My Heroine is in Love With the Killer

My Heroine is in Love With the Killer!
Romantic Suspense 101
By
Becci Clayton

He's tall. He's drop dead gorgeous. He's been accused of murdering your best friend's cousin.

And he's your next client.

Welcome to the world of romantic suspense. This sub-genre of romance has opened a whole new territory for writers and with it--a whole new set of rules. What exactly is romantic suspense? It is a careful combination of the character driven elements of romance and the plot driven story of mystery. With romantic suspense, it's like a double dose of writing types. It requires both unique plotting and romantic story magic to weave the two elements into perfect harmony.

A couple of movie examples would be _Romancing the Stone_ and while not a true romance, a romantic suspense just the same is _Witness_. Imagine the story if Kathleen Turner knew where to look for her sister or had experience in jewel smuggling? On the flip side, would we have really cared as much about whether or not Harrison Ford could protect Kelly McGillis from not only the outside world but also his fellow officers if he hadn't fallen for her? The combination of the two suspense and romance elements were exactly what turned these stories from good books into major hit movies.

Okay, so what are the major elements of romantic suspense you ask?

1. Relationship - First and foremost, these stories are romance. They MUST have a strong relationship develop between the two characters. The development of that relationship must dominate the story. The characters' relationship must impact each decision they make and increase the tension of the suspense as it propels the story. In turn, the events of suspense must also directly affect the relationship and move the story forward.

2. Logical Suspense Plot - As with any suspense story, any error in logical suspense will not be forgiven by the reader. The elements that create or solve the suspense must also create or provoke the solution of the hero and heroine's relationship. If there is a smoking gun in chapter eight, it sure better be sitting on the desk somewhere in chapter three. The heroine will have to believe or find some logical reason why she believes the hero is innocent even though his fingerprints are on that smoking gun.

The plot should be full of action and relentless in its forward movement. It would be a fatal error in pacing and plotting to have fifty members of the state patrol wait outside the tiny cottage in the woods during a big chase scene while the heroine and hero are having their major love scene.

3. Sexual Tension - As readers we most enjoy the internal conflicts of our characters. But, these internal conflicts usually need a catalyst to force the character to confront those fears. Again, a careful balance must be created between the suspense and the romantic relationship and the internal and external conflicts. One of the best devices to do this is to turn up the sexual tension for our characters and keep increasing it to the climax of the story. Although the suspense needs equal attention, the emotional impact of the romance and suspense is what will hold our reader through the book.

4. Correct Use of Language - One of the subtle things that set romantic suspense apart from general romance is the language. A romantic suspense tends to be more spare and "clean" or "everyday" where straightforward romance tends to have a more emotional, intimate descriptive flavor. Romantic suspense pacing tends to be more action oriented and a little less character driven than traditional romance. After all, you are writing about dead bodies and murder weapons while on the very next page you are having people fall in love.

5. Getting the Details Right - Coming from a career in law enforcement, I can't emphasize this enough! Call it red herrings, the clues that solve the mystery, or whatever term you use, check and double check that you get these in the right places at the right time and correct for the time period. If you are writing a story set in the early 1960's, DON'T put a laser sight on the murder rifle. They weren't available to the public yet. If you poison someone, arsenic is okay, but there a hundreds of other more commonly used poisons that are far less easily traceable.

In all story writing we have to focus on the significant detail--the details that flesh out our characters and plot. In romantic suspense, you also need to pay very close attention to the "insignificant" detail. Just one example would be if your heroine, a forensic lab agent, tests the gloves taken from the hero but finds no blood so cannot disprove the hero is the murder. Have her solve this by paying attention to insignificant detail by testing the INSIDE of the glove between the thumb and fingers. Bingo! It's not the hero's blood but the villain's mixed with the victims and therefore can help prove the hero is innocent! It is the insignificant and often overlooked details that can really pull a plot together and solve the spine tingling suspense.

Writing romantic suspense can be one of the most rewarding and most frustrating sub-genres of romance but with planning, plotting and attention to significant and "insignificant" detail, it can be one of the most rewarding!

Becci has Bachelor's in managment. She writes historicals and time-travels and has been writing for about four years. She's a freelance author, reviews ebooks for eBookconnections.com, and is this year's contest chair for HODRW.