How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (20 page)

In
While
you
Were
Sleeping
,
Lucy
stands
at
the
altar
and
silently
begs
Jack
to
tell
his
family
that
he
loves her.
When
he
doesn’t,
she
must
stand
alone
and
tell
them
the
truth.
Her
wound
is
that
she
is
alone, that
she
has
no
one,
and
Jack
just
confirmed
it.

In
Return
to
Me
,
Grace
discovers
the
letter
she
wrote
to
Bob,
and
leaves.
When
he
tracks
her
down and
confronts
her,
she
tells
him
the
truth.
Just
as
she
fears,
the
pain
of
this
discovery
is
too
much and
he
walks
out
of
her
life.

In
Dirty
Dancing
,
Johnny
Castle
believes
he’s
trash,
and
although
Baby
has
stood
up
for
him,
he
is fired.
Just
as
he
told
her
in
the
beginning,
their
worlds
are
too
different
for
Baby
and
Johnny
to
be together,
and
he
leaves.

Reopen
the
wound
and
it
will
drive
them
apart.
It
will
break
them
up.

The
Breakup
needs
to
be
clear,
and
it
needs
to
happen
near
the
end
of
the
story.
However,
there needs
to be enough room
for
hero and heroine to experience their
Black Moments, their Epiphanies,
and
then
make
the
grand
gestures
or
sacrifices
to
win
back
their
true
love.

Give
us
enough
time—usually
three
chapters
before
the
end—to
really
understand
the
result
of
the Breakup.
A
Breakup
that
happens
too
close
to
the
end
of
a
book
doesn’t
give
enough
room
for
the character
change
that
happens
as
a
result
of
it.
Likewise,
the
Breakup
can’t
happen
too
soon,
or there
isn’t
enough
tension
at
the
end
of
story.

After
the
Breakup,
ideally,
the
hero
and
heroine
should
have
a
friend
with
whom
they
process
the Breakup,
as
well
as
an
opportunity
to
live
life
without
their
true
love
(to
give
us
a
glimpse
at
how terrible it
is). Often there is
an “I wish
I never
.
.
.”
conversation. This
is
where your
character regrets
his
or
her
decisions.
Maybe
they
regret
the
relationship.
Maybe
they
regret
breaking
up.

Whatever
the
regret,
the
character
takes
a
look
at
their
flaws
and
doesn’t
know
how
to
fix
them.
Or perhaps
they
don’t
even
see
their
flaw.
Remember,
however,
every
flaw
is
based
on
some
fear.

Therefore,
the
Black
Moment,
or
realization
of
their
greatest
fears,
is
used
to
help
them
see
their flaws.
This
moment
is
key
because
the
reader
needs
the
character
to
see
that
they
must
become
a better
person
in
the
journey.
It’s
a
moment
of
self-evaluation
that
gives
your
character
the
vision
to go
forward.

Just
a
note
about
the
Black
Moment:
Every
Black
Moment
has
two
parts.
An
event
,
which
is
the actual
fear
coming
true,
and
an
effect
,
which
is
the
following
emotional
and
spiritual
crisis.

When
you’re
constructing
the
Breakup,
ask:
What
can
the
hero
or
heroine
say
or
do
that reopens the other’s
wound?

What
happens
next?
Will
you
leave
your
character
in
this
wounded,
brokenhearted
place? No.
They
need
to
c
hange.
And
get
the
girl.
Or
the
guy.

Instead of breakin’ up I wish we were makin’ up again . .
.

Making
up
is
the
best
part
of
the
romance.
Without
a
Breakup
and
a
Makeup,
we
aren’t
sure
these two
will
last.
What
if
trouble
comes
their
way?
With
a
Breakup
and
a
real
Makeup
we
know
they’ll work
through
their
problems
and
survive.
A
Breakup
gives
the
characters
(and
the
readers)
a
chance to
step
back
and
then
to
confirm
their
love
for
each
other
when
the
“Why”
of
their
relationship
is just
too
big
to
ignore.

Just
to
reiterate,
without
the
Black
Moment,
there
is
no
point
to
the
journey
of
our
character,
no moment
of
change.
It’s
in
the
Black
Moment
that
they
discover
why
they’ve
gone
on
this
journey. And
it’s
the
Black
Moment—and
the
subsequent
Epiphany—that
gives
them
the
power
to
make
up.

So,
let’s
take
a
look
at
the
Epiphany,
and
then
the
Big
Why
that
leads
to
the
Makeup.

In
a
romance,
when
our
hero
and
heroine
lose
the
one
they
love
and
realize
they
can’t
live
without them,
they
understand
they
must
change
in
order
to
get
what
they
want.
Often,
however,
they
don’t know
how
to
change.
The
answer
lies
in
the
Epiphany.
During
the
Breakup
and
Black
Moment, their
flaws
and
fears
combine
to
reveal
some
truth.
Perhaps
they’ve
spent
their
entire
life
alone
not because
they
are
unlovable,
but
because
they’ve
always
pushed
people
out
of
their
lives.
Maybe
they can’t
love
because
they
haven’t
forgiven
the
one
person
who
hurt
them.
What
if
they
are
broken
by the
way
they
see
themselves,
or
a
lie
they’ve
told
themselves?

In
Return
to
Me
,
Grace
believes
that
she
shouldn’t
be
with
Bob
because
she’ll
just
inflict
more
pain
on him;
she’ll
be
a
constant
reminder
of
what
he
lost.
But
Bob
tracks
her
down
in
Italy
and
tells
her
that his
wife’s
heart
rightly
belongs
to
Grace.
(And
then
she
lets
him
listen
to
it,
healing
both
their wounds.)

