​November marks the month of the year when many writers sit down in front of their computers and attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

​Although this tradition started with NaNoWriMo, many writers have participated in a similar writing challenge this year. They either created their own writing challenge with writer friends or participated in a writing challenge by other writers, and found themselves a welcoming and supportive writing community.

November is over, and now you have the first draft of your novel completed or the 50,000 words of it. The next step you need to take after writing the first draft is to self-edit the big-picture elements of your story.

Take a break
Read your manuscript and take notes
Main characters
Plot and structure
Setting and worldbuilding
Follow through with your plan
Next steps

Take a break
The first step of self-editing your novel is to leave it rest for at least one month. Taking a break from your story is necessary to put distance between yourself and your story and be able to see your manuscript from a reader’s perspective during the editing process.

Read your manuscript and take notes
The second step in self-editing your story is to read through your manuscript. Schedule 2-3 days of uninterrupted time to read your manuscript from start to finish and take notes about the big-picture elements of your story.

As you are reading your story, take notes in the margins of the manuscript document or in a separate notebook and write down any ideas you have on how to improve the main characters, plot and structure, and setting and worldbuilding of your story.

Main characters
One of the most important big-picture elements of your story is your main characters. The main characters in romance stories are the love interests of the story.

​The most important things you have to establish about your main characters are their goal, motivation, and internal and external conflicts. Create a character profile about each main character (if you haven’t already), and identify the following elements:

•  Goal: a clear, tangible goal that can sustain the whole story. Note if/how the goal changes throughout the story and why.
•  Motivation: the reason the main character wants to achieve this goal, what will happen if they do achieve it, and what the consequences will be if they don’t achieve it
• Internal conflict: an internal flaw that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them, and prevents them from achieving their goal
• External conflict: an antagonist or villain that puts obstacles and challenges to the main characters and actively prevents them from achieving their goal

Plot and structure
Another important big-picture element of your story is your plot and structure. If you are a plotter, then you probably already have an outline of your story or even a chapter-by-chapter summary. If you haven’t updated your outline while writing your story, this is a good time to do it.

While you are reading your story, open an Excel spreadsheet and write down important information about each chapter of your story to help you see the “forest”, the overall plot of your story. The Excel spreadsheet can include the:

• word count of each chapter
•  pov character
• characters present
• location
• main story events
• notes/reactions/things to improve

You can also write down margin comments in your manuscript document about specific issues that you want to improve in a particular scene. Check if your plot follows the 3-act structure and if each chapter moves forward the plot of the story.

Setting and worldbuilding
Another important big-picture element (often neglected by writers) is the setting and worldbuilding of the story. While reading your manuscript, write down the following information about the setting of your story:

• The macro setting of your story. Note down the planet, country and the city your story takes place in.
• The micro setting of your story. Note down the particular locations your story takes place, such as a house, a cafe, an apartment, a school, or an office. Write down a clear description of each location in your notes. Note any discrepancies in descriptions in the manuscript to fix them later.
• The period your story takes place in. Does it take place in the present or a particular historical period? Do any necessary research about the language, customs, culture and habits of the people in that particular historical period.

If you are writing a paranormal romance or fantasy romance story that takes place in a fictional setting,  you might also want to pay attention to the worldbuilding of your story.  Some worldbuilding elements might greatly influence the plot and the characters of your story, so you might need to note down:

• the government, political figures, and laws that appear in your story
• the different species (humans, werewolves, vampires, fae, witches) and how they interact with  each other
• the magic system with its rules, limitations and risks
• the history of the world and any important historical events that shape the civilisation and culture of the species today
• the types of professions and the opportunities for employment that each species has based on their race, powers and social status
• the levels of education and how accessible education is for all citizens of your world

Follow through with your plan
Congratulations. You have finished reading through your manuscript, and now you have made various notes about the characters, plot and structure and setting and worldbuilding of your story. You have made notes in character profiles, Excel spreadsheets and in the manuscript document, and you have plenty of ideas on what aspects of your manuscript to improve. 

Now, it’s time to make a plan on how to implement these changes. Don’t try to fix all the big-picture elements of your story at the same time, since it will be overwhelming and you will soon feel lost trying to juggle multiple tasks at the same time.

