Hey writerly friends!

Welcome back to Wonderforest for an extra mushy blog post, this week, in current faves! Today I’m giving you guys a list of my top ten mushy romantic songs to write to! (Aka songs I would probably play on my wedding day, tbh) These are all light-hearted, happy, and feel-good romantic songs to listen to, to pop in your ear buds, press play on the playlist and prepare to write some happy, mushy love scenes!

In no particular order, here are my top ten favorite love songs to write romance to:

“I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” by England Dan and John Ford Cole

I'm not talking 'bout movin' in

And I don't want to change your life

But there's a warm wind blowin' the stars around

And I'd really love to see you tonight

“Mine” -The 1975

There comes a time in a young man's life

He should settle down and find himself a wife

But I'm just fine 'cause I know that you're mine

“Signed Sealed & Delivered” - Stevie Wonder (Sylow Remix)

Here I am baby

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours

Here I am baby

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours

“It’s Not Living if it’s not with you” - The 1975

And all I do is sit and think about you

If I knew what you'd do

Collapse my veins wearing beautiful shoes

It's not living if it's not with you

“All Night” – Beyoncé

All night long, sweet love all night long

Sweet love all night long

Sweet love all night long

All I wanna, ain't no other

We together, I remember

Sweet love all night long

“I couldn’t be more in love” -The 1975

So what about these feelings I've got?

We got it wrong

And you said you had enough

What about these feelings I've got?

I couldn't be more in love

“Lover” Taylor Swift 

We could let our friends crash in the living room

This is our place, we make the call

And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

“I Wanna Be With You” - Lady Gaga (2019 Revamped Version)

I won't be right without you

And I might break without you.

I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and alone.

I'll write hit songs about you,

No matter how, we'll get through.

I'll keep on singing for a living,

But I wanna be in love.

And I wanna be with you.

I wanna be with you.

“Just a Step Away” - Carly Rae Jepsen

I’ll never let you down

And I’ll never go away

And if your ever feeling down

I’m just a step away

“All That” - Carly Rae Jepsen

I'll be the magic you'll ever see (ever see)

You can always rely on me

To help you do what you want to do

I wanna be the best you've ever known (ever known)

Just let me in your arms

Just let me in your arms

Show me if you want me

If I'm all that

I will be that

I will be your friend

Here’s the condensed list:

• “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” by England Dan and John Ford Coley

• “Mine” -The 1975

•  “Signed Sealed & Delivered” - Stevie Wonder (Sylow Remix)

• “It’s Not Living if it’s not with you” - The 1975

• “All Night” – Beyoncé

• “I couldn’t be more in love” -The 1975

• “Lover” - Taylor Swift 

• “I Wanna Be With You” - Lady Gaga (2019 Revamped Version)

• “Just a Step Away” - Carly Rae Jepsen

• “All That” - Carly Rae Jepsen

Some honorable mentions were:

• Anything by Carly Rae Jepsen (What can I say, she is a romantic lyrical genius and her pop vibe is everything.)

• “Every time we touch” by Cascada (The male version + slowed)

• “Moonlight” by Ariana Grande

•  “Fly Me To The Moon” - Frank Sinatra Remastered

Have you ever heard of these songs? Which is your favorite? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

—Payton

Hiya reader friends!

This week in bookish things, I am discussing my top five supernatural romance reads! If you’re tackling the Classic Romance Reading Challenge, then you might have to start this list after February has ended, but it’s definitely worth checking out!

Hush, Hush Saga by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush is a page-turner of a romantic thriller filled with fallen angels, Nephilim, and humans who are caught in the balance of forbidden love and the consequences angels face for falling for those humans. It’s fast-passed, action-packed, and well-balanced. Throw in compelling characters, villains you love to hate, and unfair universal rules, and you’ve got all of the elements of an amazing supernatural romance. It’s so perfect, I reread it ever single fall, and usually within a span of four days—one day for each book!

Nora finds forbidden love with her fallen angel, in the first installment of the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush Saga.

Nora Grey is responsible and smart and not inclined to be reckless. Her first mistake was falling for Patch.

Patch has made countless mistakes and has a past that could be called anything but harmless. The best thing he ever did was fall for Nora. .

After getting paired together in biology, all Nora wants to do is stay away from Patch, but he always seems to be two steps ahead of her. She can feel his eyes on her even when he is nowhere around. She feels him nearby even when she is alone in her bedroom. And when her attraction can be denied no longer, she learns the secret about who Patch is and what led him to her, as well as the dark path he is about to lead her down. Despite all the questions she has about his past, in the end, there may be only one question they can ask each other: How far are you willing to fall?.

The Hush, Hush Saga by Becca Fitzpatrick.

The Immortal Series by Gillian Shields

This was one of the very first books I’d ever read, and my first supernatural romance at that! The story revolves around Evie who is shipped off to Wyldcliffe Abbey School after her grandmother dies. She makes friends with some of the other girls and enemies with others. One her first day of school, her taxi driver only takes her so close to the school and she must make the rest of the way on foot. On her way, she runs into a spectral horserider who is surprised she can even see him in the first place. He realizes she looks strikingly familiar and the familiarity draws him closer to her. I’ve always loved these books, not only because it got me into supernatural romance, but because of the enchanting story kept between their pages.

Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness.

Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebellious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl—a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.

Gillian Shields's electrifying tale will dazzle readers with suspense, mysticism, and romance.

The Immortals series by Gillian Sheilds.

Angel Trilogy by L.A. Weatherly

This series hooked me from the moment I’d read the synopsis—I mean hello!—angels gone rogue!—what’s not to love? (Especially for a Hush, Hush fan girl) The story throws you right into the action from the first page to the last and the action rarely stops. The story is definitely a page-turner and an action-packed romantic thriller.

When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, a half-angel with links to dark and dangerous forces, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in a red-hot paranormal romantic trilogy, L. A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip — and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

The Angel Trilogy by L.A. Weatherly.

