How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (26 page)

Here
are
the
Whys
in
my
current
WIP:

My
hero
has
always
wanted
someone
he
can
trust.
The
fact
that
this
non-agent
went
out
of
her
way to
help
him
gives
him
hope
that
there
are
people
worth
trusting.
More
than
that,
when
she’s
tested, she
protects
his
mission
and
saves
the
day.

My
heroine
is
exactly
the
kind
of
person
he
wants
to
be
with:
trustworthy,
daring,
and
even
fun. She’s
always
wanted
a
man
who
really
wants
her—who
will
fight
for
her
and
come
after
her.
Luke
is exactly
this
kind
of
guy
when
he
realizes
his
feelings
for
her.

Somewhere
in
here,
you’ll
have
the
Black
Moment
of
your
story.
Then
your
Epiphany.
When
you add
the
Why
into
the
mix,
they
will
also
realize
what
is
holding
them
back
from
love—their
flaws and,
perhaps,
their
lies.
In
order
to
win
back
the
one
they
love,
they
will
embrace
the
Truth.

This allows them to do the Big Gesture or Sacrifice, the thing they do to stay together.

Remember
to
ask
your
character:
What
is
the
Big
Gesture
or
Sacrifice
they
make
at
the
end,
for
love,
that
they can’t
do
at
the
beginning?
It
might
be
letting
go
if
something,
or
doing
something
brave,
which
leads them
into
the
Happily
Ever
After,
in
which
they
find
the
love
they’ve
always
longed
for.

Romances
end
happily.
Even
if
the
hero
dies,
like
P.S.
I
Love
You
,
or
Enemy
at
the
Gates
,
or
even
Cold Mountain
,
they
end
with
an
element
of
happiness,
something
that
makes
the
reader
glad
they
just spent
two
days
reading
your
romance!
(As
opposed
to
weeping
and
throwing
the
book
across
the room.)

The
Notebook
works
because
they
are
together
at
the
end,
even
if
she
is
losing
her
mind.
She remembered!

And even
A
Walk
to
Remember
works
because her
love gave him
the strength to be a better person
and
pursue
more
than
he
thought
possible.

One
of
my
favorite
endings
is
in
Chasing
Liberty
—when
the
heroine
goes
to
London
and
asks
the hero
for
a
ride—just
like
she
did
at
the
beginning
of
their
romance.

We
need
to
believe
that
the
romance
has
changed
them,
forever,
and
made
them
into
better
people. The key is, they have to do something that makes us understand that the romance has
impacted them, and they are better off for
it.

So,
there
you
have
it,
the
Act
Three
Huzzah
ending
that
should
make
your
reader
curl
up
with
your book
and
give
a
contented
sigh
(if
they
are
into
romance,
that
is!).

Now
you
have
incorporated
the
ten
ingredients
into
in
your
romance.
Here’s
a
hint:
Put
the
beats
on index
cards,
and
you
can
move
them
around
to
fit
your
story
.
.
.
what
you
want,
when.

Now,
write
your
story
summary.
No,
you
don’t
have
all
the
scenes
yet,
but
you
have
an
idea
of where
you
are
going,
and
all
the
essential
parts
to
build
your
romance.
As
you
are
writing
your synopsis,
you
also
have
the
“checklist”
to
make
sure
you
have
all
your
elements.

A
romance
doesn’t
have
to
be
complicated,
but
it
does
need
to
fulfill
the
expectations
of
the
reader. Boy
Meets
Girl
.
.
.
and
they
lived
Happily
Ever
After. And
everything
in
between.

I’m important
too!

I’m
sitting
here
at
my
husband’s
office
working
on
this
chapter,
and
the
front
desk
reception
fella
(a friend
named
Jim)
asks
me,
of
course,
what
I’m
writing
about:

Me:
The
use
of
Secondary
Characters
in
a
book.

Him:
Or
misuse.
(He’s
an
avid
reader.)

Me:
(because
I
haven’t
had
my
coffee
yet)
Huh?

Him:
Well,
think
about
it,
just
the
name:
Secondary
Character.
How
would
you
like
to
be
called
a

Secondary
Character
?
They’re
important
too!

He’s
brilliant!
And
right!
See,
Secondary
Characters
are
key
to
a
great
story.
Think
of
Watson,
to Sherlock
Holmes.
Harry
Potter
and
Ron
Weasley.
And
Barney
Fife
to
Andy
Griffith.
Laverne
and Shirley.
And,
Holy
Sidekicks,
how
about
Batman
and
Robin?

The
point
is,
a
great
character,
and
a
great
story,
is
enhanced
by
great
Secondary
Characters.

Who
is
in
your
world
?
We
are,
in
large
part,
defined
by
the
people
we
allow
into
our
lives,
the
people we
choose
to
spend
time
with,
listen
to,
allow
to
influence
us,
and
even
challenge
us.
These
people help
us
grow,
(even
if
we
make
mistakes
with
them!)
and
teach
more
about
ourselves,
our
world,
our faith.

Secondary Characters in a novel act the same way. Author Rachel Hauck wrote an excellent article about Secondary Characters in the spring 2011 issue of
Voices
, the MBT e-zin
e
, and with her permission, I’m going to use some of her points h
e
re as a starting place.

