 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. 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. 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:
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:
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:
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 About the authorMaria Georgiou is a professional developmental editor and beta reader for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, romantic suspense, paranormal romance and romantasy. She is a member of the EFA, ClubEdFreelancers and ALLi. Learn more about the author: About me Get in touch: Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky Learn about fiction editing: Resources Library and Blog Get a quote for your writing project: Get in touch with me form
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April 2026
About the authorMaria Georgiou is a professional developmental editor and beta reader for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, fantasy romance and romantasy stories. She is a member of the EFA, ClubEdFreelancers and ALLi. |
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