Mistakes In The Romance Genre
S.R. Beaston
Crafty with words, wit, and wisdom, just add caffeine to make it more interesting.
With romance being an increasingly popular genre, we’re seeing a vast range of interesting and creative ways to tell a tale as old as time. But with a plethora of successful narratives of love, devotion, and even ‘spice’, comes an influx of…questionable storylines.
I have read quite a few stories that had the potential to be great, but the romance fell victim to a lot of fast trends, poor development, and loss of plot. This happens with every writer and every book, but having the tools and knowledge to at least edit them out is the key to expressing your book the way you intended. Here are things to avoid when writing your romance novel.
Things To Avoid in Your Romance Novel
Here are a few common romance writing trip-ups to watch for.
Losing the plot
Romance as a genre has a reputation of being "plot light," but even in romance novels, the plot is important. Though love may be the focus, there is a world, a story, and other characters that should surround and accelerate it.
A great romance is one that intertwines love with a gripping story. It doesn’t need to be grand or incredibly dramatic to be impactful, but it should serve the romance just as the romance serves the plot. You can create tension that will affect your characters as a couple, as well as their own individual conflicts, to build a strong plot.
If you find your romance plot lacking substance, check out $ how to avoid sagging middle syndrome$ .
Overused or problematic tropes
Romance is notorious for housing a lot of tropes, some of which are rather infamous. Of course any trope can be accepted if done well, but there’s a fine line as to how much you actually need that love triangle or convoluted forced misunderstandings.
Tropes will always be a part of a story. After all, some are overused because they were once desired among readers. It’s not about avoiding them so much as knowing if and when to use them. Pick and choose what tropes may fit your story, then try to subvert those connected expectations.
While the following tropes are falling out of mainstream popularity/something many readers roll their eyes at, that doesn’t mean they don’t still have their niche! If you adore one or more of these tropes and you love writing with them, rock out!
Here are some examples of tropes that might be a bit tired:
- Love at first sight
- Love triangles
- The “alpha asshole”
- Second chances
- Love heals all magically
- “Till death do us part” but death is at the end of the book
- The attractive protagonist who thinks she’s bland
- Miscommunication (especially if it’s more than once)
If it seems I’ve exhausted a lot of your options, fret not! We’ve covered some great $ subgenres and tropes for your romance story.$
Forgetting your characters
Sometimes our excitement for the love story completely overshadows the work we’ve done for our characters. At best, you’ve written a great character that gets lost in the story. At worst, you didn’t write a character at all. Neither are ideal.
There are three big traps your character can fall into.
1. The Audience Surrogate/Author Self-Insert
Romance is one of those genres crafted particularly for escapism, so their suspension of disbelief runs relatively high. But writing a character as an audience surrogate doesn’t mean the character has to be one-dimensional. Be sure your character doesn’t fall flat! Give them some nuance and flaws to keep the book interesting.
2. The Inconsistent Character
This character was written strong at the start, but completely forgets who they are when they fall in love, almost becoming a completely different character. Ever had that friend who ghosted you after they met the love of their dreams? Same thing. We don’t like it happening in real life and hate it just as much in our books.
This is not to say that the protagonist can’t suffer from these problems if the plot calls for it, but it’s clear when a story wasn’t written with that in mind.
3. The Non-Character
Similar to an audience surrogate character, an empty character is even worse. Having a character so bland that the audience can’t even project themselves onto them is 1. Impressive, and 2. A bad book. If your character feels like a plot device rather than a character, it can be hard for your readers to connect with them at all. Make sure your characters are well developed. If your reader doesn’t care about them, they will not care about their romance.
Getting Carried Away With Conflict
With this genre, it’s easy for conflict to overstay its welcome. Conflict is necessary for any story, but romance novels shouldn’t be fraught with terror and complication.
What starts out as a simple enemies-to-lovers trope can quickly spiral into a damsel in distress situation, then suddenly it’s a love triangle, and before you know it you are artificially extending disjointed ideas to fill in a weak plot.
This also hinders any progress your couple should be making as a couple. Readers lose interest when a convoluted conflict takes over the promise of a great romantic story. This may seem contradictory to my first point of not losing the plot, but the key is balance and focus, regardless which way your story is leaning.
Poorly Executing Unhealthy Behaviors
It’s not love, it’s ✨trauma bonding✨
While a genre for escapism and safely exploring riskier subjects through fiction, there is a way to do it wrong. The trend of romanticizing abusers, stalkers, power dynamics, and uneducated representations of practices like BDSM can have an overall negative impact on your readers. Writing for your own amusement has no boundaries, but once you’re deciding to share that with the world, there’s a certain ethical consideration to be taken. When approaching more sensitive or taboo topics, try to make sure you’re educated on the subject and consider including thorough trigger warnings or disclaimers at the beginning of your story.
No topic should ever be "off limits" to writers, but morally, I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t point out how important it is to use these themes with the utmost care.
These topics can allow for a great discussion and safe exploration when executed well. It could even make for a fantastic narrative, but 50 Shades of Gray ain’t it it is a challenge to write well.
Ignoring Your Intended Audience
The type of story you write dictates the audience you have. With romance, readers have particular taste, so being aware of the audience for your content can help you write and market more effectively.
A YA romance centers the strong, newly awakened emotions of teens and young adults finding themselves. We get first kisses, first love, first relationships, etc.
An adult romance book may have more physical and emotional intimacy with stronger themes of loss and hardship.
Beyond the age of your target demographic, knowing your niches, subgenres, and tropes is important to developing your ideal reader.
If you love to write love, let it shine through your writing. Write with purpose and the rest will fall in line. The above list are suggestions to watch out for, but remember that writing is a personal, unique journey for everyone–take all advice with a few grains of salt! Happy writing.
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