You want to write a romance story. You might have too many ideas in your mind and don’t know what to choose from, or you might have too few ideas and you can’t combine them into a solid story idea. This blog article includes 6 steps that will help you choose a compelling story idea for your next romance story.
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Choose your genre and tropes
Choose your main characters
Choose a setting
Combine them all together
Create a rough outline
Create a detailed outline

Choose your genre and tropes
The first step to choosing a good story idea is to brainstorm the genre and tropes of your romance story.
Ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your favourite romance genre to read?
• What are the subgenres and tropes that you have enjoyed reading or watching lately?

Write down the answers to these questions in a notebook or writing software.
To help you brainstorm your story idea, you can see below some of the most popular romance genres and tropes.
Popular romance genres include:

• contemporary romance
• YA romance
• romantic comedy
• historical romance
• paranormal romance 
• fantasy romance 
• romantasy
• romantic suspense
• science fiction romance

Popular romance tropes include:

• billionaire trope
• enemies to lovers
• friends to lovers
• reformed playboy
• fake relationship/marriage
• marriage of convenience
• second-chance romance
• sports romance
• workplace romance
• forced proximity
• love triangle
• forbidden love
• best friend’s brother/ best friend’s sister
• grumpy/sunshine
• secret/mistaken identity
• alpha hero
• soulmates

Put a timer for 30 minutes and think about your favourite books, tv shows and movies and write down the genres and tropes that you like in them. Consider the ones mentioned above, but feel free to add your own. You will soon notice that common patterns emerge.

Narrow down the list of genres and tropes. Choose 1-2 genres and  4-5  main tropes that can be combined and write them down on a new page. 

Choose your main characters
The second step to choosing a good story idea is to brainstorm your main character(s).
 The main characters of the story need to have: 

•  a tangible goal big enough to sustain the whole story
• a motivation: a reason why the main characters want to achieve their goal, why this goal is important for them and what the consequences are for them if they fail to achieve this goal
• internal conflict/flaw: A  flaw is a misbelief that the main character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them, and prevents them from achieving their goal
• external conflict: An antagonist or villain that prevents the main character from achieving their goal and has led the main character to believe that their flaw about themselves and the world around them is true and cannot be changed

Keep in mind that the main characters need to have equal and opposite goals to create the central conflict of the story and to prevent them from easily achieving their respective goals.

Figuring out the goal, motivation and flaw of the main characters before starting to write the story will tremendously help you during the drafting process.

You can also figure out other aspects of your main characters before starting to write your story, such as their strengths and weaknesses, personality, appearance, and hobbies and interests.

If you have trouble creating consistent and compelling characters, you can create a character profile to help you keep all the information you need about them. Learn why character profiles are important and what to include in them in this blog article.

Choose a setting
The third step to choosing a good story idea is to brainstorm the setting of your romance story.  
Consider the following questions while brainstorming the setting of your story:

• What is the macro setting of your setting (planet, country, city)?
• What is the micro setting of your story (workplace, home)?
• When is the story taking place (time period, season)?

Brainstorm these questions and write down possible locations based on the genre and main characters of your story. If you want to learn more about the worldbuilding and the setting of your story, read this blog article.

Combine them all together
Now, it’s time to combine all the elements of your story. Put a timer of 30 minutes and see how the ideas you have written down about your genre and tropes, main characters and setting can be combined into a single compelling story idea.  

During the 30 minutes, write down on a new page each element about your story idea: genre and tropes, main characters, and setting. Look at your ideas from the previous pages and write down your final story idea for each element.

The process might take some time, but it is important to see the core of your story and determine potential directions it could take before starting the drafting process.

After 30 minutes, it’s time to look into your final story idea and see if you are fine with it or if you would like to make some changes. If you would like to brainstorm further, set a timer for another 30 minutes and make the necessary changes. 

When you are done brainstorming your story idea, see how you feel about it. Make sure you choose a story idea that:

• makes you feel excited, inspired and creative
• you are most familiar and comfortable to write 
• has the most potential to develop into an interesting story for the readers

Create a rough outline
After finalising your story idea (genre, tropes, main characters, setting), it’s time to create a rough outline. A rough outline consists of a small paragraph (5-6 sentences) about the premise of the story, the main characters and their goals and the central conflict of the story. By writing this rough outline, you confirm the core of your story and possible directions it could take.

While writing the rough outline, you might come up with possible chapter ideas that you want to include in your story. Write them down on a new page in your notebook or writing software.

Create a detailed outline
The last step to choosing your story idea is to create a detailed outline. Take the rough outline you have created in the previous step and expand it into a detailed outline to include the beginning, middle and end of your romance story. You can write the outline in bullet points or in paragraphs.

If you need help to create a detailed outline for your romance story, you can read this blog article about how to plot and structure a romance story using Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes.

You can outline as much as you want. You can create a detailed outline with a chapter-by-chapter summary and extensive character profiles, or just write a one-page summary of the story events.

