Lessons from Romance
Summer 2020 Gimme Five: Lessons from Romance
By J.C. Moore
Patricia Sargeant, a national best-selling and award-winning author of more than 20 novels ranging from cozy mystery to contemporary romance, says romance and mystery go together like peanut butter and chocolate and milk and cookies. And this month she shares her thoughts on what mystery writers can learn from the romance genre.
1) Use love to drive up the stakes
One of the things Patricia loves about romance is the story motivation. “Love is the greatest, strongest, fiercest emotion imaginable, and the one to which readers can most closely relate.”
“You start with a great mystery, but what happens when you add a love interest, whether it's the love of a significant other, the love of a child or the love of a pet? The protagonist's motivation—and therefore the tension in the story—is multiplied by a factor of 100, at least.”
Whether it’s love of a special person, love of family, or love of country, Patricia says there’s nothing a character won’t do to protect that person or thing. So whether you’re writing a scene in which the villain turns the gun away from your protagonist and points it toward the protagonist's pet/child/parent/lover to force cooperation, or when the protagonist faces her agoraphobia to search for her (fill in the blank), your character’s love is what amps up the emotion and the drive.
2) Get deeper into your characters
Patricia’s first books were romantic suspense, but then her publisher pushed her toward contemporary romance. “I remember telling my husband that I didn't know whether I could plot a story without a dead body. But writing contemporary romance helped me to focus even more on characters and their arcs.”
When writing mysteries, it’s easy to get so focused on the puzzle that we lose sight of our characters and their journey. “When I made the switch, I had to go even deeper into my characters. I had to learn their fears, motivations and secrets; the personal demons they would be fighting during their story.”
It’s difficult to pull off a novel based on the mystery alone. Our protagonists’ demons are what draw in readers and make them passionate about our books. In your next draft, consider how you can get deeper into your character to make your story more engaging.
3) Include an internal villain
When Patricia sat down to write her first contemporary romance, she had to figure out who or what the villain that drove her characters forward would be. She couldn’t use a stalker or arsonist as she had in her romantic suspense books. “Then I realized contemporary romance protagonists often battle the villains inside: self-doubt, identity, fear of failure, fear of success... the list goes on.”
Patricia uses that same technique with her cozy mysteries to make her amateur sleuths more empathetic.
“With mysteries, I love the puzzles. A juicy, meaty mystery not only asks the readers to determine who did it, but also why and how. Now imagine your protagonist trying to unmask an external villain while struggling with an internal villain. For example, a protagonist battling the internal villain of self-doubt while her loved ones are counting on her to stop the external villain who's threatening them.”
4) Stretch yourself
Patricia loves romantic suspense and wasn’t excited about giving up the puzzles and villains when her publisher told her the market was soft for her sub-genre and she should write straight romance. But Patricia learned that her skills and techniques crossed genres.
“In the big picture, romance authors and mystery authors want to draw readers into their worlds. We use our characters to do that. We develop compelling, relatable characters to lead our readers through our worlds. Once we have them in our worlds, we must hold their interest. Plots, subplots and pacing are three of the tools in our storyteller's toolkit that help us do that.”
By stretching outside our comfort zones, writers of every genre can hone their craft by learning—and re-learning—what drives good storytelling in any genre.
Patricia was also pleased to find that her readers crossed genres with her. Romance readers read broadly, and often give writers more permission to cross genres than they give themselves.
5) Embraces the challenges
Patricia says every genre has its own delicious challenge. “With romance, one of the challenges is the push-and-pull of drawing the characters together while keeping them apart. With mysteries, one of the challenges is crafting the red herrings we use to mask the real villain.” Each is unique and part of the fun of writing.
But those challenges are real, and other authors are struggling with them right along with you. Patricia says networking with authors in your genre is critical.
“I can't overstate how important networking is for your success. Sharing marketing tips, industry information, and counsel on problem-solving and strategizing are critical, and I'm honored to network with other mystery and romance authors through various groups.”
J.C. Moore is the author of the Maggie White Mysteries, debuting September 2020 with Murder in the Piazza from Level Best Books. Her short fiction has appeared in Mystery Weekly, and she is the editor of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest newsletter.