House of Night by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Take Oklahoma, Vampyres, highschool students, and forbidden romance, throw them all in a pot and stir them up and your get the House of Night series. Though I am only four books into the series, I can tell you know its fast-paced, action-packed, and filled to the brim with drama—both good and bad. As a fantasy enthusiast and Mythology buff, it was really refreshing to see the goddess Nyx done differently. In this story, she’s very much an active part of new, fledgling vampire, Zoey’s life and I love what P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast have done their twist on elements, mythology, and vampyres.

Enter the dark, magical world of the House of Night, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed.

One minute, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird is a normal teenager dealing with everyday high school stress: her cute boyfriend, Heath, the school's star quarterback who suddenly seems more interested in partying than playing ball; her nosy frenemy, Kayla, who's way too concerned with how things are going with Heath; her uber-tough geometry test tomorrow.

The next, she's Marked as a fledgling vampyre, forcing her to leave her ordinary life behind and join the House of Night, a boarding school where she will train to become an adult vampyre.

That is, if she makes it through the Change - and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends, and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.

Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint with Heath, who just doesn't know how to take no for an answer.

To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny - with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

The House of Night Series by Kristin and P.C. Cast.

The Darkest Powers Trilogy

One of the most gripping and thrilling supernatural reads from start to finish, The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong, centers around Chloe Saunders a 15-year old girl who’s life is about to change forever, from the first page of the novel. She likes the idea of being ordinary, only her life is far from it—she get shipped off to the Lyle group home after the label “schizophrenic” becomes synonymous with her own name and some unfortunate incidents. It’s up to her to unearth dark secrets and put together a past that will have readers running for the hills in terror.

"My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

"All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don't even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost - and the ghost saw me.

"Now there are ghosts everywhere, and they won't leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a 'special home' for troubled teens. Yet the home isn't what it seems. Don't tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on?

"It's up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House...before its skeletons come back to haunt me."

The Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong.

And that’s it for my top 5 Supernatural Romance Reads for February 2020! Have you ever read these stories? What do you think of this list? What is your favorite story mentioned here? Let me know your thoughts in the comments and as always, thanks for reading!

Further Reading:

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

Thumbnail photo by Jess Bailey.

—Payton

Hi writerly friends!

This week, in Freelancing, we’re talking about the dreaded love triangle. I know, I know, some of you are moaning and groaning about this, but what if I could tell you there is away to write the love triangle trope in such a way that won’t get you crucified by your readers? What if I told you not all love triangles are bad?

Okay, now you’re rolling your eyes.

But hear me out—the reason bad love triangles are bad is because they’re shallow and have no substance. The characters have no real connection with each other, the reader feels no real connection to the characters, and ever move they make is founded in shallow, superficial misbelief. With these kind of love triangles (most love triangles, if I’m being honest) is that everything is so painfully surface level.

Not only do the characters have no real connection to themselves or the reader, but they lack connection to their internal conflict as well. Everything is stagnant and predictable, and chances are, you’ve got it all figured out by page two. Who wants to read a book where they’ve got the love triangle figured out by page two? I certainly don’t, and I’m sure neither you nor your readers want to do so either. So, is there a way to actually make this plot device interesting? Is there a way to revolutionize the love triangle and breath fresh life into it? Yes. That’s why I’m going to show you the secret to a good love triangle (yes, it does exist). It all begins with know what NOT to do.

Don’t make your love triangle simple

Three friends enjoying an afternoon drink together. Photo by Helena Lopes.

Of course, usually, I would advise the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Sweetie) but this time I’m advising against it. The reason so many love triangles fall flat is because they’re too simple and predictable and the reader can figure it out by the end of the first page. This is old and well overplayed since most of the time we already know who the main character will end up with anyways. The reason it’s a love triangle and not a love line is because it’s supposed to be confusing, complicated, and challenging to the main character (remember the three C’s and you’ll be fine). And perhaps we should do away with love triangles altogether —a love web would probably be the better descriptor for what we’re shooting for, since a web is less linear and therefore lest predictable. Weave together plots and characters’ unique storylines, use suspense, character, pacing, rising and falling tension, and amp up the drama in your love story.

Allow the triangle to bring out the internal conflict

This pretty much applies to any genre or method of storytelling, but if something doesn’t challenge your characters, force them to fight for their desires, confront their fears and upend their entire life as they know it, then the reader will lose interest. Now, I don’t mean they have to go on some crazy big adventure, but whatever internal and external conflicts they are dealing with need to be meaningful, they need to matter, and they need to be able to shape your characters in a non-superficial way. Put your characters out of their comfort zone instead of simple asking “which one will she chose,” especially if by the end of page one, we already know which one she will choose.

Not only is this overdone and sooo predictable, but it’s devoid of the electricity that lights up a story—the internal conflict—when the protagonist is forced to confront their greatest fear, crush their misbelief about the world, and ultimately achieve their greatest desire all while developing as a character and delivering a powerful message to the reader. When it comes to story writing, everything happens for a reason, and therefore, the reader needs to know why something matters to the characters. If the reader doesn’t see why it matters to the characters, then they won’t see why it should matter to them.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret here: you can use any literary device in your story, no matter how cliché or overdone it is, so long as it directly engages with the main characters inner conflicts, brings them to a fear versus desire decision and forces them to reckon with despair before reaching their aha moment that will bring their character development full circle. That’s right, any device. You’re welcome.

If the external conflicts are continuously forcing your character closer to their internal conflict, then you’re doing it right. Additionally, if the other characters are doing the same thing—being forced to confront their internal conflict—then using a love triangle would make so much more sense not only are the external forces at play here, but everyone’s messy emotions and tangled inner conflicts should be at play as well. Consider how your love triangle can cause all of your characters to either confront their fears or run from them?

Make the love triangle a catch 22 for the protagonist

For the most part love triangles should really only be used to force your characters to make a decision they otherwise would shy away from and force your readers to feel for the characters in said sticky situation. Anyone who reads and enjoys the trope will tell you they aren’t reading it because it’s realistic—in fact I’ve venture to guess most of us never have and never will find ourselves in such a predicament but it’s the ability to put ourselves in another’s shoes and feel for them and the tough decisions they have to make that makes the love triangle work.

