In thinking through this topic I went through my favorite romance novels and scanned the first several pages of the book. Since the books I chose to look at are all fairly popular books, let’s just assume that these are good ways to start a book if you want it to be widely read in the future. ;>)

• Fairly close to the beginning of your romance novel (ie. the first couple pages) your protagonists should meet - and there needs to be tension between them. This tension can either derive from the fact that they hate each other, or they are extremely attracted to each other and for some reason they just can’t justify the relationship, or, or, or…. Whatever the reason, just put some tension between them.

In The Convenient Groomby Denise Hunter (very fun read, btw) Kate and Lucas are interacting by the top of page 5. And boy is there tension between them. Kate, a syndicated relationship guru, has just been dumped by her fiance 5 hours from the start of her wedding and Lucas has just offered to jump in and save her career by standing in for the groom who’d been kept under wraps. Now, just from that little snippet don’t you want to read on and find out what happens?

One of my favorite romances is an old Heartsong Presents book that I bought when I was in high school - Shadows Along the Iceby Judy Baer. This book has stuck with me through the years and I just read it again the other day. The pages are brown and crisp and I think some tape may be in order for the next reading.  But oh my goodness I love that little book.  Why? In the first few pages of the book  Pam, a newspaper reporter on her first sports writing assignment meets Tiger Evans, ice-hockey player extraordinaire. She’s been assigned to interview him. And is there tension? Oh you better believe it. She’s a good girl, been raised in the church all her life, and the first time she sees him he is stripping off his hockey gear in the locker room and daring her with his eyes to look away. Whoo boy…

The tension combined with the curiosity of where this relationship is going will keep your readers flipping the pages, trust me.

• A second common element from excellent romance beginnings is that the heroine is in some sort of peril. But being that these are romances, don’t put off introducing your hero for too long. He should still be introduced fairly close to the beginning of the story.

In the first several pages of Silkby Linda Chaikin the heroine Coral Kendal is in several kinds of peril. In our first glimpse of her we find out she has been battling some sort of ferocious fever which has sapped her strength. A few pages later an Indian woman giving birth passes away, but not before she extracts a promise from Coral that she will raise her child. Given the political climate of that time and place, a white woman raising an Indian child, particularly this child, puts her in peril. As soon as we sufficiently understand her peril, Chaikin skillfully introduces us to the hero who, of course, is going to save the heroine from said peril (and is also very hot! ).

Who hasn’t heard of The Voice in the Windby Francine Rivers? In the few pages after we meet Hadassah, her mother dies, her brother is cut down by a Roman sword in front of her eyes, and she is taken captive. Now, Mrs. Rivers being the skillful author that she is puts off introducing Marcus for quite a few pages, but she uses those pages to bring out other tension building themes that the story called for.  So as with any rule, there are some exceptions, but you better make sure you are super good at what you do if you are going to try and bend the rules.

My own book, Rocky Mountain Oasis, uses this beginning. My heroine Brooke, sent west as a mail-order-bride by her uncle, is promised to an evil, abusive man. But then in steps Sky.

This method could also be reversed for those of you who like a contemporary romance. The hero could be the one in peril with the heroine stepping in to save him.

Wondering what is going to happen to the heroine combined with the attraction between the two main characters will incite your readers to keep turning pages.

• In Summary Then - A good way to begin your romance novel is with one of the following combinations:

- Hero/Heroine meet early on (before page 10) and there is tension between them
- Hero/Heroine is in some sort of peril and needs to be rescued whether they know it or not.

Now, these are just two methods of creating beginnings that I noticed in some of my favorite romance novels. But I’m sure there are more out there. Can you think of one that differs from the two I’ve mentioned?

Next time we’ll talk about what we feel makes a hero attractive.

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