Romancing the Reader

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

I’m no expert in the romance genre. I do know it’s the best selling slice of the fiction pie and is dominated by female authors (along with some guy named Sparks).

And I’m pretty darn sure of this: there’s a romantic relationship in these novels. (Check me on that.)

Reasons given for the popularity of romance novels include deep emotional connection, vicarious pleasure, escapism, and the satisfaction of a “happily ever after” ending.

Which is why the romantic subplot is so often utilized in other genres. Everyone (or almost everyone) loves a love story. Whether that’s the subject of the book, or merely an aspect of it, love and its machinations draw readers in and connect them to the characters in a singular fashion.

Someone who I’d say has a handle on this is Nora Roberts. She’s published a few books (I think the number is 225 right now, but may have just ticked up). Most of them landed at or near the top of the NYT list.

I was going through one of my many binders full of clipped Writer’s Digest articles (dating from 1988) and came across a profile of Roberts from 2001, back when she’d published “only” 130 novels.

The reason I saved it was three-fold. First, because of her work ethic. For most of her career she’s held to an 8-hour writing day, five days a week. She says she had an advantage in being educated by nuns. “I was raised with discipline and guilt—they’re wonderful writer’s tools.”

Also of interest to me is her method. Her practice is to “pants” a “short” first draft. It gives her the basic story. Then she goes back to the beginning and adds elements to fill things out. Then there’s another pass (a “polish”) and she’s done. (I do think that’s a fine way to write a novel. I would call that short first draft actually a very long outline! That’s one way to “discover” your story.)

And third, she gave her thoughts on what makes a successful commercial novel:

Your characters have to jump off the page. They have to appeal to the reader in some way. If you don’t care about the people, then it’s all action, and who cares about that if you don’t care about who drives the action or who the action happens to? It’s all about who these people are.

(Horn toot: there’s a book out there on how to write “jump off the page” characters.)

Roberts says, “Character is plot. Character is everything and the story wraps around them.” I’d add that plot is also character, in that the story wrapping around them has to challenge them to the max, and force their true character to be revealed and, in most cases, transformed.

A romantic subplot, as I mentioned, is a powerful way to add flavor to a novel, in any genre. All my series—Kit Shannon, Mallory Caine, Ty Buchanan, and Mike Romeo—have a romance element. I’m a sucker for love, too.

There’s another, equally potent plot device which I call the “Care Package.” It refers to a relationship the Lead has before the book begins, one where the Lead cares deeply about someone else. Katniss Everdeen has her mother and Prim. Luke Skywalker has his aunt and uncle. Dorothy has Toto.

The bottom line is that we always root for a) people who fall in love; and b) people who care about other people, with no thought of personal gain. We want decent people to succeed.

That’s how an author can romance the reader. And readers who fall in love with your book will be anxious to buy another one.

Comments welcome.

26 thoughts on “Romancing the Reader”

  1. Jim, I don’t write romance either but a strong love interest threads through my thrillers.

    The “care package” is a great concept. “…people who care about other people, with no thought of personal gain.”

    In other words, heroes.

    Thanks for an optimistic start to the week!

  2. Jim, once again thank you for another very helpful and encouraging post. I write clean romance(with my pen name Melody Archer) and enjoy writing the new love stories with added mystery or suspense.
    However, I was feeling a little discouraged this past week about my writing and steps I needed to take to make my characters and overall romance story even better.
    What you wrote about Nora Roberts tips on what makes a successful commercial novel, that was just what I needed to hear today.
    “Your characters have to jump off the page. They have to appeal to the reader in some way. If you don’t care about the people, then it’s all action, and who cares about that if you don’t care about who drives the action or who the action happens to? It’s all about who these people are.”
    I appreciate this very helpful and encouraging blogpost. 🙂
    thanks, Lorna Faith (also writing as Melody Archer)

  3. I discovered romance when my daughters were reading my “play around with this” writing which I thought was a mystery. They both said it was a romance, and I had no clue why, since I’d never read one. But I did prefer mysteries where there was more than solving the crime going on. I liked the “B plot” of relationships. Joe Picket has a family on the page. Spencer and Susan.
    I love JD Robb’s books. Have all of them. Nora, not so much. But it’s always been about the characters for me.

