Loose Change

I’ve been seeing a lot less of it lately and that’s a bad thing.  I mean in submissions, of course.  Yes, we want something sexy and hot as a premise or hook to catch reader interest.  Yes, we want sexy and hot in the story.  But that’s not all. Yes, yes, yes we want some conflict in the plot.

The characters don’t have to be slugging it out with each other or anyone else – although that’s one possibility.  They do have to have a problem that makes the reader want to keep going to find out how it is resolved.  No, the problem can’t be the characters don’t want to say “I love you” until the end…at least that can’t be the only problem.

Why don’t they want to? Because they don’t have time while they are battling all the known forces of evil in the universe?  Because one of them walked out on the other years ago and never looked back?  Because one of them stutters and is afraid to say anything because it’s so humiliating?  Give the readers (and me!) something to work with here.  “Slice of life” stories, where the two characters just naturally fall for each other in some fascinating part of the world can be lovely…but not for most readers of romance or any other genre.  They want information about the characters under pressure, they want resolution of some problem, they want to know the h/h can handle problems and stick together.

What the conflict is and how it is resolved is vital to romances since we know the ending should be HEA or HFN.  If there is no conflict or it’s not believable, the reader can’t believe in the resolution of that conflict...or worse, won’t care.

Make the reader want to read to the end.

Treva Harte
www.TrevaHarte.com