One of the most common issues that romance writers face is writing compelling main characters. The main characters in a romance story are the main couple, and the development of their romantic relationship is the central point of the story.
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The main characters often lack interesting goals and motivations, internal and external conflict, a complete character arc and/or character depth. This blog article will help you to effectively edit the main characters of your romance story and create compelling and active main characters that your readers will love to read.
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Lack of character goal and motivation
Lack of internal and external conflict
Lack of a complete character arc (character development)
Lack of character depth

Lack of character goal and motivation
One of the most common issues that fiction writers encounter when editing their romance stories is the lack of a compelling goal and motivation for their main characters.

When you are editing your romance story, make sure to strengthen the main characters’ goal and motivation. Your main characters’ goal must be important and unique for them and big enough to sustain the whole story. 

The main characters should have a personal or professional goal beyond wanting to get together. (The main couple may not even want to be in the same room at the beginning of the story, but they might be forced to work together to achieve a common outcome.)

Think about the reasons their goals are important for the main characters, and what the consequences are for them or the people they care about if they don’t achieve them. The main characters come up with specific steps they need to take to help them achieve their goals. 

Ask yourself:
1)What are the main characters’ goals?
2) Why do they wish to achieve this particular goal, and what are the consequences for them if they don’t succeed?
3) What steps do they need to take to achieve their goals?
4)Are the goals, motivations and the steps they need to take apparent to the readers throughout the story?

Lack of internal and external conflict
Another issue that romance writers face is the lack of compelling internal and external conflict. The internal conflict is the flaw that the main characters falsely believe about themselves and prevents them from achieving their goal and having a happy romantic relationship.

The external conflict is the antagonist who has their own goals and motivation and wishes to prevent the main characters from achieving their goals. The antagonist can be a family member, a coworker, an annoying ex or anyone else. 

The internal and external conflict covers all aspects of the main characters’ lives, such as their family, work, and friends. 

Ask yourself: 

1. What are the main characters’ internal conflicts?
2. What are the main characters’ external conflicts (antagonist) that prevent them from achieving their goal?
3. What is the antagonist’s goal, and why does he want to prevent the main characters from achieving their goal?
4. What obstacles and complications prevent the main characters (because of their internal and external conflict) from achieving their goal?

Lack of a complete character arc (character development)
Another issue that romance writers encounter is the lack of a complete character arc (character development). When you are editing your story, keep track of your main characters’ emotional changes and how their personality evolves throughout the story.

Make sure that the main characters realise that the internal conflict they falsely believed about themselves is not true by the end of the story.

The main characters successfully overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles (because of their love for each other) and live happily together at the end of the story. 

Ask yourself:

1. How do the main characters emotionally change throughout the story?
2. Do the main characters effectively overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles and live happily together at the end of the story?

Lack of character depth
Another common issue that romance writers face is the lack of character depth. While editing your romance story, make sure to clearly and consistently show important information about your main characters throughout the story, such as their name, age, physical appearance and personality.

Show how they behave with their family, friends, and coworkers. Show how their occupation, education, everyday life and hobbies shape their personalities and how traumatic past events define their way of thinking and their relationship with other characters in the story. 

When you are editing your story, make sure to include any important information about your main and minor characters in their own character profiles to keep track of important information and be consistent throughout the story. 

If you want to learn more information on how to write consistent and meaningful characters using character profiles (+download a free character profile template), click here to read the blog article. 

Ask yourself:

1. Do I describe my main characters’ appearance, personality and behaviour in all aspects of their life?
2. Are my main characters clearly and consistently described throughout the story?

​Conclusion
One of the most common issues that romance writers struggle with is writing compelling main characters. Edit your romance story carefully and consistently to ensure that your main characters have a clear goal and motivation they want to achieve, and that they are fully described in all aspects of their lives. Make sure they overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles (internal and external conflict) and emotionally change throughout the story, and have a happy ending.

