Is the romantic arc in your story flatlining? Are you struggling to see how your romantic arc fits in with your story? Some authors struggle to see where their romantic plot fits in with their story, or vice versa. In this post, I hope to clear some things up about how to identify the purpose of the romantic plot in your story and how to integrate it as a natural part of your book.
For more information on romance, check out How to Add Tension to Your Romantic Plot for Part 2 of the Romance Series.
The first thing you need to know is how to identify the purpose of your romantic plot in your story.
Romantic Plots Are Subplots
Story Plot: the thread in your story that creates events and moves the story forward, aka the premise of your book
- Example: the protagonist is a pilot of the only spaceship fit enough to defeat aliens attacking the planet
Romantic Plot: the thread in your story that follows how two love interests get their H.E.A. (or don’t)
- Example: the protagonist falls in love with her co-pilot, but sacrifices her feelings to save the planet
Your romantic arc is a subplot, meaning it has a plot line of its own. However, the romantic arc cannot survive on its own. Like any subplot, it’s an extension of the original story plot and has to integrate back into the main storyline. Yes, even in romance genre novels. So even though a romance novel’s appeal is the relationship between two characters (or multiple), it still has an outside goal that pulls the protagonist and their love interest forward. In other words, the novel is trying to accomplish a goal separate from that of the romance.
The most common example I use with my clients is a bakery-themed romance. Let’s say the protagonist has a goal at the beginning of the novel to open a bakery. But first she has to find the perfect shop, and she does, only a wealthy real estate investor is also trying to buy the same space. Begrudgingly, she falls in love with the real estate investor—enemies to lovers—and by the end of the story, his love for her makes him stand up to his company and back out of the deal. Then, BAM, through trial and triumph, she is able to buy the shop and open her bakery—and now she has a smokin’ hot boyfriend. The classic Hallmark romance, right?
It’s All About Goals
The thing to notice about this example though is that there is something else going on beyond just the romance, which in this example would be the bakery. This is what I like to call the story plot. The story plot is the premise of the novel or the piece of the story that creates the unique circumstances for the two lovers to fall for each other. So whether you’re writing a romance or fantasy or a thriller, your protagonist should have a goal and a storyline entirely separate from and equally as important as your romantic plot line. So for this example, our protagonist’s goal is to open the bakery. If she had never had the goal to open a bakery, she never would have met the real estate investor who she falls in love with. She never would have had trials and triumphs. And in return, their love allowed him to stand up to his company and help her achieve that goal.
Even in books like The Notebook, a book seemingly with little plot beyond the romance, has an external goal guiding the story forward—Noah reads the notebook to Allie in hopes of jogging her memory about their love story. So while his goal is intertwined with the romantic arc, it still remains separate because the arc follows their younger years.
In other stories, the protagonist may have a goal to find love or find love with a specific person. Even in these types of stories, there is generally another internal goal separate from the romantic plot that they need to realize and overcome. Usually, the protagonist finds that love with the person they thought would make them happy doesn’t fulfill them in the way they thought it would, and there is another lesson for them to learn.
GOAL: pushes the protagonist in a new direction, allowing for the lovers to meet
CIRCUMSTANCES: the events created by the SP for the lovers to fall in love
Let’s look at a few popular examples (SPOILERS BELOW):
- Beach Read by Emily Henry (ROMANCE): In this book, January’s goal is two-fold. First, she moves to Michigan to pack up her father’s mystery home (and even deeper, to understand him and why he cheated on her mother). Second, she is meant to be writing a new book, though after her father’s death, she can’t seem to find inspiration. These two goals lead her to meet her new neighbor and fellow writer, Augustus Everett. The first goal acts as a vehicle for meeting Gus, as they are now neighbors. The second goal acts as a way for them to connect as they form a challenge to write a book in each other’s genres. It’s not until she fulfills those other two goals that she finally gets her H.E.A. at the end of the book.
- Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (FANTASY): Lou’s goal is to stay hidden from her mother, the leader of a witch coven that is trying to kill her. Her unique circumstance is that she is forced into a marriage with Reid, who is a witch hunter, and she is so willing to do this because she can hide among them, creating an extra layer of protection from her mother. Through their forced marriage, Lou and Reid fall in love, and he sacrifices his duty to the witch hunters to save Lou’s life when her mother kidnaps her. In this way, their love allows Lou to reach her goal and escape her mother.
I hope what you can see in these examples is that the romantic storyline is directly influenced by the main story plot, and the two often interconnect. In most books with a romantic plot line (especially romance novels), the romantic plot acts as a vehicle for the protagonist to meet their story goal. In return, the story goal opens up a circumstance for them to fall in love.
In this way, the romantic plot (in much the same way a subplot functions) allows the protagonist to accomplish either their physical goal or their inward goal in a way that was not possible for them to do without the romantic plot.
Keep Your Romantic Plot Equal to Your Story Plot
Think of the story plot and the romantic plot as running parallel to each other. Like a subplot, the romantic storyline is a story of its own, but to survive as part of the overall story, it has to connect back to the story plot. Below is a picture of what I mean.
In the first picture, the romantic plot has a mind of its own, connecting with the story plot in some areas, but overall it diverges onto a different path. In a story, this might look like:
- There is no clear goal beyond the H.E.A. that the protagonist is trying to accomplish
- The couple gets together at the end, but there’s no resolution for the story plot
- The story plot is rarely mentioned and is just background noise to the romance
The second picture is a visual of a healthy romantic plot and story plot dynamic: they are equally important and one doesn’t take away from the other. But most importantly, they connect at the end. It’s important to keep hold of your story plot throughout the entire book because that is what makes your story unique—your unique premise, your unique circumstance. Don’t underestimate the value of your story plot. Often, the characters we connect with and remember are unique to us because they had to overcome circumstances specific to the world and the plot we made them endure.
Think about some of your favorite romance arcs and why you connected with them. Here are some of my favorites:
- Red, White, and Royal Blue: Alex and Henry navigate the world as the U.S. President’s son and the Prince of Wales
- The Fault in Our Stars: Hazel and Augustus are both dying of cancer, but still open themselves up to love with each other
- A Court of Thorns and Roses: Feyre is a human and Rhys is the most powerful fae in the realm
- Shrek: Shrek is an ogre and Fiona is a princess looking for her Prince Charming
For more on romantic plots, check out How to Add Tension to Your Romantic Plot.
