Different publishing houses have different rules on what needs to happen by the end of your romance novel.

But here are two universal expectations for category romance.

1. The couple needs to overcome all their difficulties and either get married, or be together as a couple by the end of the book. Romance, after all, is a happily ever after genre. Most people who read romance read it for the happy ending.

I’ve heard of authors who’ve lost readers because they didn’t follow this rule. So if you want to hang onto your readers there needs to be a happy ending.

Also of note: If throughout your book the heroine has been debating between two guys, there needs to be a front runner in the minds of your readers and, to fulfill this point, he is the man she needs to get together with in the end.

2. Point number two is pretty obvious, but you need to tie up any loose ends. Unless you are going on to write a sequel you need to carefully read over your manuscript to make sure you’ve neatly solved all the conflict and problems you introduced in the story.

Don’t belabor this process. There is nothing more frustrating to a reader than for a story to be over and still have 3 chapters of resolution.

I read one not too long ago that belabored the ending. I kept flipping through the remaining pages thinking, “The story is over already, what more is there to say?” I did push on to read through to the end, but it was frustrating. You want to leave your reader wanting more, not frustrated that the story is dragging on forever.

Did you read any romances recently that broke one of these rules? How did that make you feel as a reader?

Tomorrow is an interview with my friend K.M. Weiland about her novel Behold the Dawn. The next regular post we’ll talk about a couple ways to build tension between the hero and heroine.

Image from: http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//8000/800/00/3/58803.jpg

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tags: Christian Romance, Endings, How to complete a romance