Judi Lauren

Writing Romantic Conflict

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Part of my job as an assistant editor at Entangled Publishing is helping my boss (the wonderful Stacy) go through the slush pile. As a company that predominantly publishes romance books (or books with a very strong romantic subplot) I’m always surprised at the biggest and most common issue I see in submissions:

Lack of romantic conflict.

It doesn’t matter if you have lovable characters, if you have no conflict in a romance, you have a problem. I’ve gotten quite a few questions on this topic recently, so I thought we’d dive into that a little today.

What is romantic conflict?

Romantic conflict is what’s keeping your love interests from getting together and living their happily ever after. It’s the thing they have to overcome in order to ride off into the sunset.

Romantic conflict can be both internal and external. In fact, the strongest love stories typically have a mix of both types. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, the internal conflict keeping Darcy and Elizabeth apart is his rudeness toward her, and Elizabeth’s preconceived bad opinion of Darcy before they’ve even met. These two things may seem small, but they carry a lot of weight to the characters throughout the book. Elizabeth is also not looking for a man or husband, when the majority of women around her are. Throughout the book, several more things happen that reinforce their early internal conflicts, keeping it strong. Such as Darcy convincing his best friend not to marry Elizabeth’s sister.

Several external conflicts in the book work to keep Darcy and Elizabeth apart as well. When Wickham is introduced, he tells Elizabeth lies about Darcy. Because of the meetings Elizabeth has already had with Darcy, she believes Wickham without much hesitation. There’s also Elizabeth’s family–specifically her mother–who pushed her daughters at any eligible man, including Darcy, regardless of how her daughters felt. Darcy refers to her family as having a “lack of propriety,” which was a huge deal in that time.

Why is romantic conflict important?

Simply put, if you don’t have romantic conflict, readers are going to have a hard time feeling invested in the love story. People read books–including romances–to not only be entertained, but to also see characters overcome obstacles. Readers want to see characters defy odds to be together. If there’s nothing for the characters to overcome in order to be together, then the romance feels flat and will leave your readers unsatisfied.

Making strong romantic conflict

Not all conflict is strong conflict.

One popular conflict to use is the “misunderstanding” or “mistaken identity.” Both work wonderfully when paired with more. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, if Elizabeth hadn’t met Darcy before meeting Wickham, would she have believed Wickham’s lies about him so quickly? If she hadn’t had previous interactions with Darcy, that lie/misunderstanding would’ve been cleared up in one conversation.

In the 1995 film While You Were Sleeping, the heroine–Lucy–is mistaken as the fiancee of a man in a coma. Over the course of the movie, she falls in love with the man’s older brother. The romantic conflict, the thing keeping them apart, is strong on its own on his end. He has a close relationship with his family and won’t do that to his brother. So what’s keeping Lucy from telling the truth? At first, it’s because she doesn’t know how to, and the fact that the family’s grandmother has a weak heart scares her. But it develops into something more. Lucy doesn’t have any family, and she’s drawn to the closeness of the Callahans. She doesn’t want to give up the relationship she forms with them over the course of the movie.

Both Pride and Prejudice and While You Were Sleeping create strong romances by adding layers to the characters, and by using a few different conflicts instead of just one.

In some romances, the conflict is woven so tightly into the plot conflict that it acts as the romantic conflict too. In The Hunger Games, the thing keeping Katniss and Peeta apart is the Game. It’s the fact that to survive, the other one has to die. That’s a very strong conflict all on its own.

Make it realistic

The goal and conflict must always matter to the protagonist.

In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth’s dislike of Darcy (conflict) matters to her because he wounded her pride the night they met. His insult most likely had an even deeper impact because her own mother referred to Elizabeth as “plain.” Because this matters to Elizabeth in such a deep way, it can easily matter to the reader. If it didn’t matter to Elizabeth, it wouldn’t matter to the reader.

In While You Were Sleeping, the conflict Lucy is caught in is choosing between marrying Peter (the man from the coma) and finally having a family, or admitting her feelings to Peter’s older brother, and risk losing the caring family, and the love of her life.

Make it realistic. Make it matter.

If you’re looking for ways to strengthen your romantic conflict, check out Colleen Houck’s blog post that has over 80 romantic conflict ideas.

If you have questions, or have a topic you’d like to see discussed on my blog, feel free to leave a comment below, or reach out to me on Twitter!

Writing Query Letters: Conflict

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I’ve had a few writers talk to me this week about conflict and how important it is in a query letter. Conflict is one of my favorite things about editing. I love working with writers to make their conflicts stronger–ultimately making their characters stronger.

So what is conflict?

Conflict is what is keeping your character from his or her goal.

Let’s go back to The Princess Bride, because it’s such a good example. And because I just really like talking about it. Westley’s goal is to rescue Buttercup from Vizzini, and then again to rescue her from Prince Humperdinck. His conflict is everything he has to overcome on his journey to rescue her: The Cliffs of Insanity, dueling with Inigo, fighting Fezzik. And after he rescues her from them, he has to get her from Humperdinck. Conflict: Torture and being “mostly dead.”

