Crafting the Hero––Part III

Judah is the man for Tovah. To review: Tovah is a rabbi with rejection issues. Judah is an IDF veteran businessman. He’ll give her confidence in her calling as a rabbi. She’ll give him renewed faith in himself. Throwing obstacles in the way of romance is what compels the reader to turn the page. Click to Tweet #amwriting #CraftingTheRomanticHero #donnalhsmith

We’ve made Judah a “beta” hero, one who interacts with the heroine more, and reveals himself slowly. Yet, things will happen so that Tovah will soon learn of Judah’s fear of losing control in a fit of anger.

In writing any romance, the romance is the story. How they meet, their growing attraction, how they fall in love—all the adventures along the way. All the revelations of their pasts, current events, and how they decide to get together. How many obstacles can be thrown in the way to keep them apart?

That’s what makes romance a compelling read. Their internal struggles that keep them from being vulnerable with the other. This is one of the main ways to show barriers to hinder their relationship.

Let them also have communication problems. We’ve already determined that when Tovah will get around Judah, she’ll stutter like a nervous schoolgirl. What can we come up with to make it difficult for Judah to share his heart? Maybe he too, has a rejection issue. A former girlfriend who laughed at him when he shared before. So now, maybe Tovah will have to prove herself to him to be worthy of his love. Hmmm. That might be interesting.

What external circumstances can be thrown in their way? A natural disaster? Bad public relations? Gossip? Interference from relatives or friends? Bad advice? Use these sorts of tactics when building the character, too. Especially in their backstory.

Create the romantic lead characters by using internal, interpersonal, and external struggles they’ll have to overcome to find each other. Click to Tweet #amwriting #CraftingTheRomanticHero #donnalhsmith