​Instead, do multiple rounds of editing for the big-picture elements of your story:

• Decide which big-picture elements of your story you will focus on in which round. For example, you might want to make one round of editing to fix the structure of your novel.
• Write down the particular tasks you need to go through for each round of editing. For example, you might want to rewrite the meet-cute of your main characters (the first time your characters meet on the page).
• Write down the available time you have each week for editing your novel, your estimated weekly progress and the estimated deadline of each round of editing. You can go back at the end of each week and note down the actual time you sat down to edit your novel, the progress you made and if you are on track to meet your deadline. You can repeat this process for every round of editing until you finish editing the big-picture elements of your story.

Next steps
After self-editing the big-picture elements of your story, it’s time to hire a professional developmental editor. A developmental editor is the first editor writers look for after self-editing their novel. 

The developmental editor addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides honest and constructive feedback about the story’s plot and structure, character development, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions, scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell) and dialogue. The developmental editor provides margin comments in the manuscript document and an editorial report to further guide the author.

If you are looking for a reliable and supportive developmental editor or beta reader for your romance story, then I might be a great fit for your manuscript!

​I can provide honest and constructive feedback to help you improve the big-picture elements of your story and achieve your writing goals.  Check out my editing services: developmental editing, manuscript critique, discovery draft evaluation, beta reading and contact me to discuss your story.

Additional resources
Why you need to create character profiles for your story
How to write a romance story using the 3 structure
How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story
What are the different types of editing services
How to find the right editor for your fiction book

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.
​
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

A fiction story is considered to be a romance when it includes these two characteristics:

• the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters is at the centre of the story
• the story has a happy ending where the main characters stay together.

Main characters
Central conflict
Theme
Point of view
Romance subgenres
Romance tropes
Questions to consider when writing a romance story

Main characters
The main characters in romance stories are the people who experience a romantic journey throughout the story, and the development of their romantic relationship is at the centre of the story.  

The main characters need to have tangible and concrete goals that are big enough to sustain the whole story, and the goal is independent of their romantic relationship.

The main characters need to have equal and opposite goals to create the central conflict of the story and to prevent each other from easily achieving their goals. 

The main characters need to have a clear reason why they want to achieve the particular goal. Think why the specific goal is important for the particular character and what the consequences are if they don’t achieve their goal.

Your main characters are not perfect. They have flaws. Think about the main flaw (misbelief)  your character falsely believes about themselves, other people and the world around them and prevents them from achieving their goal.

Both main characters have internal and external flaws that cover all aspects of their lives, such as their family, work, and friends. The external flaw is the literal bad guys that prevent the main characters from achieving their goals e.g family, friends, coworkers. The internal flaw is the internal beliefs that the main characters need to fight, such as their inability to easily trust other people after their ex cheated on them with their best friend.

Central conflict
The equal and opposite goals of the main characters create the central conflict of the story and prevent them from easily achieving their goals.

The main conflict of the story exists between the main characters and comes from their directly opposed goals. Outside forces, such as overprotective parents or abusive, manipulative exes, can make the lives of the main characters more difficult, but they cannot create conflict that is enough to sustain the whole story.

An example of the central conflict is when the main characters are working at the same company and want to be promoted to the same position, but there is only one spot available, and they have to compete for a specific amount of time to prove to the company who is more competent for the position. The central conflict needs to be believable and needs to be resolved in a successful way that satisfies the reader.
 
Theme
In the most general sense, the theme of all romance stories is that “love conquers all.” Romance readers expect that the main characters will overcome all their flaws and obstacles thrown at them throughout the story because of their love for each other and they will stay together at the end of the story.

If you market your book as a romance story and the main characters don’t stay together at the end of the story, the readers will be greatly disappointed. It’s ok if you don’t want your main characters to have a happy ending at the end of the story.

It’s your story and you can write it however you want, but you need to be careful how you market your book so that the right readers find and enjoy your fiction story.

What is the “all” that love conquers in your story? That is the particular theme that your main characters need to learn by the end of the story, and the flaw that is keeping them from falling in love and living happily ever after. 