You don’t need to outline your entire story in advance if that’s your writing process or that’s how your brain works. For now, you can outline the major plot points of your story and figure out the rest of the chapters while you write your story.

If you are a beginner writer and you don’t have a solid writing process yet, you might find useful reading this blog article about writer types to figure out which type of writer you are.

Conclusion
Congratulations. You have chosen your story idea and you are ready to write your romance story.  All you need to do now is follow through with your plan and actually finish your story.

You might feel doubts or be uncertain about your story idea as you write your story. Remember why you chose this story idea in the first place, why you feel excited about it and why this story idea matters to you so much. I believe in you. Good luck!

Additional resources
What is a romance story, and how to write one
How to create a consistent writing routine
Why do you need character profiles, and why create one
How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story
3 types of writer goals you can set in 2025
How to write a novel using Romancing the Beat
Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

Discovery drafts are the first drafts or partial drafts of a manuscript that the writer uses to explore the story they are writing. First drafts typically include directions that the story could take but didn’t, characters that appear or disappear and overly produced or non-existent settings. 
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​The discovery draft evaluation service helps writers figure out what their story is about and discover interesting connections between their ideas. In discovery drafts (first or partial drafts), the writer already knows that their story has issues and is not asking the editor to address them. Instead, the editor determines the most promising elements of the story and identifies possible directions the manuscript could take.

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The discovery draft evaluation process
Why choose the discovery draft evaluation
Difference between discovery draft evaluation and other services

The discovery draft evaluation process
In the discovery draft evaluation, the editor reads your manuscript and provides constructive and honest feedback about the big-picture storytelling elements such as theme, characters, plot, setting, point of view, pacing and genre conventions.

The editor provides an evaluation report about things that are working well in the story, compelling elements that can be used to make the story more powerful, things that aren’t working well in the story, perspective concerns and conventions of the story’s genre. The discovery draft evaluation takes about 1-2 weeks, depending on the manuscript’s length.

Why choose the discovery draft evaluation
Writers can choose the discovery draft evaluation service when they have:

• A draft with a plethora of characters, a complex plot, multiple settings, and more viewpoint characters than their story probably needs. Developmental editors can help writers figure out the core of their story and remove the unnecessary plot points and characters.
• More of a map or outline of a story (than an actual story) with basic characters and plot. Developmental editors can provide potential directions the manuscript could take and help writers expand their plot and characters.
• A draft with a boring plot, predictable characters and a lack of central conflict. Developmental editors can help writers create relatable and realistic characters with a compelling plot.
• An incomplete draft with a few unwritten scenes. Developmental editors can help writers see the potential directions their story can go and flesh out their plot and characters.
• A partial manuscript with many missing storytelling elements. Developmental editors can help writers figure out the missing components of their story and see what happens next.

Difference between discovery draft evaluation and other services
Developmental editing vs discovery draft evaluation
Developmental editing is the first step in the editing process, and it is the first kind of editing writers should look for after they have finished self-editing their story. 

The developmental editor addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides constructive and detailed feedback on the big-picture storytelling elements such as theme, plot, character development, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions and dialogue.

The editor provides a marked-up manuscript with suggestions and an editorial report to further guide the writer. Developmental editing takes about 4-6 weeks, depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript.

On the contrary, in the discovery draft evaluation, the editor is not trying to identify potential storytelling issues. The writer already knows that their story has issues. Instead, the editor determines the most promising elements of the manuscript and identifies possible directions the writer can focus on when revising their next draft.
 
Manuscript critique vs discovery draft evaluation
The manuscript critique is a less intensive version of developmental editing. Writers should look for this service after they have done their best self-editing their story.

The manuscript critique addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides constructive and honest feedback on the same storytelling elements of the developmental editing service.

The editor provides an extensive editorial report, and the manuscript critique takes about 3-5 weeks, depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript.

On the contrary, in the discovery draft evaluation, the editor’s work is not to identify potential storytelling problems but to figure out the core of the story and potential areas that the story can be further developed.
 
Beta reading vs discovery draft evaluation
​A beta read is a reader’s reaction to the story, where avid readers of a particular genre read the story and provide constructive feedback from the reader’s point of view about the big-picture storytelling elements of a manuscript, such as plot, character development, point of view, pacing and genre conventions.

The editor provides a reader’s report to show the writer how readers will experience their story.  Beta reading takes about 1-2 weeks, depending on the length of the manuscript.

On the contrary, the discovery draft evaluation isn’t about evaluating the effectiveness of a story. Discovery draft evaluation is about figuring out the core of the story and evaluating the potential directions the story could take.

I am ready to discuss my book and the editing service I need. How do i do that? 
Check out my editing services and fill in this form to provide more information about your manuscript. I will respond to you as soon as possible to discuss your story and provide you with a no-obligation customised quote!

Additional resources
What is developmental editing?
What is a manuscript critique?
What is beta reading?
How to find the right editor for your fiction story?
Why it’s important to hire a developmental editor for your story
How can writers avoid editing scams and find trusted editors