However, their decision really has to mean something to the character. It needs to be an ultimatum for them, and it needs to really holds weight for it to resonate with your readers. It cannot simply be “which person will I chose”.

no.

No.

NO.

Three college students standing on campus. Photo by Alexis Brown.

The stakes just aren’t high enough and pressure for the reader to stay invested isn’t painful enough in this case. It goes way deeper than that—it goes all the way to your protagonist’s deepest fear and greatest desire.

Ask yourself these questions before using the love triangle

There are a few questions to ask yourself before writing the love triangle. It might take you a while to come up with the answers for these but trust me, it will make writing convincing, compelling, and challenging situations for your character much easier and you will better understand how the love triangle is directly linked to the characters internal conflicts. Additionally, your readers will be so engrossed in your story, they won’t even notice that you’ve just revolutionized one of the most hated tropes of all time. 

Here are the questions:

• What is my protagonist’s inner conflict and how did it lead them into this love triangle?

• If they’re being honest with themselves, the real reason they’re stuck in this love triangle is because_________?

• How does this love triangle cause all three characters to face their fears?

• What would it take for the protagonist to overcome their fear and make the right choice?

• How high are the stakes and how hot is the fire beneath the protagonist’s feet to make a decision?

Answer those questions and you’ll know how to link the internal conflict and the love triangle in a meaningful way. Trust me when I say, as long are you’re drawing on the internal conflict, you can’t go wrong and the reader certainly will be invested. It’s all in the way you play with the protagonist’s greatest desire and deepest fears.

And that’s it for my guide on how to do love triangles the right way. I know, unpopular opinion, but I think they can be done, and well, I might add. I think the reason we’ve seen so many badly written love triangles, is because it’s a plot device (something used to drive the plot) and instead writers are using it as a surface-level element. Over the years, we’ve forgotten how to really use this device effectively and that’s why it had gotten to exhausting and boring to read over and over again.

Anyways, that’s it for this week’s post in Freelancing. I hope you enjoyed reading this and if the guide helped you better your love triangle game, let me know in the comments below! Don’t forget to like and sign up for my email newsletter to get awesome, actionable writing advice straight to your inbox each month! As always writerly friends, thanks for reading!

Further reading:

• How To Write The Perfect Meet Cute

• How To Write Best Friends to Lovers Romance - That Feels Realistic

• The Top 10 Worst Romance Tropes EVER

• 5 Supernatural Romance Reads for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

—Payton

Hi reader friends!

Welcome back, and if you’re new, thanks for dropping by! If you don’t know, here in the Bookish Things category on my blog, we talk about all things books, from books, reading challenges, author interviews and more!

This week, we’re talking about 5 Awesome Contemporary Romances to Read in February 2020! I decided to put a little twist on this reading challenge, by making each of these five a lesser-known read. We’ve got to share some love with the amazing reads that didn’t make it mainstream too, you know.

I’ve selected books from all sorts of writers and demographics with varying degrees of steaminess, so everyone is sure to find something great to read! (I can’t deny that the common theme with this selection is that of fine arts. What can I say? As both a reader and an artist, I love some good writing about ballet and painting!) Let’s hit the books! (not literally)

First Position by Melissa Brayden

🔥🔥🔥

Anastasia Mikhelson is the rising star of the New York City Ballet. She’s sacrificed creature comforts, a social life, as well as her own physical well-being for perfection in dance. Even her reputation as The Ice Queen doesn’t faze her. Though Ana’s at the peak of her career, competition from a new and noteworthy dancer puts all she’s worked for in jeopardy.

While Natalie Frederico has shown herself to be a prodigy when it comes to ballet, she much prefers modern dance and living on her own terms. Life is too short for anything else. However, when the opportunity to dance with the New York City Ballet is thrust upon her, it’s not like she could say no. Dealing with the company’s uptight lead is another story, however. When the two are forced to work side-by-side, sparks begin to fly onstage and off.

—Melissa Brayden, First Position

This critical and adoring review of First Position, sums up the subject matter, the writing style, and the quality of the work, and I couldn’t agree more!

100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons🔥

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So, he comes back. Again, and again, and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.

—Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

Glitterland by Alexis Hall 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on love, hope, happiness, and—most of all—himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations.

Then a chance encounter at a stag party throws him into the arms of Essex boy Darian Taylor, an aspiring model who lives in a world of hair gel, fake tans, and fashion shows. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he cooks a mean cottage pie and makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety.

But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can’t see past the glitter to the light. Can a man who doesn’t trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can a man who doesn’t believe in happiness ever fight for his own?

—Alexis Hall, Glitterland

Blossom in Winter by Melanie Martins🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

If you haven’t seen my blog post in Bookish Things, “Author Interview: Melanie Martins” then you might not know I love this book! I devoured all 391 pages in less than two days because I literally could not put the darn thing down! (Who needs to work, anyway, right?) At least that’s what you’ll be thinking when you pick this book up. It’s fast-paced romantic thriller that is completely wild from start to finish. Don’t take it from me, here though, check out my Goodreads review that says it all.

Petra, a seventeen-year-old Dutch-American and the only heir of finance tycoon Roy Van Gatt, has always had her life rigorously planned and supervised by her strict father. From her internship at his hedge fund firm on Wall Street to her degree in economics at Columbia University, Petra is all set for a bright future in finance.

But everything falls apart when she develops a dangerous relationship with her father’s business partner and utmost confidant, Alexander Van Dieren. A Dutch nobleman, known as an unrepentant heartbreaker, twenty-three years her senior, and who is, above all else, her beloved godfather.

A twisted obsession for some, unconditional love for others, but one thing is sure: it’s a relationship that might cost them everything...

—Melanie Martins, Blossom In Winter

Roomies by Christina Lauren

🔥🔥🔥

For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating music performed by her street musician crush. Lacking the nerve to actually talk to the gorgeous stranger, fate steps in one night in the form of a drunken attacker. Calvin Mcloughlin rescues her, but quickly disappears when the police start asking questions.

