Tips for Writing Romance (Ft. TVD Gifs)

 Happy Wednesday! 

I realized I miss doing more writing-related posts and I especially miss making posts full of gifs, so I'm planning to post at least one writing post each month, starting with this one! 

I'm pretty sure this is like my second or third year of writing a post about TVD and romance in February (or at least mentioning TVD in a post) and I am not sorry about it. 😂 I love The Vampire Diaries so much, and recently, I've been thinking about all the things I appreciated or that they got right while writing the romances. 

So here we go. This is pretty much just one big TVD romances appreciation post, so if you haven't watched the show yet and plan to, be aware that SPOILERS are ahead. 

Tips for Writing a good romance: 

Make sure they start off as friends. This is what I love about Caroline and the guys she dated. All of her epic loves (and Matt... I don't know if he counts as an epic love?) started out as friendships. Even Klaus. He pursued her, but they had more friendly moments than they did romantic ones at the start. Matt and her started out as friends and then turned into something more. So did she and Tyler. And Stefan and her did too. A relationship needs a strong foundation and I think the strongest foundation is friendship.

Best friends make for good building blocks to true romance that sticks and keeps readers invested in the relationship. It can also turn into a slow burn, kind of like Stefan and Caroline. Even Elena and Stefan, who had a more of a love at first sight kind of vibe, stayed up talking all night and had a good friendly start before they jumped into the kiss and the romance.

Make them have a problem they need to fix together. They're stuck with each other whether they like it or not. Unless your couple is Elena and Stefan who were just drawn to each other and didn't need anything to pull them together, this needs to happen. There needs to be something that brings them together and makes them have to spend time with each other. Jeremy had to help Bonnie with her witch stuff and they ended up spending a lot of time together. Bonnie and Enzo had a Beauty and the Beast thing going on there for a while. 

Bonnie was stuck in the house (to protect her from the bad guys) with Enzo and they spent enough time together to realize how much they care about each other. There needs to be some sort of outside source or conflict that brings them together and gets them to spend time with each other. 

Make them compliment each other in some way. Opposites do attract. They don't have to be polar opposites though. Sometimes birds of a feather do flock together, and that's alright. But I think no matter whether they're similar or totally opposite to each other, they need to compliment each other in some way. Caroline and Stefan are a good example of this. Caroline is perky and bright and optimistic whereas Stefan is kind of broody and introspective and has a more realistic view of the world.

They've both made mistakes, both of them are always willing and wanting to help other people. They're both hero types, selfless and kind and compassionate. But they compliment each other in that Caroline lightens the mood and makes Stefan smile when he needs to and he gives her validation when she's feeling insecure and makes sure she knows the reality of the situation, makes her stop and think before acting. 

They have to have respect for one another. I think people are getting sick of all the toxic fictional relationships that are glorified and toxic couples that stay together to the bitter end. As much as I love Damon and Elena, I'm willing to admit they were toxic together for a time. I think by the end, Damon had worked through some of his issues and could be a better guy for Elena, but at first, even though his heart may have been in the right place, he could be controlling and he sometimes didn't respect Elena or her choices. 

One of the many things I loved about Stefan and Elena was Stefan always honored her choice. Before season 3, he always respected Elena's autonomy. He let her work through problems, let her make her own decisions, never strong armed or forced anything on her, never tried to control or manipulate her. Elena was the same to him. She respected him and trusted him and his decisions. 

Sometimes it's OK if your MC doesn't end up with her first love or best friend or whatever. Another thing I love about TVD. Almost all of the characters have more than one epic love. I love the message of just because you thought you found "the one" and it doesn't work out, doesn't mean your doomed to never find love again. Teen Wolf did this too, actually with Scott. Not as well done as TVD, but it was pretty good. Sometimes the one you think is "the one" isn't meant for you. Stefan and Elena were epic loves. But it didn't work out between them. Their stories didn't hinge on them being together. The story went on without them being a couple. They both found epic love again. Just not with each other. Caroline and Bonnie go through the same thing. Caroline has a sweet romance with Matt and an epic romance with Tyler and an even more epic romance with Klaus before you finally realize that Stefan and her were meant to be together.

Bonnie has Jeremy, but it doesn't work out and in the end she ends up with someone who is the perfect match for her. Don't force two characters to stay together just because they started the story together. If it's not working anymore, maybe they just weren't meant to be. That's real life. That's relatable. First love sometimes isn't the love of our lives. 

If your character is a bad guy like Damon or Enzo, you have to give them some redeeming qualities. If you're character is a bad boy, anti-hero or whatnot, then you're going to need this tip. He can't be all bad for no reason or even for bad reasons. 

If the protagonist stays with him even after he's done horrible things for horrible reasons... that's not a couple I'd root for. If your love interest needs to do awful things, make him do awful things for a reason. A real reason. Even a noble reason. Damon got away with some of the worst stuff on the show and we still rooted for him and Elena. You know why? Because within those moments of bad stuff, we saw his humanity. When he did bad stuff, he did it to either protect someone he cared about or for the greater good which in the end turned out to be very important. Don't let your protagonist get stuck with a guy who does bad things for selfish reasons and has no remorse or regret for the things he's done. Give her someone who can and will find redemption, someone who can and does feel bad for what they've done and does have bad things they've done. 

Just because they're a couple doesn't mean they don't have their own lives. Give them stories of their own. Let them change and grow and work through some issues by themselves. I already mentioned this, but I think it's important to create multi-dimensional characters and layered stories.

The Vampire Diaries worked so well because every character was their own person. They didn't depend on a relationship with another character to keep them relevant to the story. Heck, at the end of season 6, they got rid of Elena - the main character of the whole show! - and the "supporting characters" held up the show for an entire two seasons! If that isn't wildly impressive, I don't know what is.

And you know why characters that started out as side characters in season one managed to step up and become the stars of the show for two whole seasons? Because their existence wasn't dependent on a relationship - whether it be romantic or platonic - with the main character. Throughout the show they evolved and changed and grew and stumbled all on their own, while also having some pretty amazing and epic romances along the way.

Romance shouldn't be the main focus of the story (unless you are, in fact, writing a romance novel). The romance between Rhett and Mia was the only thing that held my St. Croix Falls trilogy together. It was not a strong foundation. Rhett and Mia couldn't stand on their own two feet, they couldn't live in the story without each other. But here's the thing, I don't read a book unless it has romance in it. I want my characters to be their own people, to have their own lives, but I want a good, swoonworthy romance too. 

Had to end with a Klaroline gif cus this ship needs to be represented in this post lol! 

I hope this post has been helpful for you! It was so fun to write. I've missed getting to write these fun little writing posts - and I especially love getting to write about my favorite show ever. Now, go forth and write your own epic love story!