How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (27 page)

How
do
you
incorporate
the
Voice
of
Reason
and
the
Voice
of
Passion
in
a
book?

1. Start
   with
   your
   theme
   –
   What
   are
   the
   two
   extremes
   that
   could
   be
   played
   out?
   Revenge
   verses Acceptance? Betrayal versus
   Loyalty?
   
2. What would it look like to act out those two extremes in your story?
   
3. Who
   could
   play
   those
   roles?
   (Consider
   family
   members,
   community,
   friends,
   even
   setting.)
   
4. How could they influence your character to
   either:
   
   1. Identify with them?
      
   2. Reject them?
      

(Ideally,
both
moments
should
be
in
the
story.)

The
Voice
of
Reason
often
pops
up
during
Act
2,
as
that
friend
who
gives
the
hero
or
heroine
a reality
check
about
the
romance.
Or
is
the
listening
ear
at
the
end
that
encourages
them
to
pursue their
true
love.
The
Voice
of
Passion
often
shows
up
either
at
the
very
beginning,
as
a
part
of
the home
world,
or
Inciting
Incident,
or
it
shows
up
near
the
Black
Moment—perhaps
before
or
after, as
a
glimpse
of
how
things
could
have
or
have
gone
terribly
wrong.

Some powerful Secondary Characters in
romance:

In
Return
to
Me
,
Grace
has
her
pal
Megan,
who
helps
her
weave
through
the
tangles
of
the romance,
playing
most
often
the
Voice
of
Reason.

In
How
to
Lose
a
Guy
in
10
Days
,
Andie
finds
her
friend
crying
over
a
broken
heart.
But
it
is this
friend
who
helps
her
see
the
truth
about
romance.
She
is
both
a
Voice
of
Reason
and
Passion.

In
A
Walk
in
the
Clouds
,
Paul’s
friend
is
Victoria’s
grandfather.
He
knows
their
secret
and tries
to
help
Paul
maintain
the
lie
for
the
family.
He
is
a
Voice
of
Passion
telling
him
to
follow
true love.

Where
to
find
Secondary
Characters:

As
you’re
planning
your
protagonist
and
plot,
think
of
those
who
are
involved
in
your
character’s life.
Consider
who
might
help
or
hinder
him
on
his
journey.

Family
–
Parents,
brothers,
and
sisters
create
strong
Secondary
Characters.
They
know
the protagonist
the
best
and
can
speak
truth
or
facts
that
no
other
character
can
speak.
Use
them
to deliver
key
information
to
the
reader
about
the
hero.

Friends
–
A
best
friend
can
be
a
powerful
force
in
the
protagonist’s
journey.
He
will
often
know things
about
the
hero
others
might
not
know,
including
family.
A
college
roommate,
a
childhood friend,
a
teammate,
or
work
colleague.
Use
friends
to
bring
challenge
and
truth
to
the
hero.

In
Siri
Mitchell’s
She
Walks
in
Beauty
,
Lizzie,
the
best
friend
of
the
heroine,
Clara,
is
a
source
of comfort,
truth—and
conflict.
The
friends
are
eyeing
the
same
man
to
be
their
groom.

Society
or
Community
–
Who
makes
up
your
character’s
community?
Is
there
a
neighbor
or
coffee barista
the
protagonist
sees
on
a
daily
or
weekly
basis
who
can
speak
truth,
add
humor,
or
provide
a mirror
in
which
readers
see
the
protagonist?

Build
in
Secondary
Characters,
and
you
will
not
only
have
a
Voice
of
Reason
or
Passion,
but
you’ll also
have
another
story
to
tell.
Look
for
ways
you
can
accentuate
the
theme,
to
give
it
different points
of
view,
and
then
apply
them
to
your
Secondary
Characters.
Suddenly,
they’ll
have
their
own voice
and
meaning
on
the
page.
And
you’ll
have
made
them
not
a
Secondary
Character
.
.
.
but
a Significant Character. (Do you like that better, Jim?)

Do
you
have
Secondary
Characters
in
your
stories?
Are
you
using
them
as
a
Voice
of
Reason
or Passion?

I’m
now
going
to
give
away
my
secrets.
Well,
not
all
of
them,
but
the
essential
ones
that
will
assist you
in
writing
a
killer
romance.
They
are
what
I
call…

These
are
the
elements
of
a
great
romance
that
grab
your
readers’
hearts,
leave
them
weak
and unable
to
put
your
book
down
and
walk
away.
These
are
things
that
make
them
weep
and
fall
in love.
The
elements
that
wring
them
out
and
cause
them
to
go
buy
more
of
your
books.
☺
Or
read the
same
one
over
and
over.