Using the only resource she has to pay the brilliant musician back, Holland gets Calvin an audition with her uncle, Broadway’s hottest musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until his reason for disappearing earlier becomes clear: he’s in the country illegally, his student visa having expired years ago.

Seeing that her uncle needs Calvin as much as Calvin needs him, a wild idea takes hold of her. Impulsively, she marries the Irishman, her infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves and Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway—in the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting—will Holland and Calvin to realize that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

—Christina Lauren, Roomies

Further reading:

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

Thumbnail photo by Brigitte Tohm.

—Payton

Photo by Rodnae Productions.

Hey writerly friends!

Today, we’re talking about my absolute favorite type of romance and that is hate-to-Love romance. This is the kind of romance that buds in Becca Fitzpatrick’s romantic thriller, Hush, Hush. It’s the kind of romance where the story starts out with the couple-to-be hating each other before they come to realize they actually love each other. These types of stories start out with disgust, resentment, and hatred and end with the characters realizing they’re in fact, perfect for each other.

As you might imagine, a lot of character development has to happen between the beginning and the ending of hate-to-love romances for this change of heart to seem believable to the reader. Is it tricky to write? Yeah. But is it totally worth it? Yeaaaah!

Looking back on my own writing, I’ve noticed I use this trope a loooot and I really enjoy reading it too. I’ve also noticed a ton of other people really enjoy this trope as well and unsurprisingly, a few great examples of hate-to-love romances are Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. There are of course tons more of examples, but for the sake of this blog post, we’re going to discuss these two classics.

Although it rarely happens in real life, hate-to-love romance is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to write because it makes your story a thousand times more dynamic and interesting due to the big change of heart and the extensive character development that must take place to pull this kind of romance off. When done well, these kinds of stories are incredibly addictive and are hard for readers to put down.

So with my experience of writing and nerding out about hate-to-love romance, today I am going to show you how to craft a realistic-feeling and brilliant story arc that will take your characters from enemies to more-than-friends.

Step 1: Establish the reason for all the hate

First off, we have to establish why our MC’s hate each other. Whether they’ve hated each other for a long time, or they’re only just now meeting for the first time and aren’t exactly hitting it off, no one hates without a reason. Hate is the flip opposite of love and as such can be an equally strong feeling, therefore we need the reason behind it to be just as strong. What “hate” boils down to in this context is a negative judgement one character makes about another based on their misbelief or perspective.

So, what negative judgments do your character make about each other?

Matthew Macfadyen as Mr.Darcy and Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth Benet in Pride and Prejudice (2005).

Let take Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for example, where Elizabeth first meets Mr. Darcy and is immediately put off by his palpable pride and arrogance, not to mention his miserable expression and on the other hand, we have Mr. Darcy who can describes the laughing, and lighthearted Lizzie as “barely tolerable” and is repelled by her family and their lack of propriety. It’s definitely not a smooth start to one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Bad impressions are usually the root of all dislike. When we don’t know someone, we try decide whether or not we should trust them and when they display any sign of being unlikable in our eyes, our brains, and hearts are quick to judge.

Writing exercise: The First Meeting

If you’ve never written the first meeting of you MC’s into their backstory (even if it doesn’t show up in the actual story) I highly, highly recommend doing so. Write out the scene, feel the tension, and get to know the reason for their disliking each other like the back of your hand. I’m serious. Write out the scene start-to-finish and fully understand what their reason for hating each other is and trust me, once you do you will have a much easier time writing about them and their mutual dislike of one another.

Step 2: Who hates who?

Relationships, even ones hewn from hate are usually a lot more than just “we hate each other.” As you can imagine from the first step, there is so much more tension and conflict boiling under the surface. What if it’s much deeper than that—what if the bad feeling isn’t exactly mutual? What if person A hates person B but person B is in love with person A? That makes for a much more tense, more conflicting love story, especially if they end up together after all. Talk about drama! The plot thickens, my writerly friends, the plot thickens!

Although this is still hate-to-love romance, this kind of imbalance throws a monkey wrench into an otherwise simply romantic relationship and is one of my absolute favorite tropes to write because you can throw in all kinds of twists and turns that will throw off the reader while they’re concerned with the almost tangible tension of the main characters.

Megan Follows as Anne Shirley and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables (1985).

Let’s take Anne of Green Gables, for example. The two main characters, Anne and Gilbert get too pretty bad first impressions of each other when he teases her on her first day of school and she breaks a writing slate over his head. Yeah, not a good first impression, guys. Not good at all. However, what Anne doesn’t realize is that Gilbert actually likes her, despite his boyish teasing and their competitive relationship that follows that first encounter. He likes her fiery spirit and determination to better him and the reader quickly becomes swept up in their relationship because they want to know what kind of change of heart will happen to these two dynamic and opposing characters.  But you know what they say about opposites attracting, right ? What happens when they both change their minds about each other? Then, my friends, we have a wonderfully romantic mess on our hands.

Step 3: The Middle-Ground of Friendship

Thirdly, DO NOT forget the halfway point between love and hate, friendship. Nothing will make your hate-to-love romance seem unrealistic more so than leaving out this key story arc. You must, must, must have this to make a flawless and believable transition between your characters hating and loving each other. A change of heart never comes suddenly. It’s not an overnight thing; it happens over time. I like to think of it like the alphabet; between A and Z there are twenty-four other letters that act as steppingstones for the characters to bridge the gap and experience the change of heart needed for any good hate-to-love romance. Use these other letters, these other moments that take place in the middle-ground to make the hate-to-love transition believable to your readers. This time is great for building your character’s friendship or forcing them to make do with “we don’t know what this is and we’re getting along, but it’s weird.”

Step 4: Let the Change of Heart Go Unnoticed

This makes for an extremely effective hate-to-love transition, especially when the character’s themselves are unaware of it, even if the reader can tell what is going on.