For example, the main characters might not easily trust other people because of their manipulative, lying, cheating ex. The main characters are hole-hearted and flawed at the beginning of the story, unable to romantically trust other people and let themselves fall in love. By the end of the story, they emotionally change and realise that the main character is not like their cheating, manipulative ex. Their past flaws and wounds are healed, and they learn to trust and love whole-heartily again.

Point of view
Romance readers particularly enjoy reading romance stories narrated from both the main characters’ point of view. Writers can narrate different scenes or chapters from different POVs to demonstrate the main characters’ thoughts, feelings and emotional arc throughout the story.

In most cases, romance stories, have “one true hero”, one main character who has the most pov chapters and the most compelling character transformation to make.

Most romance stories are written in the first person in the present tense, but there are also romance stories written in the third person in the past tense. Choose your pov characters and tense wisely based on your story’s needs and your audience’s expectations.

Romance subgenres
Contemporary romance
Contemporary romance is one of the largest romance subgenres and involves stories set from the 1950s to the present. Contemporary romance stories include social and cultural issues such as career goals, family conflicts and friendships.

YA romance
Young adult romance demonstrates the lives of young people from 13 to 18 years old. Young adult novels deal with themes of identity, emotional exploration, school, family, adventure and technology.

Romantic suspense
Romantic suspense combines elements of romance, action, thriller, mystery and suspense. Romantic suspense stories have a diverse cast of characters and include themes of murder, kidnapping, drugs, and abuse.

Paranormal romance
Paranormal romance includes otherworldly characters, such as vampires, wolves, witches, demons, angels, zombies, dragons, ghosts or humans with psychic abilities.

Fantasy romance
Fantasy romance stories focus on the fantasy (political, social) aspect of the story rather than the romantic relationship between the main characters. Fantasy romance stories include a diverse cast of characters such as witches, kings, princes, dragons, elves and fairies.

Romantasy
Romantasy is a popular subgenre of the romance genre, and it combines elements from the romance and fantasy genre.

The difference between the fantasy romance and romantasy subgenres is that in the romantasy subgenre, the romance between the main characters takes centre stage of the story, and the fantasy elements (setting, creatures) exist to serve and elevate the romance story.

Historical romance
Historical romance stories are set before the 1950s and highlight the cultural and social issues of the era in which the story takes place. 

Romance tropes
Trope is a plot, character or theme that is often used in fiction stories. Tropes come with specific expectations about how the story progresses. They provide familiarity, satisfaction and anticipation about how a specific plot or character unfolds in new and exciting ways to create a compelling story. 

Romance readers often look at the cover, title and blurb of a romance book to see which tropes the story includes. Romance writers nowadays market the tropes of their romance books on social media to provide the reader with more information about their story and increase the anticipation about the upcoming release of their romance story. 

Popular tropes in romance books:

• billionaire trope
• enemies to lovers
• friends to lovers
• reformed playboy
• fated mates
• fake relationship/ marriage
• second chance romance
• sports romance

•  marriage of convenience
• best friend’s older brother
• boss and employee
•  coworkers
• forbidden love
• forced proximity
• secret identity

Questions to consider when writing a romance story
Ask yourself the following questions when writing a romance story:
1) Is the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters at the centre of the story, and does the story have a happy ending where the main characters stay together?
2) What are the goals and motivations of your main characters?
3) What are the consequences for the main characters if they don’t achieve their goals?
4) What are the external and internal flaws of the main characters?
5) What is the central conflict of the story?
6) Besides “love conquers all,” what is the specific theme of your story?
7)Who is the “one true hero” of your story?
6) What is the point of view and tense of your story?
9) What is the main romance subgenre of your story?
10) What are the main romance tropes of your story?

Conclusion
The romance genre is the most popular genre of fiction. Romance readers love to read interesting stories with compelling characters that overcome their internal flaws and external obstacles, emotionally grow as characters and have their happily ever after.

What romance story are you writing now? Are you planning, writing or editing your story?
Comment below!
Don’t forget to share the blog article on your favorite social media!

