How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (7 page)

The hero has to not only see the heroine’s special beauty, but also communicate it -- either to her or someone else in the story.

While You Were Sleeping
has a great scene with this element. Jack wants to play cards with his brother Peter, who is still in a coma, and Jack says, “The winner gets Lucy.” Love that scene!

Or what about in
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
when the hero tells his friends why this woman drives him crazy?

Even in
Sleepless in Seattle
, Sam Baldwin tells his friends about this woman he saw at the airport. He noticed her out of all the other people in the airport.

When you’re looking for the unique beauty of your heroine, ask: What is beautiful about your heroine that only (or especially) your hero can see?

Or perhaps your hero needs more help.

What makes a heroine beautiful?

Beauty
is
unique
to
every
man,
every
person.
I
see
beauty
in
my
daughter’s
creativity,
her independent
spirit.
My
husband
sees
his
daughter’s
cheerful
smile,
the
way
she
admires
him.
I
don’t know
what
the
boys
in
her
class
see
(maybe
I
don’t
want
to
know),
but
I
know
her
friends
see someone
who
listens,
who
gives
wise
advice.

It’s
these
inner
qualities
that
make
a
heroine
beautiful
(and
likewise,
makes
a
man
handsome!) However,
they
are
specific
to
each
person.
So,
what
does
your
hero
see
in
your
heroine?
How
do
we discover your heroine’s unique
beauty?

We
start
“with
the
eye
of
the
beholder”
and
we
look
at
their
vacancies
and
their
strengths.

What are your beholder’s
vacancies?

Everyone
has
things
they
are
not
good
at.
Maybe
it’s
the
tendency
to
speak
when
you
should listen.
Maybe
it’s
being
wound
so
tight
you
can’t
relax.
Maybe
it’s
the
inability
to
commit
to something,
for
fear
of
it
backfiring.
Whatever
it
is,
we
are
often
drawn
to
someone
who
has
a strength
in
that
area.
I’m
hearing
Jerry
Maguire
(movie
of
the
same
name)
in
my
head
saying, “You
.
.
.
complete
me.”
It’s
those
opposite,
completing
qualities
that
a
hero
might
find
attractive,
as
well
as
sometimes
annoying!
My
sweet
hubby
can
be
brusque
and
insensitive sometimes.
He
counts
on
me
to
be
the
gentle
one,
to
clue
him
into
his
foibles.

Ask: How does your heroine complement or balance the
hero?

What are your beholder’s
strengths?

My
husband
is
an
adventurer.
He
loves
to
travel
and
discover
new
things.
And
he
loves
the
fact that
I
am
a willing
participant.
Not
only that,
I
hand
over
my visa
and
the map
and
say, “Wherever
we
end
up,
I
trust
you.”
(This
has
taken
some
training
over
the
years!)
But
I’ve
heard him
say,
“I
love
the
fact
that
you
keep
up
with
me.”
Beauty
is
also
found
in
acceptance, encouragement, and like-mindedness. A man loves a woman who loves the things he
loves.

Ask: What does your heroine do that affirms the hero? How does she accentuate
his strengths?

As
the
story
progresses,
your
hero
will
see
the
outside
of
your
heroine
less
and
less,
and
her
inside more
and
more,
which
will
only
accentuate
her
beauty
on
the
outside.
If
she
has
freckles
and
lots
of wild
hair
that
at
first
is
off-putting,
he
might
gradually
see
her
laughter
and
acceptance
of
him,
and begin
to
love
how
they
reveal
her
personality,
until
he
adores
those
freckles
and
wild
hair.

(This
doesn’t
just
apply
to
heroes,
either.
It
can
be
a
mother-daughter
relationship
or
a
friend-to- friend
relationship.
We
all
have
vacancies
and
strengths,
and
people
in
our
lives
complement
our vacancies
or
accentuate
our
strengths.)

The fulfillment of the hero’s vacancies and the accentuation of his strengths combine to make your heroine irresistible.

Irresistibility
is
the
final
element
of
beauty—it’s
that
package
of
all
these
elements
that
makes a woman (or man) simply take over our
hearts.

How
does
irresistibility
work?
Consider
Return
to
Me.
Why
is
the
heroine
irresistible
to
the
hero? First,
because
Bob’s
desperately
lonely.
Grace
fills
that
vacancy
through
her
embrace
of
others.
She has
a
wide
“family,”
while
he’s
a
loner,
and
has
a
hard
time
caring
even
for
himself.
The
scene
where Bob’s
dog
eats
from
the
kitchen
drawer
is
hilarious
as
well
as
sad.
Grace
also
adds
to
his
strengths. She
has
a
sense
of
humor
he
finds
endearing.
(Remember
the
bottled
water
scene?)
Grace’s
humor and
strength
encourages
Bob’s
ebbing
spirit
to
keep
going.
(Remember,
he’s
building
a
gorilla
park, against all
odds).

My
favorite
line
is
after
Grace
has
left,
and
Bob
goes
in
to
talk
with
the
old
guys,
asking
for
her address.
He
doesn’t
know
what
to
do
and
says,
“I
ache
for
Gracie.”
She
has
a
place
inside
him,
and missing
her
has
left
a
giant
hole.
Wonderful!
Irresistible!

Maybe it’s
simply easier to ask your hero, What draws you to her? Why can’t you live without her?