Hot
Dates:
Every
couple
needs
to
have
one
great
date.
I
love
unique
dates.
I’ve
had
my
characters have
a
picnic
at
the
dump
while
watching
the
bears.
I’ve
had
them
play
hockey,
basketball,
and touch
football.
I’ve
had
them
go
fishing,
go
blueberry
picking,
take
a
drive.
I’ve
had
them
make s‘mores,
and
go
to
the
theater,
and
ride
through
Siberia
on
a
snowmobile.
The
key
to
this
hot
date
is to
get
them
alone
and
to
create
desire.
You
want
them
to
like
being
together,
and
see
the
potential for
true
love.
But
you
also
want
to
create
tension
because
even
as
the
Why
they
should
be
together grows
stronger,
the
Why
Not
should
also
become
glaringly
painful.

A
great
date
creates
more
tension,
more
longing,
more
anguish.
And
it
makes
readers
root
for
true love.
We
talked
about
dates
in
the
Wooing
section,
but
be
really
creative
with
your
dates
and
make them
stand
out
for
your
readers.

Love
Language:
It’s
the
little
things
that
count.
Recently
my
husband
gave
me
a
Michael
Bublé CD.
A
small
gift,
but
oh,
I
love
it.
I
have
already
worn
it
out.
Why
did
it
mean
so
much?
Because gifts
are
one
of
my
love
languages.
Discovering
your
character’s
love
languages
(Time,
Affirmation, Gifts,
Service,
Touch)
and
having
the
hero
or
heroine
meet
them
in
small
but
profound
ways
creates an
impact
on
readers.
It
acts
as
a
secret
the
readers
and
hero
share
in
the
wooing
of
the
heroine
(or readers
and
heroine).
The
readers
know
what
is
going
on,
if
only
the
heroine
would
wake
up
and
see it!
It’s
a
delicious
little
lethal
weapon
that
builds
the
bond
between
readers
and
the
characters
and deepens
the
magic
of
the
romance.

Secrets:
Don’t
you
just
love
it
when
someone
tells
you
a
secret?
Something
private
that
only
you two
share?
Your
hero
and
heroine
have
secrets
too.
When
you
share
them
with
your
readers,
it builds
the
bond.
Not
only
that,
but
when
the
hero
and
heroine
then
share
the
secret
with
the
other, readers
participate
in
the
sharing
(or
the
receiving).
Secrets
bond
characters
together,
and
bond readers
to
characters.
Need
a
hint
on
finding
a
secret?
Go
back
to
that
dark
place
in
your
hero’s
and heroine’s
past
and
pull
something
from
that.
And,
if
you
want,
you
can
share
it
on
the
Hot
Date! (Or,
even
better,
after
a
painful
argument!)

Longings:
What
if
.
.
.Don’t
you
just
wish
that
.
.
.If
only
.
.
.
When
someone
shares
with
you
that deepest
desire
of
their
heart,
you
get
a
glimpse
of
their
soul.
I
love
knowing
the
longings
of
the people
I
love
because
maybe
I
can
participate
in
fulfilling
them.
Even
if
I
can’t,
it
makes
me understand
them
and
like
them
more.
Your
hero
and
heroine
must
share
their
deepest
longings
with readers,
and
each
other.
It’s
a
moment
that
will
make
your
readers
fall
in
love
with
the
heart
of
your characters.

Think
back
to
the
days
when
you
were
first
falling
in
love.
It
wasn’t
long
after
you
met
that
you began
to
think
about
your
new
romance.
Perhaps
you
started
by
detouring
to
the
coffee
shop
about the
same
time
he
did.
Or
you
started
eating
lunches
in
the
company
lunchroom.
Perhaps
you
began to
check
your
Facebook,
e-mail
and
voice
mail
more
regularly.
You
cleared
out
spots
on
your calendar,
perhaps
even
when
you
went
to
the
store
you
considered
your
new
romance’s
tastes
when shopping
for
clothes,
food,
music.
With
each
step
in
the
romance,
your
thoughts
toward
each
other filled
more
of
your
lives
until
every
moment
overflowed
with
thoughts
about
your
new
love.

Your
romance
novel
should
play
out
the
same
way.
As
the
romance
thread
grows,
it
takes
up
more time
in
the
novel
as
well
as
makes
a
more
profound
impact
on
your
hero
and
heroine’s
decisions. We’ve
talked
about
how
to
grow
your
romance
through
the
scenes,
kisses
and
powerful
dialogue, but the other essential way to grow the romance and keep it alive is by putting the romance on every
page.

Often
novelists
believe
that
this
means
having
the
hero
and
heroine
physically
together
on
every page.
However,
this
may
be
a
challenge
(and
unrealistic)
based
on
your
plot.
One
trick
to
keeping them
together
is
to
start
with
sprinkling
thoughts
the
hero
and
heroine
have
for
each
other
onto
the pages.

Consider
this:
Just
like
when
you
first
meet
someone,
they
might
be
intriguing,
but
you
don’t
spend every
moment
thinking
about
them.
However,
they
enter
your
thoughts
when
appropriate—when you
are
reminded
of
something
they
said
or
did.
In
the
same
way,
as
you
begin
your
romance,
the hero
and
heroine
should
make
an
impact
on
the
other
in
a
way
that
brings
them
to
mind.
In
this way,
you
light
the
romance
fires
and
move
them
naturally
into
a
deeper
relationship.