For example, at the end of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth asks Mr. Darcy when he started to fall in love with her and he replies:

“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Ugh, can I just??

See, even Mr. Darcy didn’t know the exact moment he’d fallen in love with Elizabeth.

Step 5: Let Your Characters Resist Love

Chances are your characters have been hating each other for a long time, whether in the backstory or over the course of your own novel, and anything new, unfamiliar, or different will likely scare them. They’ve been hating each other for all this time and now, romance and love are uncharted waters for these people. Chances are that when they first feel love after hating each other so long, they’re not going to admit they were wrong right away and start loving each other—no, they’ll probably experience some friction. They’ll likely be thinking, “Eww, is this what emotions are like? Get it off of me!” or something to that effect.

This adverse effect to the change in heart that occurs in hate-to-love romance is what makes this trope so enjoyable and often comical. The psychological side of it is that we often resist any type of change, especially changes in heart from enemies to friends and more. When our hard-won beliefs are challenged, our first instinct is to dig our heels in even deeper and resist the new emotions. What happens to the characters in these critical turning points is they are experiencing three key emotions that we absolutely must dive into and that’s a) vulnerability, b) fear, and c) desire for comfort. The characters, just like us, are afraid to step out of their comfort zone and into uncharted waters. They’re afraid to try new things, feel new emotions, and welcome change of any kind, and the character should display these feelings of resistance in your hate-to-love story as well.

Of course, their attempts to stay on the warpath are  futile and both you and your reader knows this. However, you have to at least let them try. Give them some time to wallow in these misguided, resisting emotions and allow them to grow from it. If your characters caved to the first shred of affection they felt from their nemesis, then your readers won’t be please, I can tell you that much.

Megan Follows as Anne Shirley and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables (1985).

Let’s go back to Anne of Green Gables, shall we? It takes Anne a lot of time and introspection to realize she does indeed have feelings for Gilbert. She has to swallow the hard pills of her pride and stubbornness and come to grips with the fact that she was wrong all this time—not an easy realization for anyone.

Of course, your characters’ hate-to-love story will be unique to them—but how they handle the transition and how it shapes them and effects them as the story progresses—that’s what the story is truly about.

That’s it for my 5 Tips for Creating Irresistible Hate-to-Love Romance. What do you think of these tips? Do you enjoy reading or writing hate-to-love, or both? What are some of your favorite hate-to-love novels or films? Let me know in the comments below!

Further reading:

• How To Write The Perfect Meet Cute

• How To Write Best Friends to Lovers Romance - That Feels Realistic

• The Top 10 Worst Romance Tropes EVER

• 5 Supernatural Romance Reads for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

—Payton

Hi writerly friends!

Welcome back! This week, we’re talking about five heart-warming and 5 heart-wrenching scenes to write into your romance novel! I can’t remember where I first heard of writing different/alternate scenes to get you unstuck from a difficult scene, but I figured I’d put my own spin on it! You don’t actually have to include these in your story but they’re excellent writing prompts to set within the realm of your own story and it makes a great writing exercise if you’re stuck in the middle of a scene.

Lock them up ❤️😂

While this sounds more like a heart-wrenching scene, I have seen some pretty funny scenes come out of characters being locked in a room with one another. Consider what dialogue you could use here and how this memory will help build their character prior to the story.

Kill someone 💔

I don’t mean literally! But kill your characters to see how their leaving the story changes the outcome. Consider how the other characters would react if the main character died. How would the story go from there? How would it ever get told?

Photo by Rodolfo Clix.

I wouldn’t exactly do this if the story its told in first person and in the POV of the character you chose to kill, but consider how the story would be different if he remaining characters had to carry the story to completion after the death of your MC.

What could go wrong? ❤️😂

As yourself this question when writing a scene you’re stuck in the middle of and then write exactly what can go wrong. I did this in one of my short stories and it worked wonders. This is especially great for best-friends-to-lovers stories where comical situations only bring the friendship even closer.

Their pet escaped 💔

This can go either really well or really badly depending on how you write it. Pretend as if of your characters pet has escaped and they enlist the help of their best friend of love interest to rescue it. This can come out very Cheetah Girls, or dog runs away for good. The point of this is to put your characters in an emotionally demanding situation to see how they’ll react under pressure.

It’s their wedding day ❤️

If you know two of your characters will end up together, write out their wedding day down to all of the nitty gritty details like dress sizes, color palettes, types of flowers, menu and everything in between. Vividly write it out and include the character’s stress of trying to have a perfect wedding day along with the immense joy of getting married to their soulmate.

Kidnapped or runaway? 💔

Write an entire chapter where your main character gets kidnapped and its up to their friends, family, or love interest to find and rescue them. This can be an especially heart-wrenching scene if the kidnapper gives them a ransom or time limit. This can be an especially heart-warming scene if the character in question isn’t in fact kidnappe, but rather they run away and their love interest is the only one who can convince them to come back. If the love interest runs away with them to make sure they’re safe, it will be extra sweet!

They’ve been drugged ❤️😂

Again, this sounds like a heart-wrenching scene, but I promise, it’s not. Remember the part of Stranger things when Steve and Robin were drugged by the Russians and they were so loopy and useless to their friends? Write your characters into the exact same situation and see what kind of hilarious dialogue comes out of it and how they get to know each other better. One rule though, don’t re-watch Stranger Things until after you’ve done this so that you won’t accidentally plagiarize! Not cool!

They’ve been framed 💔

Write an entire scene where your main character just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and they were framed for a terrible crime in their hometown. Write everything from their emotions and thought process to how their friends and family would prove their innocence. If they have any enemies, write how they’d help stack the cards against them. If you want, you can even write them going to jail and document their experience.

Talent show contestants ❤️😂

Write your characters into a good old-fashioned high-school-style talent show. Write out their process for figuring out their talents and deciding what they’ll do for the show, the actual show, and everything afterward. Consider what would happen if they messed up on stage and if their friends or love interest would step in to save them from embarrassment, or if they’d run off stage, sobbing. What would it take your main character to win the talent show?