Additional resources
How to self-edit your romance novel
How to write a romance novel in 5 steps
How to write a novel using Romancing the Beat
8 great romance subgenres authors can explore
8 popular tropes that readers love to read

Writing a romance novel is hard. It takes a lot of time, energy, determination, discipline and patience. Sometimes writers (especially new writers) get overwhelmed by the number of tasks that they need to do, or get lost in their story without knowing how to approach their story idea or what steps to take to finish their story.

This blog article is intended to help all romance writers develop a straightforward process to successfully outline and write their romance novel in 5 simple steps.

Step 1: Subgenre and tropes
Step 2: Main character(s) and create character profiles
Step 3: Story structure and chapter outlines
Step 4: Setting and main locations
Step 5:  Start writing

Step 1: Subgenre and tropes
Before you decide your romance subgenre and tropes, it’s important to define what a romance story is.

Romance is a very broad category and one of the most popular genres in fiction.  A story is considered to belong to the romance genre when the romantic relationship between the main characters takes the centre of the story, and the story has a happy ending. If the story doesn’t have these 2 requirements, then it is not a romance story.

The romance genre can be divided into many subgenres. Some of the most popular genres are contemporary romance, YA romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantasy, romantic suspense, LGBTQ+ romance, romantic comedy, and regency romance.

If you are not sure which subgenre your story is or how to write a book in a specific subgenre, read books in that subgenre. The best way to learn more about how to write romance books is to read romance books.

When you decide your romance sungenre, it’s time to choose the tropes of your romance story. A trope is a plot device that is used to create stories familiar to readers. Combine 2-3 main tropes in fresh ways to create an engaging story with compelling characters.

 Some of the most popular tropes for romance stories are:

• sports romance
• workplace romance
•  billionaires
• enemies to lovers
• friends to lovers
•  marriage of convenience
• pretend relationship/marriage
• forced proximity
• second chance romance
• fated mates
• shapeshifter romance
• grumpy vs sunshine
• forbidden romance
• love triangle
• small town romance

Now, it’s time to decide the theme of your story. The theme is the message of your story. It is the lesson that the main character(s) learns at the end of the story that changes their perspective about themselves or the world around them. The theme must be universal, so that people regardless of age, gender, location and culture can relate to it. 

​The main theme of romance stories is “love conquers all”, where the main characters must overcome their internal flaws and external obstacles to be happily together by the end of the story. 

​What does “love conquer” in your story? Romance stories usually have specific themes related to the specific flaw the main character needs to overcome and learn by the end of the story. For example, does the main character need to forgive themselves for a traumatic past event, trust that others won’t betray them or fight against an injustice? The possibilities are endless, and it’s up to you to decide the specific theme of your story.

Step 2: Main character(s) and create character profiles
How many main characters does your story have? How many pov characters does your story have? The pov characters in romance stories are usually one or both of the main characters (love interests) of the story. Make sure to decide your main characters and pov characters before starting to write your story.

Once you decide on your main characters, write down some important information about your characters.  Create character profiles and include all the necessary information about all the characters of the story.

Include your characters’ 3 most important elements:

• goal, motivation and flaw. The main character(s) needs to have an important and tangible goal that they want to achieve by the end of the story. Think about why this goal is important for them, what will happen if they don’t achieve their goal(motivation) and what are the internal flaws and external obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goal.

In your character profiles, you can also include their:

• name and age
• occupation
• nationality
• location
• personality
• physical appearance
• important past events
• relationship with other characters

 Character profiles are a great way to help you write consistent, meaningful and fleshed-out characters. If you want to learn more about them, read why authors need character profiles.  

Step 3: Story structure and chapter outlines
Once you find who your main characters are, create a separate document and start brainstorming the structure of your romance story.

I highly recommend using Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes while you are outlining your romance story.  Romancing the Beat is a popular story-structure guide that shows writers how to structure their romance story in 15 beats using the three-act structure.

If you want to learn more about how to outline your romance story using Romancing the Beat, read the blog article on how to write a romance novel using the three-act structure.

After you write down the story structure of your story, you can further outline your story by creating chapter outlines. Your chapter outlines can be as short or long as you want. For example, your chapter outlines can include only the main events of each chapter in bullet points, or each chapter can include long paragraphs with detailed descriptions and story events. Do what is more comfortable and helpful to you.

