PLOT THREAD: Romance

Our lives are changed by those we meet and fall in love with. Not just romance, but platonic working relationships and deep friendships as well. Or even a prot’s relationship to a pet. The Romance Plot Thread is about those deep, intense, and intimate relationships between two people. The kind of relationship where it’s us-against-the-world. The unbreakable bond and passion.

The reader is looking for them to support each other, but more importantly, fight for it. The first time they get along is nice but has no stakes. It’s when there are stakes and they still fight to be together that it matters.

A few examples of these stories could be…

• KNIGHT: Prot saves Dyna from a bad relationship. Could be abusive, could have bad power dynamics. The Antag is mostly likely (and most often) the cuckold.
• STUCK: Prot is stuck in a deadend life. Dyna reinvigorates them. Dyna and Prot are totally different. AND/OR one or the other is stuck in a dead relationship. Maybe it was arranged and it was accepted reluctantly, or did it out of “duty”. By the end of the story, they realize they’re made for each other.
• REUNION: Prot and Dyna have grown estranged as the story begins. But for whatever reason, they reunite, and through the story’s journey, they realize they were meant for each other.

REMEMBER! The Romance Plot Thread isn’t always about romantic/sexual love. It can be between two friends. The difference between a romance and a buddy-cop/friendship story is the latter doesn’t have “come hither eyes” and sex.

The goals for what you want the reader to feel is also different. For romance, you want the reader to “fall in love” again, to capture that fleeting feeling from their youth. For friendship, you want the reader to feel para-social love for the characters, to want to be their friends and hang out with them.

IMPORTANT HINT: Make sure the second act complication isn’t an idiot plot. That’s where one of them sees the other talking to someone else, and thinks they’re cheating or something stupid. Make the complications something the entire story led up to. (Han said he’ll leave when he gets paid. He leaves despite us liking him and wanting him, Luke and Leia to be friends. Or Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping… we’re dreading the moment the guy wakes up from the coma, and then does.)

Romance Plot Thread: Key Elements

• INCOMPLETE HERO: The Prot is missing something that they can’t get from their current lover(s)/allies. They could be stuck at their job, top of their game, has the trappings of wealth, or superficial with their dates… but they’re MISSING something. They don’t know what it is. (Of course, in the case of a bad relationship, they do know, but might be defending it, or making up excuses for it, or have settled, or suffer from victim’s mentality).
• COUNTERPART: The Dyna has that missing something Prot needs. They make the Prot’s life whole. Maybe they bring a chaotic energy, or they remind them to live life and not just grind, or to rebel, or to think for themselves, or to experiment and try new things, or to stop fucking around and commit. These are catalyst characters. Dynamics.
• COMPLICATION: They’re separated by distance, different personal values, a timebomb (sinking ship, disease, careers heading in different directions, end of world, reveal of dark past), a misunderstanding, an epic historical event, or disapproval from society (LGBTQ+, biracial, Montague/Capulet, etc.)… but it’s this same complication that keeps the two interacting in spite of it. OR there’s a third party for a love triangle.

Romance Plot Thread: Progress Bar

SERIES OF SEPARATION AND REUNION: Each time with more and more intense emotions. Take this as far back as you can. For platonic ones, they hate each other and don’t want to work together. For romance, you have the scenes before the meetcute. For mentors, the student is reluctant to learn. There is separation and reunion until they admit they’re meant for each other and should fight for it. Or it breaks.

Romance Plot Thread: Plot Beats

“Knight” Romance Plot Beats

• STASIS: Dyna is in an abusive/bad relationship. Or animal imprisoned/captured. Prot has a small interaction with Dyna.
• DISRUPTION: Through some social arrangement, Prot starts a relationship with Dyna that doesn’t threaten current bf/gf/abuser. OR animal escapes due to circumstance or Prot triggered that and they have an adventure together.
• B-WORLD: see below
• MID-to-LOWPOINT: see below
• CLIMAX: see below

“Stuck” Romance Plot Beats

• STASIS: Prot is “stuck” in their current life. It’s become stale and colorless. OR Prot/Dyna is stuck in a pending arranged marriage, or a marriage they’ve settled for that they’re no longer happy in, or was never happy in. A loveless marriage. They’re stuck in an obligation they never fully agreed to.
• DISRUPTION: Dyna is introduced. Could be a new partner, a new mentee/student, a new person to crush on, or maybe true love. The partner could be assigned/introduced in an intrusive way. The Prot doesn’t believe they need a partner. Prot and Dyna are usually completely different (methods, lifestyle, personality)… so they can “complete” each other.
• B-WORLD: see below
• MID-to-LOWPOINT: see below
• CLIMAX: see below

“Reunion” Romance Plot Beats

• STASIS: Prot and Dyna already know each other, or had a brief relationship, and then for whatever reason, they separate, but X-time later, they run into each other again.
• DISRUPTION: They meet again, maybe at an event, or bump into each other, or there’s some sort of situation that forces them to see each other again. They remind each other why they didn’t work out. But there are moments where they see glimpses of it being something more.
• B-WORLD: see below
• MID-to-LOWPOINT: see below
• CLIMAX: see below

Merged Romance Plot Beats

In the Romance Plot Thread, the B-World and Mid-to-Lowpoint are similar in tone and feeling. The specifics and details are dependent on the story itself.