Dreams and nightmares 💔❤️

While this works for both heart-wrenching and heart-warming categories, write what kind of dreams your characters would have. Write about what their subconscious shows them and describe them in vivid detail. If they have nightmares, write the wild things they see and if they have happy dreams, show us what kind of dreams would make them stay in bed longer.

And that’s it for my five heart-warming and five heart-wrenching scenes to write when your stuck in the middle of a scene. What did you think of these prompts? Do you like writing about other scenes to get yourself unstuck? Are there any other prompts I could have included? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, thanks’ for reading!

—Payton

Hi writerly friends!

I’m back this week with another romance writing guide. Next week we’ll be discussing how to write believable hate-to-love romance, so I thought it’d be a great warm-up to show you guys how to writer believe best-friend-to-lovers romance. This is obviously a steppingstone and acts as the middle ground between enemies and more-than-friends in hate-to-love romance, so as you might expect, you can’t have one without the other.

However, your characters don’t always have to start out hating each other, they can indeed go from friends to lovers in a single story. Funnily for us, and embarrassingly for your characters and readers, it’s not exactly a straight shot, no—it’s a pretty rocky ride from best friends to lovers and it can be a tricky-to-write trope.

It’s unsurprising that the characters will have a bumpy time getting from one side to the other, as one is decidedly platonic and the other is decidedly romantic, and the transition from friends to lovers can be tough to read, even tougher to write, and often employs tons of awkward exchanges and cringe-worthy moments.

So, how do you write best-friends-to-lovers romance that is realistic and believable to the reader?

Step 1: Embrace The Weirdness

 As you might expect, writing best-friends-to-lovers romance stories is going to feel weird, because plot twist, going from best-friends to lovers is weird! Not unearthing any best kept secrets, her—everyone knows it’s a weird shift, especially if you’ve known each other since childhood. So, when writing this trope, don’t shy away from all the weirdness, awkwardness, and embarrassing, gross feelings that happen, because it’s completely natural and these feelings should be present in the story. In fact, the reader should be able to pick up on these feeling and feel weird about it too. Secondhand embarrassment is a thing, and it’s something we want our readers turning pages to get to a point in the story when everything makes sense again and the awkwardness has died down a bit.

However, don’t go so far as to make it unrealistic. Yes, at times the uncomfortableness of the transition should be almost palpable to the reader, but keep the balance between rising and falling tension so that readers stay on the edges of their seats and grit the teeth at all the right moments.

Step 2: Determine Whether the Love is Mutual or Unrequited?

Before we get into the story structure for this trope, ask yourself whether the love between your characters or if it’s unrequited. This is very important to how the story will play out and what choices your characters will make based on their emotions, especially towards the resolution. Both routes can be delicious and heart-wrenching in their own right but know which one you’re going to go with in your own writing, will make the process a lot easier.

Jonah Hauer-King as Laurie Lawerence and Maya Hawke as Jo March in Little Women (2017) Photo by PBS.

To make it easier to chose which path your story will take, I’m going to give you a couple of examples, the first being Little Women  by Louisa May Alcott, and the second being Emma by Jane Austen, (and no, I didn’t just pick these two because they involve someone being gifted a piano, but man isn’t that romantic?)

In Little Women, Laurie’s love goes unreturned when Jo tells him she never saw him as more than a friend. This sends him to Europe to avoid his heart break. When he returns after falling for Jo’s sister, being rejected again, and being inspired to do something with his life, he asks Jo to marry him. She rejects him again and ends up marrying someone else, but this story is a prime example of a best-friends-to-lovers romance that took a turn when the love was unrequited.

On the flip side, Emma, by Jane Austen Emma is startled to realize after everything, she is the one who wants to marry Mr. Knightly. When she admits her foolishness for meddling in the romances of others, he proposes, and she accepts. This is a great example of friends who become lovers where the love is returned.

Step 3: Follow The Structure

Alright, now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the parts of the BFTL story structure (at least that’s the acronym I’m giving it because that’s just way to much to type every time, sorry, not sorry.)

Whether or not you go by the 3-Act Story Structure, every best-friends-to-lovers romance typically follows this basic format:

• Foundation

• Set-up

• Aha moment

• Conflict

• Decision

• Resolution

• Foundation

The first part of the structure for this trope is the foundation, where we are introduced to all core story elements, characters, setting, premise and theme. Here, the reader will get to know what exactly the story they’re reading is.

Set-up

The second part of the structure is the set-up. This is where the meet cute would occur in romance, and for best-friends-turned-lovers romance, it is no different. Introduce the characters, their relationship at this point in the story, and begin laying the groundwork for the transition from best-friends to future lovers.

Click here to read my blog post for creating the perfect meet cute.

While your story might be set preceding or following the formation of your characters friendship, it is important to know how and when they became friends, because if they become lovers later on, this will be an important part in the evolution of their relationship.

Aha Moment

This part of the story is when the characters first realize they are in love with each other. If you chose to go with the unrequited love path, then here, they would learn that one likes the other and decide they don’t feel the same way in return. Consider what path you take for this part because it will really determine how the rest of the story plays out.

 Does the one who is rejected continue pursuing their friend romantically, or do they give up on the first try? Does the one who only views their friend platonically have a change of heart and end up with their friend after all? Is it a messy back and forth that never really ends with the two friends becoming lovers? Is the timing ever right? These are all important questions to ask yourself during the aha moment, because it directly drives the following course of the story.

Conflict

Remember the questions I just asked you in the aha moment section? Those questions should be asked and answered in the conflict of the story. Here we see the true feelings come out and the characters will understand the scope of the situation before them.

Decision

Saoirse Ronan as Josephine "Jo" March and Timothée Chalamet as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (2019). Photo by Wilson Webb .

In the decision part of the best-friends-to-lovers romance, readers will see what choice the characters make based on everything they know at this point and their emotions. They might decide to get together or break up as friends, for good. Everything that has happened has led to this moment and how they react will change the course of their friendship forever. If the love is unrequited, maybe they just stay friends, but it is likely things will be weird and they’ll have to go their separate ways, like Laurie and Jo in Little Women. Perhaps they do end up getting together and marrying with a happy ending such as Emma and Mr. Knightly in Emma.