  4. Some of my favorite books are from Lee Child, Robert Crais, and John Gilstrap, and I have enjoyed reading books from other TKZ authors. But romance is the genre I read the most. I’m not talking about the ones that are heavily explicit and seem like a loose plot written around steamy sex scenes, but the ones that explore the relationships, whether they’re the focus of the story or a side story within the bigger plot. This is the kind of story I write.

    I have tried to apply the sign posts and several other story structures to books by Nora Roberts and others, and just can’t seem to make them fit. I would love to see you, Jim, dissect a book like The Witness (Roberts) or The Choice (Sparks). I’ve read a lot of books where there is no care package, and the hero and heroine don’t even like each other at the beginning. They may have people they care about, but none that offer anything like help. In some of them, there are only the two main characters trying to stay alive. I realize that the focus of this blog is crime/murder/mystery, which is why I wrote once that I was in the wrong blog, but Debbie said good writing is the same no matter the genre. That’s what keeps me coming back every day. A lot of good advice here.

    • Interesting thoughts, Becky. That would be a good study sometime, the structure of romance. It used to be simple: boy meets girl, boy loses, girl, boy gets girl. A lot has changed, obviously.

      As far as the lovers not liking each other at the beginning, that’s a common trope. Most famously in the Capra film It Happened One Night.

      • That is a common trope, and makes sense because where would the struggle be if they fell in love immediately? But what I was thinking is that maybe they are each other’s care package, whether they know it or not?

    • Hi Becky,

      A friend who writes paranormal romance loves Gwen Haye’s “Romancing the Beat,” which looks at the structure of romance. It might be an excellent resource if you engage in the study JSB suggested.

  5. Terrific post, Jim. You’re so right about a romance making for an engaging subplot. I had one in my Empowered series, and another in Meg Booker. Combine that with your brilliant care package idea and you have terrific supports for your main plot.

  6. Another great writing lesson, Jim.

    I like the way you explain that although “character is plot,” the plot reveals the characters. I’ve always thought of my stories as plot driven because of the puzzle nature of mystery. But the stories have romantic subplots, usually driven by tension, that helps reveal the true nature of the characters while adding an umph to the story.

    • Umph…Ooomph…Spice…a love interest has them all.

      Do you know who “The Oomph Girl” was? (That’s how Warner Bros. publicized Ann Sheridan.)

  7. This is great, Jim!

    I like romance to be lightly salted in, not the in-my-face kind. Just a little to spice things up but not give me a heart attack.

    Back when the kiddos were tadpoles, I read Nora Roberts and Phyllis Whitney. A lot. But I had no idea how many novels she’s written. Wow! And I like the sound of her process…writing a short first draft. Sounds intriguing, and fun.

    Thanks for another encouraging lesson in the craft. Have a great Sunday everyone…

  8. The real secret to reader engagement and having a story people will remember is love. It doesn’t have to be a romance or a sexual relationship. It can be family love, love of country, friendship, or any other love that moves us to do better and be better. It’s the greatest motivation in the world.

  9. Excellent advice as usual, Jim. All my thrillers have some type of romantic subplot, even the ones where the romance isn’t a focal point. It definitely makes the characters more believable, fully fleshed, and well-rounded.

  10. I find writing the suspense line much easier than writing the romance part in my romantic suspense. I’ve actually written two sweet romances for Harlequin’s Heartwarming line that were well-received, but they were the hardest books I’ve written.

  11. Jim~
    Love this, and thanks for the acknowledgement of romance! I’m not at Nora’s level, but I am about halfway to that 225, mostly in romantic suspense but also straight romance and some romantasy–a topic in itself. And (horn toot <–love this) have 5 of the biggest romance awards on a shelf. That tooted, I just wanted to say that I've attended a few conferences Nora also attended. And once early in my career ran into her getting on the elevator where I was getting off. She was coming back from the hotel gym, heading for her room to put in a few hours of work before she had to give a talk. That has stuck with me ever since, that if she could do that even while at a con, I could get my backside in the chair every day at home.

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