• B-WORLD:
  • If they like each other, there’s an infatuation phase: All the elements of a new relationship between Prot and Dyna. They flirt, dance, work through awkwardness, solve problems together, share trauma, save each other from small conflicts (attack/assault, trapped, broken machine, any of the quests, retrieve something, help impress their boss, save them from awkward social situation, have cute petty fights, go on an epic date (use wonder), bump into each other in weird places). If animal, find communication system, share food, sleep next to each other, if a big animal, learn to ride it? There is a sense of magic and escapism during this phase. The two are in a world of their own, the outside world doesn’t matter (until it does).
  • If they hate each other, there’s a bickering phase: Show their differences. They attempt to work together and butt heads. Their different methods drive each other crazy. The classic is the anal-retentive law-follower and the chaotic do-whatever-it-takes person. Maybe one has a death wish and is reckless. Maybe one is clammed up due to traumatic past. Maybe one is super philosophical and the other is practical. Maybe one is a believer driven by faith and the other is a scientist driven by material facts. One shoots first, another collects evidence.
• MID-to-LOWPOINT
  • If love: first kiss/date/sex, or move in together, or meet the parents. The next step.
  • If different, they finally click and sync up and realize their different working methods are compatible. They do a “combo move” maybe. They realize they are good together.
  • But then something/someone is introduced (or re-introduced) to start separating them. Prot or Dyna is forced to choose (Add a time bomb or a chase).
    • Could be an ex showing up, doubt in their true love, a uncomfortable truth from the past. A dark past that haunts them. Could be a third wheel. Could be a relative that doesn’t approve. Could be a different priority/obligation (work, duty, religion, relationship, sibling). Could simply be “real life” rushing up to bring them back to the “real world”. Could be the cuckold meeting their partner or affair-lover… and intimidating them, begging/bribing them, or revealing a shady past/fault to them. A complication that makes reader asks if they’ll survive this test. The two fight, pointing out how they’re different and how this can’t work.
    • The complication becomes a dilemma. It’s this new love or a past life/new obligation. Can’t be both. And at first, the “past life” or new obligation is what’s chosen. But it doesn’t work because the Prot/Dyna were already changed due to the new relationship. It’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
    • Maybe they sleep together when they shouldn’t have and don’t know how to define the new relationship. Or they sleep with other in secret and try to keep the affair going. Or they sleep with someone they shouldn’t have and the other is hurt. Or one of them gets caught cheating or flirting with someone else. Or there’s a misunderstanding. (See above in intro for why you shouldn’t do the last two though).
    • Maybe they’re separated and they have time to think alone. Or they go off their separate ways to do thing “their way” and screw up. Or they self-isolated and punish themeselves. Or they’re tested to breaking point in an event. Or one is captured and imprisoned. Or the cuckold is hunting/chasing them down, or the cuckold’s forces are closing in, or cuckold traps/threatens them, reasserting the power dynamics.
• CLIMAX: Prot and/or Dyna realizes they can’t live without each other.
  • Together, and changed/reinvented, they overcome the complication. Maybe it’s rejecting the past life/obligation. Maybe it’s solving it together. Maybe it’s accepting each other’s faults/past because their compatibility is a net positive worth moving forward in spite of complications.
  • For PROFESSIONAL, maybe it’s the Prot accepting that Dyna’s method/way is what they need to do because they’ve been doing it Prot’s way up until now… or vice-versa.
  • Or it’s an “almost late” realization of love and you have the chase to the airport scene. Or the Prot/Dyna escapes the cuckold and runs away with each other even if they know the situation is doomed. Maybe they die together, or the ending is uncertain, but their love is certain. Or maybe one of them dies anyway, and the other escapes knowing they had those brief moments together and it was worth it.
  • Of if the Dyna dies, there’s a confrontation with the Dyna’s family, spouse, or whatever. It changes them and they can move on.

Sources & Resources

• Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat Goes to the Movies. Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.36: The Elemental Relationship.” Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 36, Dragonsteel Production, 4 September 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-36-the-elemental-relationship/
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.38: The Elemental Relationship as a Sub-Genre.” Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 38, Dragonsteel Production, 18 September 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-38-the-elemental-relationship-as-a-sub-genre/
• Sanderson, Brandon, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells, hosts. “11.39: Elemental Relationship Q&A, with Greg van Eekhout.” Writing Excuses, season 11, episode 39, Dragonsteel Production, 25 September 2016, https://writingexcuses.com/11-39-elemental-relationship-qa-with-greg-van-eekhout/
• “Lecture #2: Plot Part 1 — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy” YouTube, uploaded by Brandon Sanderson, January 29, 2020, https://youtu.be/jrIogch5DBU
• “Lecture #3: Plot Part 2 — Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy” YouTube, uploaded by Brandon Sanderson, February 12, 2020, https://youtu.be/Qgbsz7Gnrd8

All other plot thread notes here