a reader hooked and creates stakes in your story. For example, the death of a parent, close friend, or sibling can create an internal conflict between wanting intimacy and a fear of loss.
External events or societal expectations can influence internal conflict. In The Notebook, Noah’s class status creates conflict amongst Ally’s family, where her father did not believe she was a good match. In a time when women could not make money for a living, this imposes an internal conflict: should she go with her heart and choose the man she loves or stick to the status quo and marry someone with financial means?
Her reuniting with Noah after decades — while she was engaged — creates emotional stakes which make you invested in seeing whom she will choose.
Editing your romance story
Once you complete your manuscript and have finished your romance story, the next phase is editing. There are different types of editing for different stages of your manuscript.
Reducing repetition

Developmental editing. This style of editing is for content and vets whether the structure and flow of your romance story make sense. If you’re in the beginning stages and are struggling to imagine the scope of your story, this will help you expand your ideas and avoid redundancy.
Copy editing. Copy editing is basically a check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This will finalize the format for which the manuscript will be printed. This style will address word choices that impact the overall quality of the writing with a more grammatical focus.
Line editing. Line editing also achieves this by looking at a more critical “line by line” edit. This focuses more on sentence structure and how the sentences read. It will rid your text of awkward phrasing and make sure each sentence progresses the plot.

Working with beta readers
You’ve written your book. You’ve done a handful of edits. Your manuscript is getting closer to being ready for publication. Now, it is time to get a beta reader . Beta readers give you feedback from the perspective of an objective reader before your manuscript is published. Make sure your beta readers are romance genre lovers; this will be a perfect way to see what part of your love story your potential buyers are responding to.
Beta readers are a great way to get a sense that your book is written clearly and your story is resonating. Feedback from your beta readers will include exposing plot holes and character inconsistencies, as well as grammar mistakes and sentence structure issues. Beta readers are people who usually volunteer to read unreleased manuscripts. You can find beta readers on social media groups and book clubs, or ask friends and family. You can also source beta readers from online marketplaces like Fiverr.
It may take beta readers weeks or months to provide feedback, so keep this in mind when planning your production schedule. You might consider enlisting three beta readers to get a diverse understanding of feedback that won’t become too overwhelming to integrate.
Steps to publish your romance novel
The main difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing is who controls the production and distribution rights of your novel.
Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
In traditional publishing, the publishing house controls the marketing, cover design, editing, production, and distribution of your novel. The publishing house controls publishing rights to your manuscript. They may pay the author an advance and a percentage of book royalties from the copies that are sold. In exchange, the publishing company markets the title and works to gain the author an audience.
In self-publishing, the author is in charge of all the creative and production details. The author also maintains full publishing rights. And, when you work with a full-service, professional self-publishing book company like BookBaby, many of the creative and production details are taken care of for you.
With self-publishing, since you control publishing rights, you also control how much you earn. Plus, there is no gatekeeping: You publish your book on your terms.
Finding an agent or publisher
If you’re taking the traditional publishing route, you need to research publishing houses that publish the type of romance novel you’re writing. You can also look for literary agents that specialize in the type of romance novel you write. The more specific you are about the genre of your romance novel, the more chances of success you’ll have.
The next thing you need to do is write a query letter. A query letter is a professional, one-page letter that demonstrates how your book is marketable to an agent or publishing house. This is typically a summary of your book and shows market value or why readers would want to buy your book. It’s a slow process. It can take several weeks or months for an agent to reach back out.
If you want help on how to write a professional query letter, check out “ Write Your Query Letter Before You Write Your Next Book .”
Tips for marketing and promoting your romance book
Once the hard work of writing and editing your manuscript is complete and you’ve published your book, it’s time to let the world know about it. Here are some tips on how to get started.

Build an author platform. This allows readers to get to know you as an author and become invested in your book. Create a website, social media accounts, and build an email list. Your author platform should be a space for readers and writers to connect with you. Create content that inspires and engages your followers. Use the themes and elements of your love story to connect with readers.
Host a giveaway. Giveaways are one way to create a buzz around your book. Many authors offer a free copy of their book along with bookmarks, posters, mugs, or products associated with the story. Be creative — the rules around your giveaway are up to you.
Attend book fairs and conferences. Book fairs and conferences are a great way to connect and network with other authors, literary agents, and industry insiders. This will give more exposure to your novel and your work.

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Now that you know how to develop characters, set the mood, edit, and promote your romance book, we hope you include BookBaby as a part of your production and distribution process. Call 1-877-961-6878 and talk to a publishing specialist to get started.


Related Posts Tropes: A Storytelling Staple (But Beware The Cliché) Want to Write a Great Story? You Need to Raise the Stakes. Write Your Query Letter Before You Write Your Next Book The Story Arc Makes Your Stories Powerful What is Copy Editing and Does Your Book Need It? This BookBaby blog article How To Write A Romance Novel appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .