Romance novels are some of the most popular, well-loved, and highly demanded types of books out there. Romance novels are a general and broad term, but they can be anything from realistic fiction to fantasy. A romance novel focuses on the aspect of the book that is the love story. The main stake for the reader in a romance novel is to see the two characters’ love triumph above all else, no matter the hardships. If you’re interested in writing a romance novel, you may be curious on how you can outline a romance novel properly.
Outlining a novel before you write it is actually a great idea for many people because it gives you an idea of the general direction that you want to take your story in. For the most part, it can be a bit complicated to just start a story right off the bat without some prior planning. Even people who are more spontaneous writers (like myself) have to go through some level of planning prior to starting the writing process.
This guide will break down the entire outlining process for writing a romance novel, including tips and tricks on things to consider and include. So, let’s get into it.
START WITH THE BASICS
All good stories need an objective, a goal, and a premise. What is the point of your story? What do you want to achieve by the end of it? This can be something simple or complex, depending on what your personal goals are.
The most basic element is your characters. I won’t go into depth on character design here, because I’ve already got a guide on that. But I would recommend starting with basic character outlines before you start planning the story completely.
PICK YOUR GENRE
Although romance is a genre, there are subgenres within romance that can impact the way your story is written and structured. For instance, if you’re writing a romance story in a fantasy setting or context, then you need to consider world building and more specific details on the setting. If your story is a contemporary romance novel, then you could make it set in the middle of your hometown and just move on.
However, you should be careful with this part: If you’re writing a contemporary romance story, your setting is also important to establish. If you know nothing about a country like Tunisia but your love story is in Tunisia, then you may want to do some solid research about it before you embark on writing your story. Research is part of the writing process!
THE PLOT OUTLINE
Now for the outlining part. The plot of romance novels is often broken down into three acts, with each act including important milestones for the romance story. Now, for the most part, romance novels tend to fall around 80,000 words, but many fantasy or sci-fi stories dip into the 100,000s+ of words.
Be reasonable with your word count and consider your genre and subgenre. If you’re writing a contemporary romance novel, making it very large is a bad idea and making it very small is unsatisfying.
If you want to learn how to outline a whole novel in one day, check out this article.
ACT 1: INTRODUCTION AND CONNECTION
In the first act, your main goal is to establish the protagonists and their lives. This is where you show each person just living. What are they up to? What are their professions? What are their roles? Do they have a family already? Are they students? How about enemies? These sorts of things should be addressed in the first part of your story.
By establishing a human-level to your characters, you’ve made them more compelling for the reader to care about and connect with.
You also need to establish the initial connection between the main characters. In the first part of your story, your characters need to meet or connect in some way, shape, or form. Maybe they meet at an office party? Maybe they bumped into each other on the subway. Whatever it is, this first part should establish that initial connection.
Finally, you want to also introduce things like the main conflict facing their romance. Is it a malicious third party? A difference in upbringing? A secret? What is it initially that prevents them from getting together right away?
The final piece of the first part is the forced proximity portion. The two characters cannot fall for each other if they’re not around each other, so putting them in a position where they need to be together is important. Consider the setting and the world for this portion, as you do some interesting things here depending on your story.
ACT 2: THE ESCALATION
Act 2 serves as the middle portion of your novel, and this is where you should start to see the outline pyramid going up. In this part of your book, you want to begin to escalate the conflict, tensions, and more.
If your characters are together in some way, be it a relationship or not (like in slow burn romances), establish more of their connections. Why should the reader root for this romance? What’s motivating them being near each other?
Forced proximity established in the first part is going to be more developed here. If the male love interest is an assassin and the female love interest is a princess and they’re stuck together by sheer chance, then here is where you want to show their interactions. At first, they may hate each other, but they may grow to be attached as they face perils along the way.
You want to introduce more conflicts and obstacles here, especially external ones. Maybe there’s a jealous ex or a disapproving family member. Maybe there’s a virus sweeping across the globe. Maybe there’s a second love interest, which is where you dip into love triangles a bit. Whatever the conflicts and obstacles are, they should present legitimate threats to the main romance you’re aiming for.
You also want to keep up the development of the characters. Heartfelt moments where they share deep secrets, trust each other, and work together can help deepen the emotionality of your characters and make them more compelling as humans.
ACT 3: RESOLUTION
As the conflict comes to a close and you start to wrap up the story, you want to make sure that all conflicts, challenges, and obstacles have been addressed. You don’t want to leave any plot holes open without them being closed.
Additionally, this final act of your story should be where the characters are finally together. This is a satisfying ending and one that gives readers the satisfaction of knowing that it worked out despite all odds.
You want to make sure that this part is deep emotionally, as if the resolution is a bit silly then your readers will feel disappointed and may feel like they’ve wasted their time–something you DO NOT want to hear.
You can add some twists at the end, but one thing I recommend is avoiding ambiguous endings. Most readers don’t like ambiguity and many assume the writer didn’t know how to end the story, which isn’t an impression you want to give off. I always recommend wrapping up the story in a nice way that will leave readers satisfied. Unless there’s a sequel. Then, you can play with ambiguity.
TIPS AND TRICKS
SUBPLOTS
One of the things that can help make your novel more rounded is to include multiple subplots. These should travel alongside the main plot and can involve things like other characters, situations, and more. They provide good avenues for character growth and development and add depth to the story.
FOCUS ON EMOTION
One of the most important things about romance is the idea of focusing on emotion. Emotion is what makes a story more interesting, and it’s especially important for romance stories. Without diving deep into the emotional aspects of your novel, you risk losing the ability to connect with your readers.
Go into a myriad of emotions like passion, happiness, hatred, anger, rage, redemption, etc… Incorporating emotional arcs where characters learn, change, and grow will help make your story much more engaging.
WATCH YOUR PACING
One issue some writers have when writing a romance story is the fact that their pacing gets thrown off quickly. Rushing into things or taking too long to explore something else may bother your readers and throw them in for a loop.
Take time with emotional arcs, character development and the actual romance and don’t rush these things. Don’t jump into making your characters fall for each other. They may crush on each other at first, but real and genuine romance takes some time to build.
LAST TIP: HAVE FUN!
This one may seem obvious, but a lot of people get caught up in the writing and don’t remember that it’s supposed to be fun. Writing a book can be hard work, but it should be a fun and rewarding process too. Don’t let it feel like a chore. Set goals, but it’s OK to not always meet those goals. Sometimes life happens! So just enjoy the ride!
Don’t forget to check out my sci-fi/fantasy series, The Fallen Age Saga while you’re on my website! You can buy the books right now over on Amazon!