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What Makes a Good Romance

I've noticed after reading a whole lot of young adult, and watching movies, and reading blogs, and creating stories myself that there are a few things that always appear in (what I consider at least) a good love story. So, without further ado, here are the elements that I think are necessary for a good romance and what I always make sure to include.

1. People who shouldn't be in love falling in love- This element is usually labeled as forbidden love but I think that's a bit cliche and overreaching. For a story to be compelling, two people don't need to have forbidden love Romeo and Juliet style, but there needs to be some element that is keeping the characters from being together. This adds tension which is necessary for any story.
I'm pretty hard core while he's a goody two shoes, which causes tension. Ha! ;)

For example:
Different social classes: seen in most Disney Princess movies, Pride and Prejudice

Different cultures: Othello, Perfect Chemistry, Pocahontas (I know it's SO inaccurate) Sammy and I
Different species/being: Twilight, Avatar, The Mediator Series. There's a whole section in bookstores dedicated to this, paranormal romance.
They just shouldn't be together: Liking your best friends boyfriend, dating your teacher, dating your captor, falling for the rival gang member/clique/who knows what, falling for your coworker when there's a strict policy not to, falling for someone who has power over you etc.

Basically, if there's some reason they shouldn't be together, then they definitely should.

2. The woman needs to have strength- We can't have Princess Buttercup just standing there while Wesley is being eaten by an ROUS. (I hate that scene in Princess Bride! Why doesn't she do something!?!)  Now, there's no sympathy for the damsel in distress. We're taught that woman are just as tough as men and can do anything for themselves and that's that. A woman who has strength in some way shape or form is awesome. Whether that be sass or the ability to fight fears or lots of knowledge, she needs to be a fully fleshed out person, not just someone for a man to kiss. She can't just be a sex symbol. (Hello Transformers, I am looking at you.) 


Relationships are a two way street. I'm sorry, but men aren't strong and awesome all the time. They need someone to be there for them. I will love a story 10X more automatically if there is a scene where the woman saves the man. It puts a great spin on the whole damsel in distress thing, shows the woman has strength, and usually has some great one liners. 
Examples: Hunger Games, Mulan, all Meg Cabot books. Dystopias usually have a leading strong female I've noticed, and a scene where she saves the men.

3. At the same time, she needs to be saved. Just once- All of my favoritest, sweetest scenes in books are usually a woman being saved by the man. And at first when I realized that, I felt horrible. I like to think that I am a feminist. But, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. See, in this emerging age of strong woman, we're told we need to do it all, and do it all the time. But, it's hard to be strong all the time. And, it takes an even bigger amount of strength to let yourself be vulnerable in front of someone else, especially a man in this age of don't-let-the-men-help-you. Letting someone see all the parts of you is a scary thing but such a beautiful thing as well. That's why I think a good romance has a scene where the woman is saved as well. Not every five minutes, not too many times, but at least once. Divergent carries this out well I think, Tobias helps and saves Tris but he never thinks she's weak and it happens quite sparingly. 

Heck, Kristoff doesn't even technically save Anna. But he was going to! 

4. A near death experience- For a good story, there need to be high stakes. There aren't much higher stakes in a romance than almost losing the person that you've decided to save and show all your insecurities too. Plus, what if they don't know how you feel and you'll never get the chance to tell them?! Near death experiences are scary, but really add to romance. And they're in everything. Even Disney. Please see above.

5. There has to be other things going on besides the romance- People don't just fall in love all the time. They have other things going on too, so for a good romance to play off well, the characters need to be well rounded and have something else going on. Actually, most stories with a good romance aren't about the romance, but the romance is a sub plot. But even those books with Fabio on the cover have other things going on as well. 


Those are the four things I think are needed for a good romance in a story. I know there are tons more and I could have explained these better, but what do you think? Have you ever thought about these? What's your favorite romance/ couple out there? 






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