 You are a romance writer who wants to plan and write a romance series, but you don’t know how to start. This blog article will help you plan and write the main characters of your romance series, the setting and worldbuilding and the romance genre conventions, brainstorm possible planning steps and create a writing schedule. Main characters Setting and worldbuilding Romance genre conventions Planning steps Writing schedule Main characters An important element of a romance series is the main characters’ overall goal, motivation and internal and external conflict (GMC) across the series. The main characters need to have an important and tangible goal they want to achieve by the end of the series. Think about why this goal is important for them, and what will happen if they don’t achieve their goal (motivation). Also, brainstorm the internal challenges (internal conflict) and external obstacles (external conflict) that prevent them from achieving their goal. The main characters usually make emotional progress and achieve smaller goals at the end of each book, but they also achieve a larger goal at the end of the series. Romance series usually feature a large cast of secondary characters such as coworkers, friends or family members, who help the main characters achieve their large goal and emotionally change by the end of the series. Each book in the series shows the gradual emotional development of the main characters who overcome their internal challenges and external obstacles, achieve their large goal, and live happily together at the end of the series. Setting and worldbuilding Another important element of a romance series is setting and worldbuilding. There are many different kinds of settings that you need to decide on before starting to write your romance series. For example, you need to consider if your series includes real or fictional settings. If it includes real locations or famous landmarks, do research to get your facts right. If your series is based on fictional or lesser-known locations, you can create a map to note down the locations and the distances between the main places. Write down the main locations of the series and any important rooms or objects that play an important role. You also need to brainstorm and decide the following kinds of settings:
Once you write down the answers to the above questions, you might want to flesh out the worldbuilding elements of your series.Depending on the kind of story you are writing (contemporary, historical, paranormal or fantasy romance), you will want to focus on specific worldbuilding elements. Make sure to flesh out the most important and relevant aspects of your worldbuilding, such as the government and politics, supernatural species and people, the history of the world, the education of the people or different species, magic, climate, and arts and entertainment. Romance genre conventions A story is considered to belong in the romance genre when it adheres to the 2 following rules: 1) The development of the romantic relationship between the main characters comprises the central focus of the story. 2) The romance story has an emotionally satisfying happy ending where the main characters get together at the end of the story. The romance genre is divided into many romance subgenres. Some examples consist of contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantasy, fantasy romance and science fiction romance. If you want to learn more information, please read this blog post about popular romance subgenres. Romance tropes A trope is a plot, character or theme that is often used in romance stories. Tropes provide familiarity, satisfaction and anticipation to the readers about how a specific plot or character progresses throughout the story. Some examples of the most popular romance tropes are:
Theme in romance stories Generally, the theme in romance fiction is that “love conquers all”. The main characters in romance stories overcome their internal challenges (internal conflict) and external obstacles (external conflict) and live happily ever after at the end of the story. Ask yourself what the “ all” (internal conflict) is that the main characters need to overcome in their story. The internal conflict usually comes from the main character’s traumatic childhood or a past traumatic event that defined their personality, such as a manipulative, cheating ex or an abusive/alcoholic family member. Popular themes in romance stories include forgiveness (forgive themselves or others), responsibility (take responsibility and fight for justice), duty vs desire (sense of obligation vs want) and love (accept and love themselves and others around them). Planning steps Now, it’s time to brainstorm what kind of romance series you want to write and the possible planning steps you need to take. Possible steps may include:
Writing schedule Now, it’s time to look at your schedule and find the time of day that suits you best to start writing the first book in your romance series. Look at your various obligations and determine when you have free time to write. Don’t discourage yourself if you think you don’t have enough time for writing. Even 30 minutes a day is fine. The most important thing is to write every day (or almost every day) to keep the momentum going and create a consistent writing routine. Write down a word count goal for the first book of your series and decide how much time you will dedicate to writing every day. For example, you want to write 80,000 words for your first book, and you can write 30 minutes a day. Beginner writers can usually write about 1,000 words in one hour, so that leaves us 500 words a day for a 30-minute session. Divide the expected total word count of your story by the amount of your daily word count to get the number of days it will take you to finish writing the first draft of your first book: 80,000/500= 160 days. Please note that this is just an initial estimate, and it can change at any time since you can write more words on a specific day or have an unexpected emergency that keeps you from writing on another day. Just keep writing as often as you can (preferably every day), and you will have the finished manuscript in your hands very soon! Conclusion This blog article explains how to plan and write the main characters of your romance series, the setting and worldbuilding and the romance genre conventions, brainstorm possible planning steps and create a writing schedule. Good luck writing your romance series! Additional resources How to plan and write a romance series (part 1) How to choose a story idea for your romance novel What is a romance story, and how to write one How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story How to create a consistent writing routine About the authorMaria Georgiou is a reliable and supportive 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. 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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June 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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