Additional resources
How to write consistent and meaningful characters using character profiles
How to self-edit the big-picture elements of your romance story
How to self-edit your romance novel from start to finish

Are you a first-time writer who is unfamiliar with the editing process, and you are not sure what kind of editing services your manuscript needs? Or are you unsure if you want to work with a specific editor for the first time?

A great way to assess if a particular editor is right for you and your manuscript is through a discovery meeting (or a discovery call). 
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What is a discovery meeting?
Who is the discovery meeting for?
3 reasons you need a discovery meeting

What is a discovery meeting?
A discovery meeting is a free, no-obligation, initial meeting between you (the writer) and the editor to discuss how the editor can help you improve your manuscript and to determine if you are a good fit to work together.

The discovery meeting is a great way for you and the editor to get to know each other’s personalities, see if you communicate well and determine whether you feel comfortable working together. A discovery meeting usually lasts about 15-30 minutes.

The writer usually fills in a form (questionnaire) to answer questions about their manuscript and sends a synopsis and the completed manuscript (or the first chapters) to the editor for review before the discovery meeting.

During the discovery meeting, the editor provides comments and suggestions about the manuscript to see if their editing style of feedback aligns with what you are looking for.

The editor might also provide you with an estimated project quote (scope of work, deliverables, timeline, and fee) to determine if you are a good fit to work together.

Who is the discovery meeting for?
A discovery meeting can help new writers who don't have much experience with the editing process and are not sure what kind of service they need to improve their manuscript. Also, they are a great way for writers to meet the editor they are interested in working with for the first time.

Discovery meetings are particularly useful for writers who are interested in developmental editing services. Developmental editing addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides constructive feedback that covers the big-picture elements, such as theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions, scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell) and dialogue. 

Developmental editing requires an understanding of the plot and the main characters’ progress over the course of the entire story.

Discussing the big-picture elements that cover the entire manuscript during the discovery meeting will give the editor a better sense of your story’s needs, and they will be able to provide helpful suggestions that are representative of the type of feedback you can expect on your entire manuscript.

3 reasons you need a discovery meeting

Discuss the manuscript 
During the discovery meeting, tell the editor all the important information they need to know about your story, such as the genre, word count, your goals and intentions and the premise of your story.

If you have already provided this information to the editor, you can discuss more in-depth details about the aspects of the manuscript that you like and the aspects that you need help with and how the editor can help you improve them.

Discuss the service 
During the discovery meeting, discuss what kind of editing service you are interested in and what kind of feedback you are looking for.

The editor (who is already familiar with your manuscript) will advise you about the kind of editing service your manuscript needs next. Discuss with the editor and respectfully share your opinions until you come to an agreement. 

You can talk in more detail about what the service includes, such as the deliverables (edited manuscript document, editorial report, evaluation report), the estimated timeline, an estimated fee and the payment plan. 

Ask any related questions you have and make your expectations or concerns clear. The editor might request more time to provide a more accurate project quote or a contract based on your discussion.

Build a successful professional relationship
Clear and honest communication, respect and kindness are the keys to a successful professional relationship between you and the editor.

Don’t make assumptions about how the editor works. The discovery meeting is a great way to ask any questions or clarifications you have about their services,  editing process, or the project quote and get specific and clear answers.

You can also ask them how (medium), and how often they will communicate to share the progress of the editing project (especially for long projects that take weeks to complete) and be upfront about any specific arrangements you would like the editor to make.

The editor will provide you with a contract (after the discovery meeting) that will be agreed upon by you and the editor and be respected during the editorial process. 

Are you interested in working with me?
Do you wish to work with a reliable and supportive developmental editor and beta reader who can help you improve the big-picture elements of your manuscript, such as theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting and genre conventions?   

Book a free discovery meeting to discuss how I can help you improve your story and to determine if we are a good fit to work together.

Fill in this form to learn more information about your manuscript, express your interest in booking a discovery meeting and send me the synopsis and the first 15-20 pages of your manuscript (2-3 chapters). 

I will email you to arrange the date of the discovery meeting (depending on the availability of my schedule).