Step 4: Setting and main locations
Decide on the general setting of your story and write as many details as possible. Does your story take place in a big city, a small town or another planet? Is it a real or a fictional place? The choice of your setting depends on the subgenre of your story. 

After you decide the general setting of your story, you also need to decide specific locations. For example, some story events may happen in the main characters’ houses and their workplaces, or in cafes, restaurants and shops, depending on what kind of romance story you are writing. Make sure to note down any important elements of your setting and locations so that you can consistently describe them throughout your story.

Step 5:  Start writing
Once you have decided your genre and tropes, main characters, story structure and setting of your writing project, it’s time to start writing your story. 

Find the best time of day for you to sit down and write your story. Note down on a calendar your work hours, obligations and appointments and look at the available time you have left each day. Note the available time in your calendar as your writing time.  

Try to write for at least 1 hour a day, but don’t discourage yourself if unexpected obligations keep you away from your allotted writing time. 

You can also create a timeline by writing down all the writing, editing and publishing tasks of your writing project and estimating how much time each task will take.

​Schedule monthly and weekly tasks and regularly check your writing progress to stay on track. If you want to learn more information, read how to create a consistent writing routine and finish writing your story. 

Conclusion
Finishing writing and publishing a book can take months or even years. Don’t discourage yourself and don’t give up. Writing is a skill that takes practice and time to improve. Experiment and find your writing style. Be flexible and build habits that work for you. Write every day. Keep the momentum going and make your writing goals come true! Happy writing!

Additional resources
Why authors need character profiles
How to write a romance novel using the 3-act structure
How to create a consistent writing routine
Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

Trope is a plot, character or theme that is often used in (romance) stories. Romance readers often look at the cover, title and blurb of a romance book to see which tropes the story includes.

Tropes come with specific expectations about how the story progresses. They provide familiarity, satisfaction and anticipation about how a specific plot or character unfolds in new and exciting ways to create a compelling story.

Some of the most popular tropes that readers love to read are the:
Billionaire trope
Enemies to lovers
Friends to lovers
Reformed playboy
Fake relationship/ marriage
Second chance romance
Sports romance
Workplace romance

Billionaire trope
In the billionaire trope, one of the main characters is rich and the other one comes from a more modest background.

This trope includes a confident and powerful main character who can still show their valuable side to their loved ones and it shows how love can bridge the gap between the differences of the main characters.

This trope can be combined with other romance tropes such as enemies to lovers, fake relationship, forced proximity, marriage of convenience, workplace romance or reformed playboy. 

Enemies to lovers
The enemies-to-lovers trope is one of the most popular romance tropes. Authors who want to write a successful enemies-to-lovers story need to establish which character hates who and the reason. Do both main characters hate each other or one hates the other and why? 

As the characters spend more time together, they overcome their differences and misunderstandings about each other, they become friends and ultimately fall in love. 

Friends to lovers  
Friends to lovers is one of the most beloved romance tropes and explores how two friends develop romantic feelings for each other.

The friends-to-lovers trope can be found in YA stories where the main characters are childhood friends, neighbors (or both) and they start developing feelings for each other in their teenage years. The main characters try to manage their romantic feelings while dealing with issues of identity, family, society, school, and friendship.

This trope can also be found in stories with adult characters in their twenties or thirties. In one of my favorite romance stories, the main character realises that he is in love with his best friend when he sees her trying wedding dresses for her marriage with someone else.

​Reformed playboy
The reformed playboy consists of one of the most commonly used tropes in romance stories. The bad boy can be a high school or college student with a troubled past, a bossy CEO or a mafia lord.

The bad boy may seem mean, bossy or rude on the exterior but he hides a polite personality and a huge heart. His backstory, internal struggles and external conflict play a crucial role for the readers to understand why he behaves in such a way.

There are different levels of “bad” boys depending on the genre you are writing: YA romance (light), romantic comedy (funny) and dark romance (sexy).

Fake relationship/ marriage
The main characters make a beneficial agreement to pretend to be in a relationship or a marriage to get the family inheritance, boost their career or make their ex jealous.