Those are big, not-so-subtle conflicts. So let’s talk about subtle conflicts for a minute. The kind of conflict that may not be obvious from the back cover blurb, or even from the beginning of the book. Like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. *Pause for a moment of love*

Charlie’s goal in the book is to get through high school. He talks in the opening of the book in a countdown to how many days he has left to get out of there. He also wants to make friends and fit in. His conflict may not be all that obvious to some: He’s introverted. He’s shy and awkward. He’s also in a world of pain, which it seems like he doesn’t realize this until much later in the story, but we as readers see it. His conflict is very internal and quiet, and it works in that story.

You must have conflict. There’s really no doubt about it. But your conflict doesn’t have to be giants or torture or being “mostly dead.” But you must always have something to hold your character back from his or her goal. And it must be conveyed in the query letter.

Let’s talk to that friend again and say they should read/watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower. You mention Charlie’s goal of surviving high school and it’s like “So what? Ninety-nine percent of teenagers are just trying to survive high school. What’s different about this joker?”

Then you explain his conflict. His shyness and awkward moments and grief from his aunt who passed away and his friend who committed suicide. Now we care. Now we know what it is he’s having to overcome to reach that goal. Remember that conflict can also make your readers care about your characters even more. Make the conflict big for your character, and it will be big for your reader.

If you’re having trouble with your query letter, I’m running a sale on partial manuscript edits right now. Check them out here.

 

Writing Query Letters: Stakes

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I have a tendency to write my query letter before I write my manuscript. I’m not sure what it is about this that deludes me into thinking my first draft won’t be as messy if I just have a query to go by. But query letters are really fun for me. I love writing and editing them and helping CPs with them. They’re an important part of getting an agent or editor to read your manuscript.

I’ve been in a lot of slush piles for my job and contests and I’ve read a slew of query letters. Some have been amazing that promised books I’d just fall in love with. Others had a harder time catching my eye for a number of reasons, but the biggest common denominator was a lack of stakes.

So what are stakes? Why do they matter to your story and query letter? Simply put, stakes are what your main character stands to lose in the book.

In The Princess Bride, Westley’s stake is Buttercup. If he doesn’t beat everything thrown his way, he’ll lose his one true love. Imagine trying to convince a friend who’s never seen The Princess Bride to watch the movie with you. You’ll probably tell them all about Westley’s determination to beat the swordsman, the giant, and the genius. Then imagine what happens if you don’t tell them why he risks his life time and again engaging these people. Your friend might not be up for watching The Princess Bride.

Why? Because you left out the what really matters. You left out why beating these odds is so important to Westley. It’s because if he doesn’t make it to the other side, he’ll lose her. That’s a stake.

So when you’re writing or editing your query, make sure you do your main character’s stake(s) justice. Let agents know why your character’s goal is so important. Tell them what your character will lose if he or she can’t reach the goal by the end of the book.

If you can’t determine what your main character’s stake is then you may need to go back into your manuscript and see if you have one. If not, it’s a good idea to fix it before you start mass sending it out. Your story stands to be a lot stronger if your Westley has a Buttercup he stands to lose.

If you’re having trouble with your query letter, I’m running a sale on partial manuscript edits right now. Check them out here.

Is It Wrong to Not Plot?

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The other day I heard someone say the only way to write a book is to plot it out. To have spreadsheets, character sheets, scenes planned out, and more. Is it good to at least have a vague idea of what you want to write when you sit at the computer? Yes. Definitely. But plotting is not the only right way to write a first draft.

You want the right way?

There isn’t one.

If you plot, if you color-code and write lengthy character sheets and have a 100-page bulleted outline, you’re doing it right. If you have a few scenes outlined on a 3×5 card, you’re doing it right. If you sit down at your desk and fly (or in this case write) by the seat of your pants, you’re doing it right. I’m the latter one, if you’re wondering.

If you’re writing a trilogy, duology, or series, it’s a good idea to at least know where you’re going because it all has to tie together. A lot of publishing companies that buy your first manuscript will often want to see what else you have. Sometimes that involves you writing up a proposal or synopsis for a book you haven’t written yet. In which case, you may not have a choice but to plot there.

Do the outliners sometimes have better odds of not having to do a dramatic overhaul in their book? Sure. Do they have the chance of not liking the plot they outlined and having to start again from scratch after the book is written? Definitely.

If that happens to you even after outlining your little writer’s heart out, you’re still doing it right.

Pantsers have a tendency to need very heavy first pass edits. We throw everything in there. We deviate from what we originally thought the book would be. We add things in the middle of the book as they come to us, knowing we’ll have to go back to the beginning and add it in.

If that’s something you do, you’re still doing it right.

The reason why so, so many writers love writing first drafts is because it’s all about freedom. Even if you outline, a first draft is your chance to write whatever’s in your heart. Even lines you know will probably need to be cut later on.

So enjoy it. Write that first draft with a detailed outline. Write it from your 3×5 cards. Or write it from an idea you had scribbled on your hand in the grocery store. Just write it.