5 Tips for Writing Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

what's up my friend Abby here and welcome back to writer's life Wednesdays where we come together to help you make your story matter and make your author dreams come true enemies to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes of all time in fact I'm pretty sure it's everyone's favorite we all love that delicious clash between these two characters who immediately hate each other when they first meet but over the course of the story they come to realize that they cannot live without each other however there is nothing worse than an enemies to Lover's romance that feels rushed or unearned because the writer didn't take the time to craft an emotional compelling and realistic journey of change for these two characters you want that progression from hate to love to feel realistic and earned because of what these two characters have been through together and how they've changed and changed their opinions about each other because of the events of the story so that's what we're talking about today five quick and easy ways to make your enemies to lovers romance more captivating addictive and emotional and of course as a result turn your readers into adoring swooning fans of this couple and make them ship this couple for all enduring time let's get into it why does your story matter good question what if I told you that there's a science behind every great story I don't just teach you how to write I teach you how to change the world with your story and make your author dreams come true number one give them a meat hate to remember it's kind of like a meat cute except instead of giving your fictional couple warm fuzzy feelings for each other you're going to give them homicidal feelings for each other okay it doesn't have to be that intense but maybe it is depending on your story depending on the genre you're writing if you're writing something like fantasy or a thriller then your characters might actually be enemies they might meet on opposite sides of the fight and literally be trying to kill each other if you're writing something like contemporary or historical fiction then your meat hate might be a little more subtle but remember first impressions are what define the relationship so how do your characters first meet why do they immediately get a bad impression of each other what triggers the hate you need to establish this early on or else the hate won't feel earned or realistic and if you're thinking well there's no specific reason they just don't like each other I encourage you to dig deeper and see if you can find a specific reason what is it about character a that triggers something in character B maybe it's not one big thing maybe it's a bunch of little things things that add up over time this is especially helpful if you're writing two characters who have known each other since childhood maybe the dislike has been building up over years and years of those little annoyances those little things that they don't like about each other and it has slowly turned into the full-blown resentment that it is today number two force them to problem solve together I guess this would be considered a type of forced proximity but it's not just about putting these two characters in the same situation it's about forcing them to rely upon each other for survival or to overcome an obstacle in a time of Crisis if you saw my previous video on writing romantic chemistry you know that I am obsessed with forced proximity scenarios because it builds romantic tension like nothing else but the fun thing about an enemies to lovers situation is these two characters do not even want to be breathing the same air as each other and that's why it's so beautiful to put them in a situation where they're forced to rely upon each other for survival or to beat the odds when the game overcomes something together see what's happening here the enemies have no choice but to be allies doesn't matter if they are highly dysfunctional allies who frequently threaten to stab each other they are still allies even for just this one scene where they are forced to problem solve together it doesn't have to be anything super Grand or perilous it can be a very simple moment of Crisis but I think you'll be surprised by how it brings these two characters together in a powerful and magnetic way number three don't skip the midpoint friendship if point a is hate and point C Is Love then what is point B that's right though why am I getting along with this person when I used to hate them friendship I cannot tell you how angry it makes me when I read an enemies to Lover's romance that completely skips this step the two characters just pole vault from hating each other to making out and it feels so unearned why because that's not how relationships evolve in real life I don't care who you are if you want to make out with this person you don't hate them okay you probably never hated them if you want your romance to feel believable and compelling and you want your human being characters to have human being emotions don't rush into the lovey-dovey stuff practice proper pacing please yes unexpected and unauthorized romantic feelings can be really great to sprinkle in for both your characters however remember that this romance is a story arc and like all story arcs there are lots of little Turning Point moments along the way that make the character development feel realistic and speaking of story structure before we move on to point number four I want to quickly interrupt myself to tell you guys that I'm going to be hosting a special live training this weekend diving even deeper into this topic of writing enemies to lovers romance so in this video I'm just sharing some quick tips ways that you can easily make your readers more emotionally invested in your hate to love romance but what if I told you there is a tried and true story structure to writing a compelling enemies to lovers romance yes I did that I took everything that I've studied and learned about enemies to lovers romance and turned it into a repeatable formula a story structure if you will sort of like the hero's journey except just for enemies to lovers romance just for the