Writing a romance where the couple start off together

Honestly, I think your problem is that you're not focused enough on your story (at least from this post) to know what it is you're trying to do, so I don't really know what to say. If you're not familiar with Genre Romance conventions, then I wouldn't worry about it and just write the story the way you see it. There's romantic elements in pretty much every genre nowadays so it's not going to make your book unmarketable to have it in there and fussing with what Genre Romance requires is likely going to mess up your vision of the story as you're writing.

Hope that makes sense.

There is no reason why they can't start off together as a couple. If she is strong and independent and he overprotective that is a perfect reason for the start of romantic conflict. Then to be seperated by war. Perhaps during the seperation she realizes she wants or needs him more than she thought. And he comes to respect and depend on her strength.

Don't worry about genre. Write the story first and then think about genre. The finished book might be more women's fiction then romance.

IdiotsRUs said:

That was what I was aiming for. They've been together a while, definately past the honeymoon stage. I thought they could learn to love each other all over again.

Sigh, yes I suppose I should just write the damn thing. I'm trying out the 'aiming for a market'. Obviously I've a way to go on that

Thanks guys.

Click to expand...

Regarding Henry (1991) is a movie with Harrison Ford and Annette Benning that might help you with your plot. I'm only suggesting this tearjerker because it shows how a married couple has grown apart and comes back together again.

Write4U2 said:

Regarding Henry (1991) is a movie with Harrison Ford and Annette Benning that might help you with your plot. I'm only suggesting this tearjerker because it shows how a married couple has grown apart and comes back together again.

Click to expand...

Excellent suggestion! Wish I'd've remembered it. It's probably the best acting job Harrison Ford has ever done. Love that movie.

IdiotsRUs said:

Any ideas on how I could deal with this? I'm not really up on romance conventions, and I don't think I've read one where the couple start off together, then part then get back together. .

Click to expand...

I've read a lot of romance novels, but I'm having a hard time thinking of one where the story starts when they together. Most start the story after they have split up and it focuses on how they get back together again. The reader does get the story of WHY they split up in there somewhere.

Have you ever been to the site All About Romance? They have some very devoted readers, who may be able to point you in the direction of a few books that start the way you describe.

Also I'm unsure whether this would count as fantasy romance or fantasy with romantic elements. The romance is (hopefully ) going to be fairly strong, but it's not the ball and end all of the book.

Click to expand...

Try to think in percentages. Is the story 60% fantasy/40% romance? Then it's fantasy with romantic elements. 40% fantasy/60% romance? Then it's fantasy romance. You probably won't know until the story is written (or a big chunk of it anyway.)

Good luck!

There are some books, called "Marriage in Jeopardy" plots that are like what you suggest.

But...make sure you have a strong internal conflict for them. Not just that the war seperates them.

One of the Super eds told one of the Super authors not that long ago that Marriage in Jeopardy books hadn't been doing well for Super.

But...if you head into Women's Fiction, it might be better received out there.

And I think it's a GOOD THING to know what you're trying to write while you're trying to write it. Makes it easier to stay within the "lines" then.

Susan G.

Thought of another film: The War of the Roses, Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner.

You talk about conflict!!! Whoooo!

IdiotsRUs said:

Actually I had thought of Jewel in the Nile ( Douglas and Turner again, those two were fantastic together weren't they) as a sort of similar thing

Thing is it's a possible second in a series. The first deals with their original romance etc, ofc. Now if the second goes to plan ( ie Someone has expressed an interest in the first as the start of a series, so it might actually get sold) it might just possibly be published by a romance house as a sequel--hence my problem. There could be some good internal conflict in the kids thing. It's very dangerous for her to have any....but he hasn't told her that yet, he just keeps putting it off. The fact they are on opposite sides of a religious war might help too.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions guys. I've got a good weekend of viewing ahead of me. I don't know how the Old Man's going to take all the romance lol.

Click to expand...

Ah....if the second book deals with a separation, it's not technically a "romance novel"--that is, based on the parameters of the genre. Romance readers don't like the thought of the h/h who got their HEA in bk 1 having their marriage in jeopardy in Bk 2. This sounds like mainstream/mainstream historical fiction--or if the majority of the character arc is told from the heroine's POV, it's women's fiction.

DeleyanLee said:

Excellent suggestion! Wish I'd've remembered it. It's probably the best acting job Harrison Ford has ever done. Love that movie.

Click to expand...

Oh, this IS prime example!

Don't write for the market.
Tell the story. Get so wrapped up in the story that YOU cry, YOU laugh, and you can't wait to get to the keyboard whenever your writing time is. If you write for the market, you're not really entertaining the audience with a great story...you're simply providing a formula. Blech!

I think you have a fabulous premise, AND something that most shy away from....but do some research. I've been married 20 years...he's my best friend and my worst enemy...there's a comfort of sorts, after all these years, but I've seen my brother in laws relationship--same length of time--dissolve in a way that she lives in another country & only flies home for certain holidays. Talk about the need to rekindle...

Anyhooo, tell the story that's in your heart...and avoid the cliches of usual suspects that are obvious reasons for couples to become separate in their lives...reach for something not so obvious....

Oh oh oh...rent On A Clear Day.
Hysterically funny...but it will also show an older married couple and how they're very much in love with one another...yet in some ways are strangers...though he can go to the fridge in the morning, and even after a night of arguing, she's made sandwiches for him to take along wherever the day will take him...there's those old habits or routine...great movie to watch for characterization of married couples that aren't silly newlyweds...

This doesn't sound like most romances.

On the other hand, it sounds like a lot of women's fiction.