Creating Romantic Characters:
Bringing Life to Your Romance Novel
ISBN 1892689073
No matter how exciting the plot, it's the people
who make a story memorable. Techniques and examples
to help you produce provocative, forceful characters.
table of contents
read an excerpt
Table of Contents
The World of Romance... 8
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The history of romance novels. 8 |
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Varieties of romance novels.. 9 |
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The definition of the romance novel. 11 |
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Types of romantic stories.. 12 |
Heroic Characters.... 17
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The heroic couple... 19 |
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Backwards Honeymoon. 23 |
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A heroine to befriend... 30 |
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His Trophy Wife.. 36 |
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A hero to adore... 44 |
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Dating Games.. 50 |
The Supporting Cast... 56
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The good, the bad, and the ugly. 59 |
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Playing with others... 64 |
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The child |
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Family Secrets. 65 |
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The parent/grandparent |
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The Boss’s Daughter. 69 |
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The family. |
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The Boss and the Baby . 79 |
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The best friends |
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The Husband Project. 85 |
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Husband on Demand. 92 |
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The villain |
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On September Hill. 98 |
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The other woman |
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The Bridal Swap. 102 |
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The Corporate Wife. 107 |
Naming the Baby (and Everyone Else, Too) 111
Building a Character... 115
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The characterization worksheet. 116 |
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Sample characterization worksheet. 121 |
Bringing Characters to Life.. 131
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Presenting characters to the reader . 131 |
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The Playboy Assignment. 134 |
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Let Me Count The Ways. 137 |
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A Matter of Principal.. 140 |
The Pursuit of Love.... 144
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Problems and solutions.. 145 |
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Bride by Design.. 149 |
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The Tycoon’s Baby.. 158 |
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Happy endings... 166 |
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A Convenient Affair.. 168 |
References..... 175
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Romance sub-genres... 176 |
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Glossary.... 181 |
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Romance publishers... 183 |
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Leigh Michaels’ fiction.. 187 |
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Suggested reading... 189 |
Index...... 190
Many new romance writers create heroines who are perfect. They’re not only shaped like Barbie dolls, but they never have to break a sweat at the gym to keep that perfect figure. They’re smart and witty and run a multimillion-dollar business in their spare time. They’ve never cracked a fingernail and they can wear white shorts to a picnic and not get a single grass stain.
Or the new writer goes the other direction and creates a hapless, helpless heroine. This woman can’t get herself across a room without help. She gets mixed up in one bad relationship after another, she’ll believe any fool story she’s told without ever stopping to consider the source, and she’s wildly inconsistent in the ways she reacts to people and events. She’s still gorgeous, but she doesn’t believe for a moment that she’s the least bit attractive. Because this woman doesn’t respect herself, she commands no respect from others– including the reader.
The heroine with a past
A satisfying, sympathetic heroine is a woman with a past. That doesn’t mean she necessarily has dark, deep secrets (though indeed she may have). It doesn’t mean she’s been a stripper or is on the lam because she’s facing criminal charges.
Having a past simply means that our heroine, like all human beings, has been shaped by her experiences, and her reactions to what has happened to her make her a person distinct from every other individual on the planet.
Was she raised in an orphanage? Or did she grow up with a stern and critical father? Or was she the much-pampered only girl in a family of five boys? Those three women will have entirely different feelings about families.
The heroine’s past experiences affect everything she does and every decision she makes. But it isn’t necessary for the reader to know all of that history right away. In fact, one of the bigger mistakes made by most new romance writers is to pour all the information about the heroine’s past into the first chapter. It’s much better to wait until later in the book, when the reader must know about the heroine’s past in order to understand her, to share that information.
Copyright 2002 Leigh Michaels
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