Let’s approach this question for any budding romance writer must cover a few necessities.

Have a believable heroine.

This is the main point required. Now, it can be reversed to the man being the prime character but most of the time it’s the woman who needs rescuing. Give her a decent back story, one your readers will fall for. After all, most romance readers are female. Yes, before you argue there are men too. I have a few. However, you need to make your readers fall in love with her. Give her strength to fight for her man but weakness too. After all, when you add the man, he needs a reason to be there for her.

Add the love interest. Bring in the hero

Now, again this can be reversed to the female, but everyone likes a tall, handsome man to win the day and the maiden. Just look at the Disney films. Snow White has her Prince Charming, Cinderella has her Prince. The man is normally the hero. (And yes, I know there are exceptions). Make him strong enough to save the girl but give him flaws – no one likes the perfect man and lets face it, they don’t exist. Go on, try and argue. But think out of the box. Not every hero is tall, dark and handsome. Some come in different packages.

Emotion and tension

Now, who has read the usual type of romance? You know the type. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy marries girl. Boring, right? A plane romance will get you nowhere. You won’t pull at the heartstrings, your readers won’t be hooked and sales will drop. Okay, there are readers who like this type of thing but the others? They need some grit to get their teeth into. Think about a Cinderella. Did she just meet her Prince and lived happily ever after? No, she had a wicked step-mother. So, add in emotions and tension. Give your hero a reason to fight for his girl. Is there a second man on the scene? Is there a threat against her life? Will he take a bullet for her? Now that’s an interesting one. How many general, bog-standard men will jump in front of a bullet? Yes, bodyguards, security men, police etc might, but Joe Bloggs? There’s a story in itself. How would he feel if he hesitated and his girl got hurt? Write that correctly and your readers won’t be putting your book down.

Make it believable.

Okay, you have your couple, a decent plot but have you checked the details? Google will become your best friend, at this point. In the olden day’s you had to find someone in the business to check details with and probably pay a fair bit. Now, google can answer most things. I use it all the time. There is nothing worse than writing the perfect romance and then a reader comes along and say – there is no way that would have happened. So check, check and check again. I”ve wriiren a big scene in my upcoming Christmas release, it’s the basis of how my couple comes together. I spent a fair bit of time googling. Now, I’m happy my details are right. Go through your finished, edited manuscript with a fine-tooth comb. Get those little bits perfect.

And that happy ever after ending

Everyone loves a happy ending. You’ve put your couple through hell and back. Given themto each other and pulled them apart – probably several time. Built up the tension. Now what’s it all for? That happy ending. Your readers what your couple together and in perfect love. Yes, yes,I know. It doesn’t always happen. And written correctly, you can still have a winner. But you want the perfect romance story, so add in that happy ending. Or, if it’s a series, a happy for now, ending.

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more hints and tips.