Both main characters have their own reasons for entering this agreement and they often make rules or sign an official contractual agreement that is valid for a specific period of time.

The main characters are forced to spend a great deal of time together to successfully convince everyone around them that they are a real couple. 

​The fake relationship/ marriage trope emphasises the variety and evolution of the main characters’ feelings: jealousy, doubt, intimacy and true love.

Second chance romance
The second-chance romance describes the story between two characters who broke up and meet again after quite some time. The main characters might have been separated by external circumstances or misunderstandings and now they are given the opportunity to heal their wounds.

The second-chance trope explores themes of separation, reconciliation, forgiveness, redemption and emotional growth. It depicts how the main characters can successfully overcome the obstacles that previously separated them and have their happily ever after through the power of love.

Sports romance
The sports romance trope is one of the most popular tropes of romance stories. One of the characters is a famous athlete or a former athlete. The other main character can also be an athlete, a sports journalist or working for the same team. Sports romance stories show how the publicity, the intense training, and the demanding schedule can affect the athlete’s dating life. 

This trope can be combined with other romance tropes such as enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, fake relationship, forced proximity or reformed playboy.

Workplace romance
The workplace trope is one of the most beloved romance tropes. The main characters can be a boss and an employee, coworkers or professional rivals. The main characters can work together towards a common goal or they can sabotage each other for their own personal benefit.

The main characters are forced to spend a lot of time together because of their job. As they work together, they get to know each other true selves and they eventually fall in love. Their relationship can be public or secret if there is a work policy that forbids dating at work.

Conclusion
While tropes are not genres themselves, tropes can be found in multiple romance genres such as contemporary romance, YA romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, romantasy or historical romance.

​Romance readers love reading romance stories with specific tropes because of the familiarity and the satisfaction they provide. Authors should successfully combine different tropes in new and refreshing ways to create compelling characters and interesting plots.

​Further reading
8 romance genres authors can explore this year
How to write the genre and the main characters of a romance novel
How to write a romance novel using the three-act structure

What are your favourite romance tropes that you enjoy reading the most? Comment below!
Share the blog article on your favourite social media!

The romance genre is the most popular book category. All romance stories have 2 things in common:
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1) The romance between the main characters comprises the central focus of the story. Romance stories narrate the emotional journey between these two people and how they overcome external obstacles and internal doubts to be together at the end of the story. 

2) A happily ever after. All romance stories need to have an emotionally satisfying and rewarding happy ending (or happy for now.) If the romance story doesn’t have a happy ending, then it is not a romance story.

The romance genre is a very broad fiction category and can be divided into many subgenres. This blog article explains 8 romance subgenres that authors can explore this year.



The blog article explains the following romance subgenres:
Contemporary romance
YA romance
Romantic suspense
Paranormal romance
Fantasy romance
Romantasy
Historical romance
Science fiction romance
Conclusion
Further reading

Contemporary romance
Contemporary romance is the largest subgenre of the romance genre and involves stories set from the 1950s to the present.

Contemporary romance stories usually include a diverse cast of relatable characters with different beliefs and backgrounds. The characters come from small towns or big cities with different cultures and traditions.

Contemporary romance stories deal with current social and cultural issues such as career goals, family conflicts and friendships.

Readers are specifically drawn to this genre because they read about characters from different places that overcome the issues that keep them back from finding love and they  emotionally grow and change throughout the story and have their own happily ever after!  

YA romance
Young adult romance shows the lives of young people, usually teenagers from 13 to 18 years old.

Young adult novels usually include diverse characters that face the external obstacles and the emotional conflicts of growing up while also being romantically attracted to someone (maybe for the first time).

Young adult novels deal with themes of identity, adventure, emotional exploration, school, family, friendship and technology.

Romantic suspense
Romantic suspense is a subgenre of romance genre that blends romance, action, thriller, mystery and suspense elements.

The two main characters are tasked to solve a crime or uncover a deadly secret together. Usually, in romantic suspense stories, one of the main characters needs to protect the other from some kind of danger. While the main characters are working together to eliminate the threat, they come closer to each other emotionally and they fall in love.

