The romance genre is one of the biggest genres of literature as romantic stories have been around for centuries and people love reading about the happy endings and the romantic connections that are made in a perfect love story. I say perfect love story here – because the two main characters always end up together. It's a recipe that's proven for romance writing and no matter what you do to try to alter this recipe, it always fails if these two don't end up together. If your two main characters don't find love, it's simply not classified as a romance.
You can still call it a love story, but a love story and a romance novel are simply not the same.
Before you start writing your romance novel, you may want to understand that there's a tried-and-true formula. While it's not the law that you have to follow this formula, Readers expect that you do. And your sales are going to come from readers so you might as well stick to it.
The formula to a satisfying romance novel
The formula for a romance novel that satisfying to readers is actually quite simple. It goes like this.
Boy meets girl.
Boy loses girl.
Boy wins girl in the end.
This is what readers expect and this is what you should probably follow if you want to make the most sales. There's no reason for you to try and rewrite this formula or even take some chances.
You may end up getting five-star reviews from romance writers, who are used to reading these predictable stories. That's just the way it is. However, you still have to freedom to create this particular romance story the way you want.
Plenty of freedom
We should not feel a desire to Reinvent The Wheel when it comes to Romance Writing, as you are essentially stuck following the same outline.
However, once this formula is understood, you'll realize that you actually have plenty of freedom when it comes to creating the story. Essentially, it's just two characters that meet, they experienced a brief moment where they are apart, but they end up happy in the end. It's pretty simple and you can do a lot with these particular frameworks.
There could be a war, it could be parents being protective of their teenage kids, or could be other love interests or even work obligations that keep them apart. You can also do historical romances or even paranormal romances where the obstacles may be completely different from what you experience in your daily life.
How do you feel about not necessarily reinventing the wheel when it comes to romance writing? Are you surprised that readers expect the same formula and so many writers follow it?