In
Ghosts
of
Girlfriends
Past
,
Connor
Mead,
the
hero,
listened
to
the
lies
his
uncle
told
him
about
love. Since
his
parents
were
dead,
he
believed
him.
Until,
through
the
construct
of
the
plot,
he
realizes that
his
parents
loved
each
other.
Conner’s
view
of
relationships
is
skewed
by
his
uncle’s
shallow view
of
life.
He
realizes
that
he
had
something
real
with
the
girl
of
his
past—and
he
can
have
it
again if
he
is
willing
to
commit
to
her.

In
order
to
overcome
their
issues,
the
hero
and
heroine
must
see
the
Lie
behind
their
flaws
and fears,
embrace
the
Truth,
and
want
to
change.

But,
in
order
to
convince
both
of
them
that
they
need
to
change,
they
need
to
be
convinced
again
of the
Big
Why.
Returning
to
the
wooing
section,
the
hero
and
heroine
gather
up
all
the
pieces
of
why they
love
each
other
and—usually
with
the
help
of
a
—friend—summarize
why
they
love
the
other person.
It
can
be
a
list
of
reasons,
or
one
big
one
that
shows
them
the
essence
of
the
one
they
love. It
is
often
an
expression
of
the
core
values,
but
it
also
can
be
how
they
complete
each
other,
or make
them
into
better
people.
Whatever
the
strongest
element
might
be,
this
Big
Why
needs
to
be restated,
and
used
as
fuel
to
propel
your
hero
and
heroine
into
the
next
big
step:
The
Big
Gesture
or Sacrifice.

Epiphany
construction
starts
with
the
dark
moment
in
the
past.
Remember,
wounds
are
often
based on
flaws,
which
are
often
based
on
fears.
For
example,
if
a
hero’s
wound
is
that
his
father
left
him
as a
child,
then
his
flaw
may
be
that
he
also
leaves
when
someone
gets
too
close,
because
his
fear
is being
rejected
again.
The
dark
moment
also
produces
the
Lie.
In
this
case,
it
may
be
that
“if
you
love someone,
they
will
leave
you.”
Thus,
his
Epiphany
is
that
love
stays.
Love
commits.
Love
endures.

This
Truth
allows
him
to
break
free
of
the
past
and
pursue
the
relationship
again.

We’ll
walk
through
this
again
as
we
construct
our
character
in
the
next
section,
but
as
you’re exploring
the
Epiphany
ask:
What
dark
moment
in
the
past
conspired
to
teach
your
character
a Lie? What Truth can set your character
free?

And
the
Happily
Ever
After!

Can’t buy me
love!

What
will
it
take
to
woo
back
the
girl?
To
make
the
guy
take
your
call?
A
broken
heart
isn’t
easily healed,
and
it’s
going
to
take
something
big
to
break
through
those
newly
constructed
walls.
I
prefer to
have
the
man
pursue
the
woman
first,
but
in
a
great
romance
both
the
hero
and
the
heroine
must confront
their
wounds,
go through
the Black
Moment,
have an
Epiphany,
and
make a
Grand Gesture
or
Sacrifice
to
prove
their
love.
Whether
it’s
declaring
their
love
for
the
hero
on
a
crowded tourist
bus,
or
travelling
half-way
across
the
world
and
standing
on
a
Paris
street
in
the
rain
.
.
. whatever
it
takes
to
break
down
those
walls,
heal
the
wound,
and
prove
that
they’ve
changed.

This
is
what
the
Big
Gesture
or
Sacrifice
is
truly
about.
Yes,
the
hero
or
heroine
wants
to
win
back the
one
they
love,
but
the
story
isn’t
just
about
romance.
It’s
about
how
these
two
people
met,
fell
in love
and,
as
a
result,
changed
each
other
for
the
good.
Forever.
We
want
the
hero
and
heroine
to
get together
and
live
Happily
Ever
After,
and
if
they
haven’t
solved
their
problems,
and
their
deepest wounds
aren’t
healed,
then
it
doesn’t
matter
how
wonderful
the
kiss
is.
After
the
credits,
they
will return
to
their
darkness.

We’ve
talked
about
the
construction
of
the
wound
earlier.
How
do
you
heal
it?

Healing
is
accomplished
in
two
steps:

The
hero
and
heroine
have
to
prove
they
have
the
capacity
to
heal
the
wound
(usually without
the
other
person’s
knowledge)
during
the
course
of
the
story
before
the Breakup
.

Some
small
healing
gestures
from
our
favorite
movies:

Return
to
Me
:
The
heroine’s
wound
is
that
she
has
always
felt
vulnerable
and
even
broken because
of
her
bad
heart.
When
the
hero
first
sees
the
heroine
filling
a
bottle
of
water
with
tap water,
he
protects
her,
not
“exposing”
her.
Then,
when
he
goes
to
kiss
her
(after
one
of
their
first dates),
and
she
covers
up
her
shirt
(afraid
he’ll
see
her
scars),
he
doesn’t
press
her,
again
protecting her.
And,
when
she
says
she
had
surgery,
he
is
appropriately
worried
for
her.
He
accepts
her
and makes
her
feel
safe.
When
he
arrives
in
Italy,
he
heals
the
wound
by
cherishing
the
heart
inside
her.