Romantic suspense stories have a diverse cast of characters and include themes of murder, kidnapping, drugs, and abuse.

Paranormal romance
Paranormal romance is a subgenre of romance genre that contains otherworldly characters such as vampires, wolves, witches, demons, angels, zombies, dragons, ghosts or humans with psychic abilities.

Paranormal romance stories include themes of science fiction, fantasy or time travel and blend elements of suspense, mystery and horror. 

Paranormal romance stories require extensive worldbuilding since they can take place on other magical or technological planets.

Fantasy romance
Fantasy romance stories focus on political, social and romantic relationships and the fantasy aspect of the story takes the central stage rather than the romance.

The main plot of fantasy romance stories includes battles, quests, political relations, mystery, or magic, while romance plays a secondary role.

Fantasy romance stories include a diverse cast of characters such as witches, kings, princes, dragons, elves, fairies and other fantasy races that live alongside humans.

Fantasy romance stories require extensive worldbuilding since they can take place in the past or an alternative version of our world.

Romantasy
Romantasy is another popular subgenre of the romance genre. Romantasy is a combination of the words “romance” and “fantasy” and it blends elements from these two genres.

The difference between the fantasy romance and romantasy subgenres is that in romantasy the romance between the main characters takes center stage of the story and the fantasy elements (setting, creatures) exist to serve and elevate the romance story.

Romantasy stories include fantasy races and require rich worldbuilding.

Historical romance
Historical romance stories are set before the 1950s. Historical romance stories highlight the cultural and social issues of the era in which the story takes place.

The author needs to research the time and the place their romance story takes place to give their story realistic settings and in-depth characters faithful to the particular era of the story. Historical romance readers usually have deep knowledge of history and they will notice egregious mistakes.

Science fiction romance
Science fiction romance combines elements from the science fiction and the romance genre. 

Science fiction romance stories include elements of adventure, suspense, mystery, fantasy, horror, and a variety of romance tropes blended in.

They feature a diverse set of characters such as humans, aliens, and robots and can take place on other planets, in dystopian/utopian societies or in parallel or futuristic worlds.

Conclusion
The romance genre is the most popular genre of fiction. Readers look forward to reading romance stories that feature captivating characters and can transport them to other places and times.

Romance readers embark on an emotional journey to discover how the main characters overcome the obstacles that keep them from finding love and how they grow and change throughout the story and have their happily ever after. 

What is your favourite romance genre to read and write? Comment below!
Don’t forget to share the blog article on social media!

Further reading
What is developmental editing vs other kinds of editing
How to write the genre and main characters of a romance novel
How to write a romance novel using the 3-act structure
How to create a consistent writing routine
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You want to write a romance story. You might already have an idea, a character description or a plot point in your mind. Before you start writing the first chapter of your story, you need to brainstorm and decide on some of the most important elements of your story: genre and main character(s).

​In this blog article, you will learn how to brainstorm and decide your story’s genre (and tropes) and the 3 most important elements of your main character(s).
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This blog article includes:
Definition of genre 
Questions to ask yourself about genre
Definition of tropes
Main characters 
Conclusion

Definition of genre
Genre is the category that your story belongs to and it defines the tone, content, length and conventions of your story. One of the most popular genres is romance. All you need to remember about romance is that the romantic relationship between the main characters should be the centrer of the story and that romance stories have a happy ending. If your story, doesn’t have a happy ending, then it is not a romance.

Romance is a very broad category and can be divided into many genres. Some of the most popular genres are contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense and YA (Young Adult) romance.

Contemporary romance is set from the 1950s to the present.

Historical romance stories are set before the 1950s and highlight the issues of the culture and society of the story’s historical period. 

Paranormal romance contains supernatural elements such as vampires, wolves, witches, dragons etc.

Romantic suspense contains thriller, mystery and suspense elements.

YA (Young Adult) romance focuses on teenage characters and it can be combined with any of the genres mentioned above.

Questions to ask yourself about genre
The first thing you have to decide about your story is the genre. It is important to remember that you don’t have to choose only one genre, but rather that you can combine elements from different genres to create your story.

