Bronwyn Jameson ~ Romance Author

Characters, Conflict and a Believable HEA (happy ever after)

(Notes from my workshop presented to the Melbourne Romance Writers Group, Feb 2005.)

What makes a satisfying end to a romance? What leaves you with a smile on your face, convinced the characters have achieved a lasting happy-ever-after?

Satisfying resolution of internal conflict.
Plot has a believable resolution.
You believe the hero and heroine will make it together, even after the consuming heat of first love has cooled.

What works against this happening? Why would you doubt that the h/H will be happy together and not facing the divorce court in a couple of years' time?

The I hate you-I hate you-I hate you, swiftly followed by the I-love-you about face without sufficient motivation/credibility
The relationship is all about lust rather than love
They have nothing in common beyond a mutual physical attraction
They haven't resolved the conflict satisfactorily
They still have issues
They haven't changed or grown during the book.

In a romance we need the reader to believe that this pair has something very special going on, that despite all the conflict pushing them apart during the pages of the book, they will make it. And yet…if we make that too obvious, too early, we risk diminishing the tension.

How do we set up a believable HEA without sacrificing tension?

We need to recognise that this is a juggling act of conflict vs attraction. We need to acknowledge that our characters will clash and will bond. We can think about the points or road-signs only the rocky path to love.

Ensure your characters clash (conflict) and bond.

This is a lesson I learned from Heroes and Heroines - Sixteen Master Archetypes where suggestions are provided for how each pair of archetypes might bond and clash. This is something I work out for my characters in the story planning stage. In the books I write, I need there to be plenty of spark between the hero and heroine, and not only based on external plot or conflict. BUT to create a believable HEA, I also like to know their common grounds.

Taking an example from The Ruthless Groom (book # 3 in my Princes of the Outback trilogy):

Alex and Zara clash/conflict:

she craves independence and a career after delaying her medical studies to nurse her mother through a debilitating illness; he not only wants a marriage and family, he needs a baby to fulfill his father's dying wish
she has secrets that would lead to scandal, secrets she has vowed to protect; he is a high-profile personality (Princes of the Outback) and all his relationships provide instant tabloid fodder
he thinks marriage should be based on similar interests, leading to a nice, solid, stable relationship; she would only marry for passionate, intense, can't-live-without-you love

Alex and Zara bond:

both are strong, athletic and competitive; they acknowledge, understand and respect this in each other
recognition of a common sense of humor leads to instant attraction
both have a notorious mother (which lead to scandals in the past) and a birth father who had no part in their upbringing - this means they understand a lot about each other on a level that doesn't require talk (they work it out quickly). Because of the circumstances in their past, each has a fierce protective love of their mother which motivates some of their current choices.

Exercise: think about the hero and heroine of your wip - write 3 points on which they clash, and 3 on which they bond. (NB: 3 is an arbitrary number - your particular characters may have more areas in which they bond and/or clash.)

Your homework is working out how to incorporate both some points of conflict and some points of bonding into your story. To help that along, we're going to talk about - and think about - how we can show the bonding points, in particular, because I think that is something we overlook in the pursuit of strong conflict. (or at least I do!)

That said, conflict is often times the starting point of the relationship between your hero and heroine. That may be the external conflict, but it's often what creates the compelling beginning to drag the reader into the story. But, along the way the reader needs to see change and growth in their relationship, gradually, in little steps, which may include both give and take. Things get better, things get worse, things get better, things get MUCH worse, before they're ever close to the HEA.

Along the way we need to show:

Conflict, the kick-off point
Attraction - the spark of awareness, the special intensity that is recognized and which makes the conflict far worse that it otherwise would have been
Respect - this may start out reluctant or begrudging, but at some point there needs to be recognition and acceptance of the other's good qualities (even though the conflict is still there.) This may be as simple as our heroine thinking, he's not ALL bad. Or our hero deciding, she's still a PITA, but she's smart and gutsy and I can't help liking those qualities.

Can you see how our characters' attitude can start to change? How this might challenge a character's perceptions and influence his/her choices? This doesn't have to happen for both characters at once or in this order e.g. best friends have respect and liking for each other from the start, before the conflict, before the change in thinking that leads from best-friends to love.

Another point to ponder: sometimes the reader will see that growing respect before the character is prepared to see and admit it.

Trust - to create a believable resolution and HEA, I submit that our hero and heroine need to trust each other. How can you demonstrate trust in your book? Is it stronger for one character to decide, in introspect: I trust him now? Or is it better to show that trust by sharing a secret or admitting a weakness -- something he/she has never shared with another person or perhaps even admitted to themselves?

Trust is about taking a risk on the other person, about exposing a vulnerability, about giving without any expectation of reward. And it sure does help if this crucial scene develops naturally from the plot, from character growth, from cause and effect. You do not want the reader thinking: now why the blazes is she telling him that?!

This can be a very useful tool when you're planning your book's emotional climax. Think about how powerful and emotional and all-is-lost your black moment could be if that admission, that secret, comes back and bites them on the butt.

Acknowledgement of love - This may be an admission only to oneself, not shared with the other character, but even so it can be tricky in terms of maintaining tension. If the character acknowledges love, you may need this to make matters worse between your protagonists, not better.

Demonstration of love - (which is what happens in the resolution.) Notice the use of the term "demonstration" rather than admission. The reason, once again, is the power of show over tell. Yes, it's always lovely to read a lyrical and moving declaration of love, but think about the power of showing that love. Think about the power of sacrifice. This demonstrates the character's change and growth. It may not come to anything - it can just be a willingness to give up something of vital importance that provides the winning final touch.

Example:

At the end of The Ruthless Groom, Alex doesn't care about the scandal of marrying Zara. And in the final scene, when he proposes marriage, he says he will move his home, his office, to another city so Zara can finish her studies there, if that's what she wants. That offer, that willingness to sacrifice, is enough because it shows his change/growth and is a demonstration of how much being with her and her happiness, her goals, mean to him. This follows his disclosure of a vulnerability he's never admitted to anyone- the reason why he's afraid of passion; why he's been looking for a nice, safe, stable relationship. To Zara, those two key points mean more than any declaration of love. He has shown he means it; hopefully the reader, like Zara, will believe they belong together, that they have earned their happy-ever-after.

References:

Heroes and Heroines - Sixteen Master Archetypes - Tami D Cowden, Caro LaFever, Sue Viders

ISBN 1580650244

From Lust to Love - Tami Cowden, Caro LaFever

RWA Conference Tape RW7-61