You mig
ht say the antithesis to the romance genre is suspense/thriller. You know, people getting killed versus people falling in love. What could be more polar than that?
I suggest they’re not as different as they may seem, which is why, as a romance writer, I make sure I read a few thrillers and suspense novels each year. They help me to remember how important pacing is, that plot matters, that getting the reader eagerly turning the page matters, that good dialogue is vital.
Character development often takes a back seat in thrillers and suspense novels because plot is king. This is usually the reverse in romance novels. But a really good thriller writer will find a way to develop their characters without bogging down their novel. And good romance writers figure out how to keep the plot interesting, how to pepper believable and heart thumping conflict throughout the story while maintaining character development.
I remember several years ago chatting with a fellow author about our craft. She was a more experienced romance writer than me at that point, with about three times as many novels published. Her (very serious) advice was that in any good romance novel, “somebody has to die”. And no, she wasn’t joking. It took some head scratching and some brainpower to finally realize that she was wrong. But what she was right about is that a good romance novel needs more excitement than the two main characters simply falling in love. It needs conflict, action, suspense, although not necessarily in the form of somebody dying.
Developing your skill as a writer entails reading and writing other genres…there really are no shortcuts to this. If you’re a romance writer, try writing a short story that’s a mystery or a thriller. And if you’re a thriller writer, write something that requires a huge amount of character work where almost nothing happens plot-wise. Then try to combine the two and write a romantic suspense story.
If you’re a reader, mix up the genres you like to read, if for no other reason than to remind yourself of why you don’t like reading a particular genre or why you do play favourites. You might even surprise yourself and become a fan of whatever genre you were convinced you didn’t like, because there are some excellent writers in every genre, and they’re just waiting for new readers to discover them!