relationship Arc and this structure is something that you can use again and again for every hate to love romance you ever write and that is what I'm going to be sharing in this upcoming live training the ultimate enemies to lovers story structure template and I'm going to break down each story beat of this structure and show you how it applies to your characters I'm also going to show you powerful ways to bring your characters together using the events of the plot how to Pace your romance so that it feels realistic not rushed and I'm going to also share tons of story examples to help you visualize these principles in action so if you want to take your hate to love romance to the next level and create an unforgettable relationship that your readers will be swooning over for years to come you don't want to miss this live training it's happening Sunday May 28th at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time if you can't make it to the live stream don't worry you will still have access to watch the replay as many times as you want so click the link below this video to save your spot at the live training and remember when you register to watch this event and you join my patreon at the live training pass level you're also going to get access to all my previous live trainings that's over 12 hours of content all about different writing topics so writing publishing editing writing the first chapter writing villains writing subplots in fact I've been kind of on a romance theme lately last month we did a live training all about writing Swoon worthy romantic chemistry and so many of you guys loved that training and requested this one so it's coming May 28th mark your calendars also save your spot okay back to our list of hate to love techniques number four make them jealous nothing brings suppressed romantic feelings to the surface like good old-fashioned You Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone AKA jealousy and this doesn't always have to be the classic OMG I saw you kissing someone else and that's when I realized I'm in love with you I mean that will always be one of my favorite guilty pleasure tropes but it can be more subtle than that maybe it's just a look or a touch or a private joke that character a has with someone else in character B sees it and they're like hold up wait a minute what is going on you are mine only to be forced into a violent internal confrontation with their Newfound romantic feelings for the person that they used to hate it's so cute remember jealousy can come in many different forms sometimes characters get jealous because of what they think is true but isn't actually true sometimes there is no other character who Sparks the jealousy maybe it's just the idea of character a moving away from character b or switching schools or switching jobs or just not being as present in their life anymore lots of things can make us feel the loss of someone and that feeling of oh my God I can't lose them that's the magic ingredient we're looking for and last but not least number five create conflicts and obstacles to keep them apart no relationship is all sunshine and Roses especially when you're nearing the disaster or dark moment of your story's arc when your characters are beginning to lean into their affectionate feelings for each other that's the perfect moment to throw a monkey wrench into their situation and drive them apart so there are a thousand different ways to do this but a few tried and true techniques include a betrayal of trust a buried secret comes to light a third character tries to sabotage the relationship some social divide makes it impossible or forbidden for them to be together one of them is engaged to someone else or the character's own fatal flaws get in their way obstacles and conflicts are what make a relationship interesting and engaging if we can predict the outcome then we're not going to be staying up past our bedtime reading to see what's going to happen if you want to keep your reader on the edge of their seat till the very end keep the conflicts coming test the strength of this romantic relationship by driving these two characters apart and then proving their transformation by showing how they fight to get back together again okay boom that's it my five powerful techniques for writing believable and addictive compelling enemies to lovers romance if you want to dive even deeper into this topic and get access to my special hate to love romance story structure template then you know what to do sign up for the live training it's happening this weekend and I think you're going to love it we're going to explore this journey of change and I'm going to walk you through every story beat of the story structure and show you how this character Arc works for both your characters and also show you tons of story examples to help you visualize these principles in action the live training is happening Sunday May 28th at 1 pm Eastern Standard Time and again if you can't make it to the live stream don't worry we'll still have access to watch the replay and to watch the replays of all my 12 previous live trainings in the archive so click the link below this video to save your spot I can't wait to see you there smash that like button if you liked this video and comment below and tell me what is your favorite aspect of enemies to lovers romance mine is probably the sarcastic sassy banter that happens in the enemies stage of the relationship that's like my favorite thing to write and my favorite thing to read also be sure to subscribe to this channel if you haven't already because I post writing videos every Wednesday and I would love to have you here in the community until next week my friend Rock on and this I feel is like the golden rule of any immersive description this is what makes you feel like you're actually in the shoes of the character experiencing the world as they experience it and it doesn't matter if you're writing first person or third person you should still be filtering everything that your character sees

Channel: Abbie Emmons

Views: 58,976

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Id: 9o1QsCfBoX8

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Wed May 24 2023