 Ask yourself and write down the answers to the following questions:

•  Is my story set to the modern world or in a historical period?
• Does my story include supernatural or paranormal elements?
• Does my story include thriller, suspense or crime elements?
• Are the main characters of my story teenagers or adults?
• Does my story include elements from different genres?
• Is the development of the romantic relationship at the center of the story?
• Does my story have a happy ending? 

​Definition of tropes
Trope is a plot device that is used to create stories familiar to readers but authors should be able to combine familiar tropes in unexpected and fresh ways to keep the story interesting to the readers.

 Some of the most popular tropes for romance stories are:

•  the marriage of convenience, 
• sports romance,
• best friend’s older brother,
•  billionaires, 
• boss and employee, 
• enemies to lovers, 
• friends to lovers,
•  coworkers, 
• pretend relationship/marriage, 
• forbidden love, 
• forced proximity, 
• secret or mistaken identity. 

This is by no means a completed list of tropes. I am sure you can think of many more tropes that you can include in your story. The list above is intended to make you start thinking about possible tropes that you can include in your story.

If you are not sure what tropes to include in your story:

• Think of the tropes of your 3 most favourite stories. 
• Observe how the authors use the tropes in these stories. 
• Note down your favourite tropes from these romance stories and any other tropes you want to include in your story.
• Write down how you will use these tropes in your own story. 
• Combine three or more tropes in unexpected and new ways to make the story more compelling to the readers.

Main characters
The most important element of your story is your main character (s). In a romance story, you will need two main characters that will be the love interests of the story. Remember that the development of their romantic relationship will be the central part of the story.

You can brainstorm and write down as much or as little information as you want about your main characters’ in their character profiles. You can include your main character’s physical appearance, personality, backstory, home and work life. 

If you want more information about what is a character profile and why you need one to write consistent and meaningful characters (+download a free character profile template), click here to read the article. 

The 3 most important elements of your story: the main character(s) goal, the main character’s flaw and the story’s theme.

1) Think about your character’s goal (and motivation).  Your character’s goal must be tangible, important for your character and big enough to sustain the whole story. The main character (s) should have a goal beyond the romantic relationship. For example, the main character (s) might want to get a job promotion that comes with a higher salary so that they can rent a bigger apartment. Think about what will happen if your character achieves their goal. Think about the consequences if your character fails their goal.

Keep in mind that the main characters (love interests) 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.

For example, two coworkers might be competing for the same job position that comes with a significant salary raise. One might want a higher salary to pay for their student loans and the other one to financially help a sick relative. Wanting the same job position creates the central conflict of the story. The two characters might even sabotage each other or they might be forced to work together until their boss decides who will eventually get the job. Things become more complicated when they realize they start having feelings for each other.

2) Think about your character’s flaw. 
A  flaw is a  misbelief that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them and prevents them from achieving their goal. Both of your main characters need to have their own internal and external flaw that takes over all aspects of their life (home, friends, work). The external flaw is the literal bad guys that prevent the main character from achieving their goal e.g family, friends, coworkers. The internal flaw is the internal beliefs and goals that the main characters need to fight.

3) Think about the story’s theme. 
​The theme is the message of your story. It is the lesson that the main character(s) learns at the end of the story that changes their perspective about themselves or the world around them. The theme must be universal, so that people regardless of age, gender, location and culture can relate to it. 

​The main theme of romance stories is “love conquers all” where the main characters must overcome many obstacles and complications to be happily together by the end of the story but your story can have a more specific theme as well.

​The “love conquers all” theme can be combined with other themes to show the internal obstacles and flaws the main characters need to overcome. For example, the main character (s) might need to forgive themselves for the death of a relative in a car accident that wasn’t their fault (but they feel guilty about it).

Conclusion
Brainstorming your story before you start writing down your first chapter is an important step of the writing process. Brainstorming your story can help you clarify the genre and tropes, strengthen the theme and create compelling and consistent characters. Take a notebook or open your writing software and write down as much information as you need about the genre and the main character(s) of your romance story. Happy writing!

Further reading
Learn why authors need character profiles to write consistent and compelling characters (+ free character profile template)
Learn how to outline your novel using the 3-act structure
​How to create a consistent writing routine