“Everything You Say Should Be True, But Not Everything True Should Be Said.”

“And so it seems I must always write you letters that I can never send.”

— Sylvia Plath 

HOW TO WRITE A SLOW BURN ROMANCE

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(Because these things get me slapping my pillow at 3 AM)

Slow burns are romance stories with a slower pace. They’re more realistic, because you need to build the relationship between the two people. This can either be a subplot or the main plot, and usually takes place through the whole book because time is a big factor in slow burn.

You’re showing the reader how their relationship changes from a friendship to a romantic couple, therefore you need to show the chemistry between the two people. Build the relationship stage by stage. Plan down “breakthroughs” that acsends them up the relationship ladder. Think of scenarios and reasons for them to become more close. (Ex. mutual friends, common interests) Reference real romantic relationships that you might’ve experienced for help!

Like any other relationship, consider how they met in the first place. With the method of “show, not tell”, show their initial, intermediate, and final feelings (at the end of the book) through actions or thoughts, instead of making them say it out loud all the time. If you need help with affectionate actions, scroll down on our feed!

If they’re already friends, you’re a step ahead— you don’t have to deal with formalities in introductions and such, but still, you might want to talk about initial feelings. A first person POV is much more intimate than a third person POV, which can be more casual, so it depends on what tone you want to build with the story.

Also, like any other plot, they’ll encounter difficulties. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a life-or-death scenario, but think about what makes it slow burn, what’s preventing from from making it official. A common problem is because both parties are afraid to make the first move either due to embarrassment, or inexperience. They might be scared to be rejected because they’re not sure whether or not the other person is causually flirting with them, or because the feelings are actually reciprocated. You’ll then have to find a solution to it.

Show the reader how they become more comfortable around each other and how they enjoy the other’s company. Simple ways could be long, easy conversations between them, or simply showing how they’re happy when they’re with the other person. Romantic feelings don’t just occur in two days, people don’t (usually) go saying “I love you” in a week.

In a way, you’re teasing readers with the question “will they, or will they not?”. They’ll be on the edge of their seats, waiting for the moment they finally become official. Therefore, even though slow burns are paced, you don’t want to make them too slow. Not baby steps, toddler steps. Throughout the story, you’re giving out romantic hints. If you want to speed things up, include more obvious ones where character go, “oh my god, they definitely like you!”, and if you want to slow them down, include less subtle ones, and create a small distance between the two people.

In the “talking” stage, there’ll be loads of flirting. This is basically the honeymoon phase. Other characters are going to tease them about it, but the two people will still be unsure. They’ll be texting on phones or sending letters, or talking loads in person. If you’re writing in first person, describe the character’s current feelings. If you’ve got bold characters, use pickup lines, with or without humourous intention. It’s all up to you, and as I always say, do what’s best for your story and the way you want it to go.

As an author writing a slow burn romance, you’d likely want readers to like the couple, and here’s the main way:

- show that they’re “perfect” for each other...

At least for the time being. You’re writing about the present, not the future (that’s for the end of the book where you decide whether or not they end up together). Make them “couple goals”, even though they’re not official yet, where their love is being shown, but not said (yet). This could be through heart-to-heart conversations where they deeply understand each other, or as simple as waiting for each other while the other person is tying their shoelace. All in all, make them happy together. Show that they’re happy with each other— big smiles, laughing at each other’s jokes because they have the same humour, etc.

I’m conflicted about whether or not on-and-off relationships are considered to be slow burn. If the process of it is rapid, I personally think it isn’t, but if it’s a series and there’s a long gap between each breakup and you properly build on it, it could be a slow burn.

Just remember, it’s like any other romantic relationship, except it’s being dragged out. Don’t forget about supporting/ other characters and the subplot/ main plot. You’re still writing a story, and all those aspects make your story ten times more interesting!

#3: 5 things to add more interest to Writing

Alright, real talk. Naturally a lot of writers overlook this part of writing but to me, I find it essential when it comes to writing fiction even though many times writers are already aware of these things. Your book may be doing fine with its technicalities but may lack interest. Below I’m going to list five ways to make your writing more interesting and hopefully, it does help out. 

1) Tension

One of the big reasons a story isn’t interesting enough is because of Lack of Tension. See, without this, none of the characters really want anything from each other so therefore no one is really prevented from achieving their goal. Might as well just resolve the conflict right there because nothing is holding them back, which if you can realize is not an interesting narrative. 

Your characters interests and goals should conflict with each other even if certain characters are on the same side because then readers are truly more interested to see the play of events. 

2) Purpose

When a scene has no purpose, it essentially just slows down pace and kills the momentum. Readers are interested in the story, not the other details of the story that really don’t add much importance. Usually also known as filler which is something that bores readers if they really don’t own any sort of purpose. 

3) Voice 

This is really important but extremely overlooked. Without any voice, it seems like the story is just laid out for the reader without any touch to it. Remember, the character is there because they can see the world different than anyone else. Really, without voice the story is just like a textbook. There’s no presence, no life, no humanity. Adding voice really sparks interest. 

4) Specificity

Specificity is like saying there’s a stack of books or saying there’s a stack of comic books and graphic novels messed up on the shelves. Or that there’s a painting on a wall vs a oil painting on the wall. These are really simple example but adding specificity helps really add to the character or the atmosphere. Specificity adds interest to the story, for example: A stack of books on the shelves really doesn’t say much but specifying that there are comic books and star war novels messily shoved into a book shelve defines the atmosphere and the character itself. 

5) Originality

So, when you write a story, write something that has a taste of originality rather than something familiar. See, what I mean by this is it is okay to write something relatable. Though not to the point its familiar with real life. Okay example, 

Think about reading a text where I, theoretically was the writer, that had a graduation scene describing waiting in line in a gown, shaking hands with the dean and taking my diploma. This is familiar so the reader’s first thought is “why am i being told this?” Everyone has a general idea on what a graduation is even if they never been to one so there’s really no point for me to writing that. To combat this, you can just delete it from the narrative itself, write it in a way where the reader wouldn’t be able to predict that sort of event.

Hopefully this does help and wasn’t super confusing. Peace.

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.”

— David Viscott 

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