Resolution

Where do your characters go from here? How does the friendship grow or die after the decisions are made? Is there room for growth as friends and lovers or have they done irreparable damage to a good thing? Unrequited love stories are especially juicy and heart-wrenching in the resolution.

And that’s it for my guide on how to write best-friends-to-lovers romance stories that are believable and realistic. What do you think of these types of stories? Did you like Little Women and Emma? Do you prefer writing mutual or unrequited love? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, thanks for reading!

Further reading:

• How To Write The Perfect Meet Cute

• How to Write Hate-To-Love Romance

• The Top 10 Worst Romance Tropes EVER

• 5 Supernatural Romance Reads for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

—Payton

Glen Powell as Charlie Young and Zoey Deutch as Harper in Set It Up. Gif by Payton Hayes.

Hello, writerly friends!

Today, we’re discussing the meet cute. What the heck even is a meet cute anyways? Well, according to Google, is an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them.

Of course, the way you do the meet cute is completely and totally up to you—it can be cute, funny, or disastrous and comical. How you do a meet cute is completely subjective and can be created in a number of ways, but today I am going to show you how to make a meet cute even cuter—like the cutest it could possibly be.

When the reader sees the meeting coming, characters do not

While you can craft a meet cute where both the reader and characters do not see it coming, I think it’s extra interesting when the reader does, because it’s like this little secret between the writer and the reader. I really love meet cutes that do this. It’s like the sense of rising dread you get when you’re reading parts of a story with building tension—except that it’s a good kind of dread because you want the characters to end up meeting. The reader knows something good will come out of this chance encounter, only they know it’s coming, and the characters do not.

Flinn is surprised when Rapunzel hits him with a frying pan during Disney’s Tangled’s meet cute (2010).

A great example of this kind of meet cute is in Disney’s Tangled, when Flynn Rider is running from the law and seeks refuge in Rapunzel’s conveniently hidden tower. We already know Rapunzel is inside and he definitely climbed up the wrong tower. The scene that follows does not disappoint, when Rapunzel smacks him in the face with a frying pan for climbing through her window. I would consider this a comical meet cute, but it works extra well because the viewer knows what will happen before the characters and it builds for extra spicy first meeting.

Joe Bradley wakes a sleeping Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953).

Another example of a meet cute where the viewer/reader knows of the meeting before the characters actually meet is Roman Holiday, when Princess Ann shirks her royal responsibilities to see Rome for herself and eventually ends up falling asleep on a street. When the scene shifts to Gregory Peck playing cards with the guys, viewers just know the two are going to meet. After his night out, we see him walking down the same street Ann has fallen asleep on and we’re already anticipating their meeting.

Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano and Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore in Gilmore Girls (2000).

Another example of a meet cute where the characters don’t know they’ll be meeting it is in Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 5. Not only does this episode include Jess' first appearance, but it's also the first episode that Rory and he meet. He steals her copy of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," only to return it to her later in the episode with notes in the margins because Ginsberg is love, you guys. Ah, Jess Mariano — you book thieving-and-annotating bad boy. When Jess swipes Howl from Rory’s room during that ill-fated dinner hosted by Lorelai, and then returns it filled with margin notes, Rory was definitely impressed. (And so were we.) This scene effectively sets up the characters before they even know each other, themselves and shows us that there’s more than meets the eye, both for the mischievous Jess and their tumultuous relationship down the line.

This kind of meet cute makes the reader feel smarter because they know something the characters don’t. This is why it feels like a special little secret between the reader and the writer because the reader feels like he or she has already figured the story out. This is especially effective if you have plot twists and turns later on in the story, because the ground work for the surprises will already be laid out for you.

Characters don’t know they’ll be seeing a lot of each other

Piggybacking on the idea that the characters don’t know they’ll end up together, another meet cute that works really well in many stories is when the characters don’t know they’ll be seeing a lot of each other and/or aren’t too thrilled about it. This is especially fun for awkward situations where the character thinks “oh well, I’ll never see them again anyways,” and then come to find out that they will be seeing them again, and a lot more at that. Awkward is cute, writers.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dido Elizabeth Belle and Sam Reid as John Davinière in Belle.

Pro tip: a sense of awkwardness or secondhand embarrassment is a fantastic feeling to give the reader. It’s as strong as , if not stronger than fear or desire, because its such a vulnerable emotion and it’s one we go out of our way to avoid. If you can invoke this in your reader, then congratulations, you’ve effectively written something that makes people feel.

A great example of this type of meet cute is in the movie Belle, when Dido and John run into each other on her late-night walk. She is startled at first when she finds that he actually came bringing news for her uncle and even more so when she discovers her uncle is John’s tutor and they’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.

Another example of this type of meet cute is in Jane Eyre when Jane first meets Mr. Rochester, he doesn’t tell her who he is, but later when she returns home, she recognizes his dog and realizes the true identity of the man she’d met on the road, earlier that day.

This kind of meet cute is really great because not only does it introduce a whole new level of awkward! but it also allows us to get to know the characters before they know each other and makes their relationship down the road, a lot cuter.

Irony, or something happening that would never happen later in the story

Megan Follows as Anne Shirley and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables (1985).

This is probably one of the most powerful, yet hard to pull off versions of the meet cute, but if you can nail it, it can prove for a really effective first meeting and adds dept to the relationship later. Using irony in your meet cute makes the meeting 100x better because when these two characters are in love some day and they look back on their relationship later, it will be so funny to look back and think about how ironic their first encounter really was.

One great example of the use of irony in a meet cute is in Anne of Green Gables when Anne Shirley breaks Gilbert Blythe’s slate over his head out of temper when he teases her repeatedly. This was a very effective and ironic meet cute because the two characters would never behave in such a way after they’d gotten together but it really makes for a memorable first meeting.

