Writing Clean (Romance Edition)
I’m kidding! Kind of…
I usually find myself with two options when it comes to romance: 1) get The Cringe, 2) close my eyes or stop reading because it’s not clean. Dear reader, I want to fix this!
Now, of course, people may feel something I write is cringey or maybe “too far” for them physically, but I try very hard to write romance that is emotionally close, slow-burn, with physical affection that doesn’t cross the line.
While I clearly do not like being run over by open door/closed door scenes or hyper-physical ones, I do think in romance some things are part of the story—like a kiss, being close, growing closer, emotional openness—but I don’t think they need to be overdone. Often, the best romances are the ones that do the least in this area, like Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and The Blue Castle. Not to say no-kissing-no-nothing always works, but there has to be a balance!
I do my best to strike the balance between “TOO MUCH, SHUT THE TV OFF” and “Well, that was boring, nothing happened!”
What does that balance mean to me in a romance context?
No closed door scenes/no open door scenes. Case closed.
Physical affection. There will be some, but I try to handle it with care. If a passage where two characters kiss or grow close isn't for you yet, give yourself permission to wait until it is. That’s not a failing, and it’s not silly. You are your own best barometer; don’t push yourself past your own comfort zone.
Careful about descriptions of a love interest. While there are character descriptions, and it’s important to know why a lead might like the other, I want to avoid morbid detail.
Morally gray characters. I write slow-burn, emotionally charged romance, and my characters aren’t always tidy. They explode, they avoid, they make choices you and I might not. Reactions and decisions vary, worldviews may not match yours, and you don’t have to love what a character does. That’s not my stamp of approval, that’s me doing my job as a writer to create characters who are different from each other and myself.
Trust me when I say that my characters and their ideas are not always endorsements.
On that note, I wanted to share something my grandmother once said to me: “Ronan, you can be the most beautiful, ripest peach in the entire bunch, and there will still be someone who hates peaches.” I think of this often as I write, knowing some readers just don’t like peaches, and that the surest way to write nothing worth reading is to try to please everyone. So there’s the lesson.
I’m still going to try to fill a space that isn’t being filled as often as I wish it were.
HTCFW (and future Mirror Garden installments) will always have romance in them, but with a story running alongside it. HTCFW is my first, and for now my only, romance as the main event, so I hope you enjoy it and stick around for what's coming. There’s so much more ahead.
xx RJ
