Story Structure Architect

FROM EVER AFTER:

DANIELLE: You, sir, are supposed to be charming.

PRINCE HENRY: And we, princess, are supposed to live happily ever after.

DANIELLE: Says who?

PRINCE HENRY: You know, I don’t know.

NARRATOR: My great-great-grandmother’s portrait hung in the monastery up until the Revolution. By then, the truth of the rumors had dissolved into a simple fairy tale. And, while Cinderella and her prince did live happily ever after, the point, gentlemen, is that they lived.

The Romance plot structure is defined as having a structure around two Main Characters who are falling in love. This structure focuses on the content of the structure rather than on structure design.

Make no mistake about it—romantic fiction is the hottest thing around, accounting for over 56 percent of all paperback fiction sold. While some may look down on this type of storytelling, it is by far the most lucrative market out there. In fact, many men write these novels under a female pen name.

Even action stories contain a romantic theme, so don’t hesitate to take the structures presented here and use them as a subplot. Analyzing the top three romantic fairy tales—Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty—will teach you firsthand how to structure the Romance plot. Fairy tales are universal, just as archetypes are.

In the Cinderella Romance structure, the heroine falls in love with the hero first and is left at his mercy, so to speak, even if she is an independent woman at heart. Her actions are centered on the one she loves and whether or not he will love her back. Very often these stories focus on the hero and how he’s feeling. Hamlet and Ophelia come to mind.

• RAGS TO RICHES: The character gets her due against all obstacles. She goes from a place of longing and dissatisfaction to a place of abundance and happiness. She’s earned it.

• ROMANTIC RESCUE: The character saves his partner from self-destruction, or he needs to be saved or nursed back to health himself.

• We meet the hero and learn about his unhappiness or about his cynical look at life.

• We meet the heroine and see how desperate her life situation is. We also learn how exceptional she is as compared to other women.

• He is skeptical and unsure of their relationship. He may try to send her away.

• He realizes he loves her, too, but obstacles and uncertainty keep them apart.

• He teaches her a little about love and life. She’s had it tough until now.

In the Beauty and the Beast Romance structure, the hero falls in love with the heroine first and is left at her mercy. The story often focuses on how the heroine is feeling. The hero is usually an extremely powerful man in every area of his life except where she is concerned. Very often his whole life depends on her decision to love him back and save him from his meek existence. The Phantom of the Opera comes to mind.

• INDEPENDENCE: The character desires someone different than the people she has previously dated or desires someone completely different from herself. She wants a life change and needs someone who is already where she wants to go.

• LOVE VS. HONOR: This theme concerns what the character wants to do vs. what she feels she should do while considering others’ needs and her duty to her family. There is a major obstacle in her relationship and she needs to learn to value her own needs. This fits well with paranormal stories, as the hero is usually otherworldly and “normal” people and family members may not accept her relationship with him.

• An obstacle or chance meeting brings her in contact with the hero. He seems rough around the edges and is often a loner.

• The hero immediately falls in love with her for who she is, not just her looks.

• He does something so wonderful, thoughtful, or protective that she starts to fall in love with him.

In the Sleeping Beauty romance structure, both the heroine and hero fall in love at the same time, which puts them on equal footing. They save each other through their mutual love. Romeo and Juliet comes to mind, though the ending is tragic.

• LOVE CONQUERS ALL: The character needs someone to help him gain the courage to face himself and his inner demons so he can heal (for example, the hero has a drug addiction). There’s a tug between desire for the love of his life and a fear of commitment. Other things try to take precedence over the relationship.

• SECOND CHANCES: The character tries to recapture his lost love and wants to go back to a specific time in his life when things were better. This love is a chance to recapture what he is missing in his life.

• The innocent heroine is a victim of fate. There’s a stain on her perfect world.

• She either feels lost and alone, with no hope for anything better, or she doesn’t even know there is a problem yet, but she still feels sad.

• The wandering hero, who feels like something is missing, goes about his life.

• Something catches the hero’s eye and he decides to go after it, taking a big risk.

• Both of their lives are completely changed by this love. They are two completely different people than they were in the beginning of the story.

• They fall deeper in love and make their plans, regardless of what others think.

• They are determined to be together regardless of the cost. And they live happily ever after.

There is still a sense of a clear three-act beginning, middle, and end to Romance Structure because it is the content that is specific here:

This Structure is character driven, as it is the love and relationship between the two Main Characters that drives the story forward.

The reader wants to meet the lovers as soon as possible, even if it takes a while for the hero and heroine to meet each other.

The hero or heroine needs to have a serious problem or goal that has the capacity to involve the other one in it. For example, he’s a fireman and someone keeps setting her shop on fire.

If the lovers fall in love right away, there must be a great feasible obstacle to keep them apart from either each other or from being happy together.

If the lovers don’t fall in love right away, they can be their own obstacles to love. For example, he’s afraid to commit right now.

• Do they go from falling in love at first sight to a series of chaste dates and then marriage?

• What are the moral standards you live by? Do you want to write sex scenes that border on erotica? (When writing Romance you need to decide what your philosophy is. Think about it, make a decision, and then you will feel more comfortable as you write.)

A Task or Situation may force them to be together, especially if one party is not interested in the other. It is the glue that keeps them together when they may not have chosen to stay together. For example, they sit on a committee together, they work for the same company, or they have both been robbed by the same person.

If the lovers are not sure about each other, many of the obstacles will come from the lovers themselves. For example, she’s unsure so she lets her family talk her out of seeing him.

If the lovers want to be together but can’t, the obstacles will come from the lovers themselves and other characters. Why can’t they be together? Make it believable. Unless they are in jail or something like that, they can make the choice to be together regardless of what is going on in their lives. For example, he can quit his job if it interferes with the relationship. She can leave her family if they are stopping her from being with him. So tell us why they won’t.

If the lovers are together but can’t find peace, the obstacles will come from the plot. For example, someone is chasing after them and they are on the run. Or they are of different races and the racist neighbors won’t leave them alone.

• Will the reader like both lovers? Are they larger than life or real, everyday people?

In romantic fiction the lovers are always together in the end “living happily ever after.” If not, you are writing a more melodramatic piece.

Many of these stories involve traditional family values where the heroine desires children in the end. But this is changing as more people are deciding to either not have children at all or to wait until they are much older to have them. Different cultures hold different family values as well as different ideas of what love is, so do research here.

It is very important for the heroine to be at least somewhat heroic in the end, even if she is rescued. The audience for this type of fiction demands it.

• Why do we care if these two get together or not? Have you made it personal? Did you tell us why they should be together?

After many years of sleeping in his coffin, the vampire Lestat awakens to find that the world has changed and he wants to be a part of it. He gathers a following and becomes a rock star. Yet he is still lonely and depressed with his life—until he meets Jesse.

During the French and Indian War in colonial America, a white scout and two of his Indian brothers help escort two women through dangerous territory. The white scout falls in love with one of the women, and their first kiss is electrifying.