How to Prevent Your Love Story from Turning into a Bad Romance

The traditional Western romance formula will usually entail a man, a woman, their relationship, and their happy-ever-after, also known as the HEA.

This post looks at the elements of happy versus unhappy and how you can tell the difference.

The first rule of traditional contemporary romance is that you must have a happy ever after. The hero or heroine should not be left crying on the rainy streets of Cardiff. Romance novels have changed the ante somewhat in the last five years. It now quite possible to have a romance where the main protagonist has options, shall we say.

An HEA is always the expected final outcome of a traditional romance.

I want to stress that in this post the keyword is traditional. If you've killed off your hero or heroine for dramatic effect, it will only work in paranormal genres such as vampire stories; or perhaps some kind of event in which the hero flies around the world so fast that it spins backwards in time, thereby allowing him to save the heroine from being swallowed up in an earthquake. You know the guy...

Oh very well, then, it's Superman.

An HEA is always the expected final outcome of a traditional romance. So take care in deciding what you want to write about and which genre it fits into. You can have aliens landing from Planet Zorg or the world itself coming to an end, but such minor detractions will be secondary.

The only way you should have an unhappy 'ending' in a romance is if it’s actually the beginning and you plan to set some wrong right. As in the following example:

Waitress has one night stand with billionaire playboy. Seven years later they meet again. She now owns the hotel she once worked in. He has a severe limp from a yachting accident and has been reduced to life on ... on Universal Credit. She gives him a job on one condition. He will have to babysit her grumpy six year old lad. He soon grows fond of the child—who bears a striking familiarity to someone he just can't put his finger on at the moment...

1. My Heart Will Go On

A romance which has an unhappy ending, i.e. right at the end of the story, is no longer a considered a romance; it's a tragedy. Ok, if you're a pedant like me, you're going to tell me that's a romantic tragedy. Cue Rose and Jack of James Cameron' modern classic 1997 Titanic starring Leo di Caprio and Kate Winslett. Why not throw in The Song by Celine Dion? The movie is a romantic masterpiece. It's got money, class conflict, dancing, a cruise ship, jewels, danger and steamy windows.

But here's what. Both characters die—and not even at the same time! In my traditional book that's no romance: that's a disaster. And if I wanted to read about disasters, I could go and look up the story of The Titanic, that ship that hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sunk halfway across the Atlantic. Oh, no—wait! Well, lookee here...

2. ...Or Not

Next, enter Romeo and Juliet, stage right. In this famous Shakespeare tragedy, friends are stabbed to death, duels are fought, and entire clans are embroiled in feuds. But that's simply the side order; the plot salad. These events may be crisp, fresh, sharp and tangy—but they are not the main course. The main course is that Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight. They marry secretly. Then die stupidly.

It’s interesting that Roliet, or Jumeo if you prefer, is lauded as one of the greatest love stories in the Western world. I have my doubts about Romeo—given he fell in love with Juliet when he was on the lookout for another girl at the ball. What would have happened if Rosaline—the girl Romeo was really after—had given up her vow of celibacy? What if he'd married Juliet, gone to another ball, and seen another girl? Personally I think Romeo was a playa and their hormonal young bodies were doing most of the talking, but hey ho.

3. Once Upon a Time

Fairy tales (as they've been revised—you really don't want to see the Brothers Grimm's unsanitised originals) are the biggest contributor to happy endings. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast, Snow White, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid. It's great to be able to concoct your own fairy tale, isn't it? Which essentially is what all romance writers seek to do. While remaining, of course, inside the box.

"I want the fairy tale."

If you're not sure about a happy ending and its definition, pick up a collection of romance novels from various publishers. You'll get a clear understanding of what Happy Ever After means.

When prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) is contracted by businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) for her sexual services, she already knows all about the hard knock life. For her, it's not a adventure of triumph and self actualisation. In fact, she Vivian expresses things clearly as they develop a relationship and fall in love: "I want the fairy tale."

Don't try anything fancy, unless it's now the New Deal. A girl, a guy and a happy ever after is your first premise in your love story. They meet, have a big problem that threatens them being together, overcome the odds, fall in love, and get married.

We can't fight those heartstrings Mother Nature stuck inside us.

And it's got to be marriage. Anything else and you're moving into speculative fiction, and that's an entirely different genre. No matter what changes around us on this planet in terms of trends, your HEA is what most readers want. It's what they'll always come back to. We can't fight those heartstrings Mother Nature stuck inside us. They're connected to the need to mate; to procreate.

If you want to stay in the box of romantic formula, keep the readership and your target market happy. Dear writer, you have been warned.