From Rachel:

“Secondary
Characters
are
critical
to
every
story.
Through
their
eyes,
we
see
the
hero
and
heroine from
different
angles.
Even
if
a
Secondary
Character
is
not
a
point-of-view
(POV)
character,
his
or her
dialogue
and
action
can
round
out
the
story
and
the
protagonist.”

Here
is
a
short
list
of
the
benefits
of
Secondary
Characters:

Secondary Characters widen the story – Written too close to the protagonist, a story can feel claustrophobic.
By
adding
a
Secondary
Character
friend
or
family
member,
you
widen
the
story’s stage.
We
see
beyond
the
protagonist’s
heart
and
mind.

Secondary Characters trigger backstory – Dialogue with Secondary Characters helps deliver the protagonist’s
past,
secrets,
or
inner
thoughts.
Don’t
have
your
protagonist
musing
to
herself
about her
past,
or
that
tomorrow
is
her
birthday
and
everyone
seems
to
have
forgotten.
Have
her
talk
to
a friend,
family
member,
or
the
regular
barista
at
her
favorite
coffee
shop.

Secondary Characters supply humor – Secondary Characters can be more “off the page” than
the main
characters.
Their
problems
don’t
have
to
go
as
deep,
nor
their
resolutions
as
far.

Secondary Characters add conflict – Secondary Characters enter the story just when
the protagonist
doesn’t
need
or
want
them.
Perhaps
they
bring
an
additional
problem
to
our
hero
or heroine.
Worse,
a
Secondary
Character
may
expose
a
motive
or
secret
of
our
protagonist.

Secondary
Characters
reveal
the
protagonist
–
Expose
the
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
the
protagonist
through
the
eyes
and
mouth
of
a
Secondary
Character.

And most of all, Secondary Characters widen the theme of the
story.

More
than
just
people
who
give
the
protagonist
someone
to
chat
with,
they
can
act
as
truth
tellers, or
even
catalysts
to
change
in
the
character’s
journey.
They
are,
in
short,
voices
of
either
Reason,
or Passion.

TheVoice
of
Passion
lives
in
my
house.
She’s
dressed
like
my
teenage
daughter
(on
any
given
day that
might
be
a
pair
of
jeans,
topped
with
a
skirt,
with
a
tank
top
under
a
short-sleeved
sweatshirt, and
a
pair
of
what
my
husband
calls
her
Wonder
Woman
arm
protectors).
Now,
to
be
fair,
my daughter
has
long
moments
of
what
I
call
sanity,
where
Reason
prevails,
when
I
can
convince
her that
no,
her
brothers
aren’t
trying
to
drive
her
crazy,
even
though
they
insist
on
leaving
the bathroom
.
.
.well,
you
know.

And
then
there
are
the
moments
when
Passion
takes
over.
When,
despite
our
best
efforts,
life
is simply
too
much,
when
she
must
play
her
music
at
the
top
of
the
allowed
decibel
levels,
when,
to put
it
into
Grey’s
Anatomy
Speak,
she
has
to
dance
it
out.
When
that
inner
wild
thing
must
be
heard and
set
free,
just
for
a
moment.
Only
then
can
she
breathe
deeply
and
restore
her
sanity.

Sadly,
or
perhaps
comfortingly,
I
see
so
much
of
myself
in
her.
So
I
know,
someday,
this
too
shall pass.
(Or
not,
according
to
my
husband.)

The
point
is,
we
all
have
two
sides
to
ourselves:
a
Voice
of
Reason,
and
a
Voice
of
Passion.
All
my characters,
when
I
develop
them,
have
said
voices,
and
I
use
them
in
various
plot
points
throughout the
book.
But
the
fun
part
is
that
Secondary
Characters
are
a
great
way
to
illustrate
the
theme
of
the story
by
making
them
either
a
Voice
of
Reason
or
a
Voice
of
Passion.
Two
sides
of
the
character, lived
out,
so
to
speak.

Let’s
say
our
theme
is
forgiveness,
like
it
was
in
my
book
Happily
Ever
After
.
Joe,
the
hero,
is grappling
with
forgiveness,
and
doesn’t
know
how
to
forgive
someone
for
something
that
happened to
him.
He
has
a
brother
who
acts
as
a
Voice
of
Reason,
the
voice
that
has
perspective
and
grace and
found
the
right
answer.

Also
in
the
story
is
a
villain,
someone
who
is
out
to
sabotage
my
heroine,
Mona.
The
villain
is
acting out
of
unforgiveness,
and
his
anger
is
causing
him
to
lose
his
morals,
and
eventually
his
freedom.

Hmmm
.
.
.
sounds
like
passion
out
of
control
to
me.

Another
example
is
The
Hunt
for
Red
October
.
The
central
character
in
the
theme
is
Jack
Ryan
and
the theme
is
loyalty
and
trust.
Of
course,
our
Voice
of
Reason
is
Marko
Ramius,
a
Russian
submarine captain
who
has
looked
at
his
life
and
this
silent
war
and
decided
to
steal
a
submarine
and
to
escape to
the
US
Eastern
Seaboard.
And,
in
the
end,
decides
to
trust
someone
he’s
never
met.
The
Voice
of Passion
is
the
other
Russian
sub
commander,
who
decides
not
to
trust
his
own
countrymen,
and
in fact
kill
them.
(This,
of
course,
makes
perfect
sense,
if
you’re
a
Russian
sub
commander.)
But
it’s two
sides
to
the
same
theme:
How
much
should
you
trust
someone?