 “I've loved you ever since that day you broke your slate over my head in school." Oh Gil❤️

The second meeting is even more awkward

Okay, the only thing better than making your reader feel the palpable awkwardness is making them feel it twice! (Or three times if you’re gutsy enough!) This kind of meet cute is incredibly effective, especially if you tie it in with the first two where 1) only the reader knows they will meet and 2) they don’t know they’ll run into each other a lot more following the first meeting. This makes for a really, really strong meet cute where the characters and the reader are almost swimming the awkward emotions and the only way to move past it is to keep reading and see how it plays out.

The first meeting happens and once it’s over and done, you can bring it back around for the second meeting which is filled to the brim with potential for even more awkwardness, shyness, embarrassment and dramatic meet cute goodness!

An example of this meet cute is in Downton Abbey when Mary Talbot  and Matthew Crawley meet for the first time, she walks in on Matthew saying some offhanded things to his mother. He is talking about how he will likely be shoved into an arranged marriage with  one of the Talbot daughters since their parents had heard he was a bachelor. She says she hopes she isn’t interrupting anything but of course, that proves to be the case when they meet again later and its super awkward.

Callback to the meet cute

Megan Follows as Anne Shirley and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables (1985).

All of these are great ways to effectively nail the meet cute for your characters, but you get bonus points for bringing it back up later on in the story. It’s really fun to see the characters in love reflecting on their embarrassing first meeting and makes for a great treat for the reader. A callback is a really effective literary device where something happens in the beginning of the story and is later referenced towards the end of the story in another context, essentially calling it back to the reader’s memory.

Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann and Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley in Roman Holiday (1953).

Some particularly cute examples of this callback to the meet cute is in Anne of Green Gables when Gil calls her Carrot, endearingly, in Roman Holiday when Princess Ann says “So happy, Mister Bradley,” in reference to her muttering “So happy” in her sleep on the street, and in Jane Eyre when Mr. Rochester says, “You always were a witch” to Jane in reference to their very first meeting when he’d said “Get away from me, witch!”

These are just a few really well-done meet cutes and you’ll find it’s always the little things that make these meeting iconic, memorable, and downright adorable.

That’s it for the secrets to the perfect meet cute. Try using them all and let me know what you think. Do you prefer to use one version over another or do you like using them together? Do you ever call back to your meet cutes? What is the most important element of a meet cute? And what are some of your favorite meet cutes? Let me know in the comments below!

Further reading:

• How to Write Hate-To-Love Romance

• How To Write Best Friends to Lovers Romance - That Feels Realistic

• How To Write Love Triangles - The Right Way

• The Top 10 Worst Romance Tropes EVER

• 5 Supernatural Romance Reads for February 2020

• 5 Contemporary Romances Everyone Should Read

• Classic Romance Reading Challenge for February 2020

Thumbnail photo by Natalie.

—Payton

Photo by Nathan Dumalo.

Hi writerly friends!

Today we’re discussing Romantic Writing Retreats. What are these, you ask? Well, with most Romantic retreats, couples go off on a sort of mini-honeymoon to rekindle their love for one another and become acquainted with the romantic side of their relationship. However, since this is a romantic writing retreat, its going to go a little different. Of course, you can bring your partner, and kill two birds with one stone—not your partner, duh!—by revitalizing your romantic passion with each other, and renewing your passion for writing with this list of romantic writing retreats!

Photo by Valeriia Bugaiova.

Exotic getaway

Of course, staying in Thailand or Morocco is great, and if you can then by all means. But you don’t have to break the bank to have a refreshing and inspirational vacation. One way you can bring a little of the unknown into your writing space is to design your home with themed décor to match your destination or take a mini-staycation to a themed hotel. According to Daily Break, there’s at least 14 themed hotels to check out and they’re more entertaining than the local sights they’re build around. Unexpectedly, my favorite on the list is number 12, the Library Hotel Love Room in New York, New York, but unfortunately, I’d probably get more reading done there then actual writing, if I’m being honest.

The good thing about exotic getaways, mini-staycations, and mini-honeymoons as a writer is it gets you out of your everyday writing space and gives you a change to welcome new inspiration from your environment.

Writing in the woods

In a few weeks, I’ll have another blog post called “10 Rules for Writing in the Woods” and I’ll be sure to link back to it from here, but until then, consider planning a mountain hike or woodsy afternoon trip to do some deep thinking (and writing) with nature. Be sure to charge up your laptop all the way and don’t forget the bug spray!

Writing on the beach

Similar to writing in the woods, I already have a blog post called “10 Rules for Writing on the Beach”  which you can read here. The beach, especially in the cooler months, can be such a lovely and inspirational place to get some great writing done. Rejuvinate your love for the written word by writing wave-side for a few hours. Just don’t forget the sunscreen.

Photo by Nadia Valko.

Rainy Day Writing

If you’re like me then, you identify as a pluviophile, or someone who loves rain more than sunlight and enjoys the peace of mind and refreshing nature of rainy days. What’s better than writing, for us, than combining our two loves—writing and rain? Take a trip to Seattle in the fall or take the day off when the next rainy day happens in your city, and take the time to write in the rain. Throw in a cozy blanket and a cup of coffee and I think you’ll have found writer heaven!

And that’s it for my romantic writing retreats for February 2020! I know it’s not much, but changing up your writing space just  a little, or getting out into nature for a bit does wonders for the creative process. It will prove to be an inspiring mini-adventure (how many times can I combine the word “mini” with something else in one blog post?) and will help you to rekindle and refresh your own love of writing along the way.

What do you think of these tips? Have you ever gone on a romantic writer retreat? Have you ever gone on a solo retreat? Of course, you can bring your partner, but if you really want an effective writer retreat, consider going it solo and see how much time you enjoy spending writing with the trees or from the comfort of a fun hotel room! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and thanks for reading!

Further reading:

• 10 Rules For Writing Your Book In The Woods (COVID-19 Social-Distancing Safe Summer Vacation Ideas!)

• Spring Break For Writers: 10 Rules For Writing Your Book On The Beach

—Payton