If this feels too cumbersome, simply ask: How is your heroine irresistible to you?

Make
the
heroine
beautiful
to
the
hero
and
she’ll
be
beautiful
to
the
reader.

• What do you want?
  
• What is your biggest flaw?
  
• Why? What fear drives this flaw?
  
• What are you good at and how does that Super Power help save the day?
  
• What can you do at the end of the book that you couldn’t do at the beginning?
  
• What is beautiful about your heroine that only (or especially) your hero can see?
  
• How does your heroine complement or balance the hero?
  
• What does your heroine do that affirms the hero?
  
• How does she accentuate his strengths?
  

• What draws you to her? Why can’t you live without her?
  
• How is your heroine irresistible to you?
  

“Of
all
the
gin
joints,
in
all
the
towns,
in
all
the
world,
she
walks
into
mine.”

~Rick Blaine (played by
Humphrey
Bogart) in Casablanca

We’ll
touch
on
why
fools
fall
in
love
in
a
moment,
but
before
you
can
start
your
romance,
you
need to
get
them
together
on
the
page.

Which
means
they
need
to
meet.

In
a
romance,
the
Inciting
Incident
is
often
the
meeting
of
the
hero
and
heroine.
It’s
that
moment where
they
walk
into
each
other’s
lives
and
everything
changes.
It
is
possible
to
have
an
Inciting Incident
separate
from
the
meeting
of
the
hero
and
heroine,
as
long
as
the
Inciting
Incident
leads
to their
meeting.

And,
in
a
romance,
this
meeting
has
to
happen
by
chapter
three.
In
a
category
romance,
or
a
novel of
less
than
75K,
this
meeting
should
generally
happen
in
chapter
one,
and
preferably
in
the
first
few pages.

There
are
two
components
necessary
to
this
moment
when
your
hero
and
heroine
meet:
Interest and
Need.

1. Build Interest. In other words, make something about the other person stand out.
   

For
example,
in
Sleepless
in
Seattle
,
it’s
the
voice
of
the
heroine’s
son
and
his
sad
situation
that captures Annie’s
attention.

In
While
You
Were
Sleeping
,
it’s
the
fact
that
Lucy,
Peter’s
supposed
fiancée,
is
staying
the
night
on
the sofa.
Jack
has
never
heard
of
her
before
and
they
meet
when
he
interrupts
her
sneaking
out
of
his parents’
home.

In
A
Walk
in
the
Clouds
,
Paul
is
selling
chocolates
after
the
war
(and
after
he
and
his
wife
are estranged)
and
meets
Victoria
crying
on
a
bus.
She’s
beautiful
and
he
can’t
resist
listening
to
her story
and
wanting
to
help.

In
Return
to
Me
,
the
hero
and
heroine
meet
while
he’s
on
a
blind
date
with
another
woman.
He
sees Grace,
who
is
a
waitress,
filling
up
a
bottle
of
water
with
tap
water
for
his
high-maintenance
date. He
keeps
her
secret
and
is
rewarded
with
a
take-out
dinner
when
he
makes
excuses
to
leave
early. Thankfully,
he’s
left
his
cell
phone
behind
in
the
restaurant,
which
nets
him
a
date
with
Grace
when he
goes
to
pick
it
up.

The
key
to
this
moment
is
something
that
stands
out
about
the
hero
and
heroine
to
each
other. They’ve created
Interest.

Here
are
some
ways
I’ve
had
my
hero
and
heroine
meet:

In
my
book,
Nothing
But
Trouble,
PJ
Sugar
meets
her
love
interest,
Jeremy,
when
she
breaks
into
the house
of
a
deceased
friend.
Jeremy
is
a
private
investigator
(PI),
posing
as
a
pizza
delivery
man,
also breaking
into
the
house
to
search
for
clues.
They
escape
together
and
the
romance
sparks.

In
Happily
Ever
After
,
my
heroine,
Mona,
puts
out
an
ad
for
a
handyman—and
Joe
walks
into
her house
in
his
muddy
boots,
looking
for
a
job.

In
The
Perfect
Match
,
my
heroine,
Ellie,
is
the
fire
chief
and
she
saves
the
life
of
the
hero,
Dan.

In
Nightingale
,
my
heroine
meets
the
hero
through
a
letter
mistakenly
sent
to
her.
It
comes
at
a
time of
grief
and
his
kind
words
make
an
impact
on
her.

In
Escape
to
Morning
,
my
hero
nearly
runs
over
my
heroine’s
K-9
dog.

However
your
hero
and
heroine
meet,
it
must
make
an
impact,
stand
out,
create
interest
for
the
hero and
heroine
.
.
.
and
the
reader.
We
want
to
notice
them
to
notice
each
other!

Ask: What about this meeting and this person,
stands out? What stirs the interest of the
point
of
view
(POV)
character?

1. It’s
   not
   just
   an
   interesting
   person
   or
   situation
   that
   creates
   this
   ingredient.
   We
   all
   meet interesting people every day. Why this
   day, this
   moment?
   It’s because they are at
   a place of Need in their life.
   

The hero or heroine is ready for love. Perhaps they don’t even know it, but the author has created a situation that has their heart longing for love. It doesn’t mean they aren’t resistant to it, or that they won’t fight it, but deep inside something about them feels empty. And only the hero/heroine can fill that emptiness.