I believe that good stories needs a little romance in them. It doesn’t have to have to be the entire plot, but I enjoy it when it is there. What makes a good romance plot line?
1. It can’t be too easy. If they meet and fall in love and have no problems, then that is boring and boring is never good.
Granted, if their only problem is they spend two hundred pages simply not communicating, then that is frustrating. Frustrating books aren’t enjoyable. If the main relationship problem can be solved in a ten minute conversation, then it isn’t compelling enough.
2. The characters have to be likeable. If your protagonist is going to fall in love with the guy, the reader better fall in love with him too. Even if he is a scoundrel, make sure he has redeemable qualities.
3. The characters have to be flawed. At this point, you’re probably thinking this contradicts the statement of number two. But that’s not the case at all. Likable does not mean perfect. No one is perfect and so no one wants to read about perfect people.
Important to note: whatever flaws your character has, don’t let it disappear when they begin a relationship. If he gets jealous easily, that isn’t going to mysteriously change after they become a couple. Flaws are important for character arcs, but an arc is just that . . . an arc. It can’t be a sudden and unexplainable change.
4. With kissing, less is more. I recently read a book where the characters kissed every few chapters. It lost the impact. On the other hand, in a different book I read, the characters almost kissed several times but were interrupted. By the time they actually did kiss, it had been built up so much that it was perfect.
