I'm a huge fan of the show The Good Place. If you haven't seen it, what have you been watching? (It finishes this week so you can binge the whole series soon!) The premise is that a group of people find themselves in the afterlife, one of whom is certain that she shouldn't be in the Good Place because of the life she led before her death, and so she sets out to learn how to be a better person. I won't say more than that to not spoil the twists and turns of the story, but hijinks ensue. It’s hilarious, it’s clever, it’s making philosophy fun, it’s got a couple of love stories running through it, and it’s never, ever boring—it’s constantly remaking itself and resetting the parameters of the story and the expectations of the viewers. And yet, it still manages to stay consistent and build on what it’s already been done.
At this point, I know you're asking "but, Sarah, what does this have to do with romance?" Hang on...
The creator of The Good Place, Mike Schur, was interviewed for the first episode of The Good Place: The Podcast (June 1, 2018) and in that interview, he talks about brainstorming and the complicated premise of the show and how they put it all together. But what I found really interesting was what he said about the requirements for each episode:
Before the writers started working on the first season, I wrote a list of six things on the wall that every episode had to do:
Is it funny?
Are the characters being developed?
Does the episode ask and answer a question about ethics?
Is it compelling?
Is it consistent with the long game?
Are we making use of this premise?
These are great bases for questions that anyone creating stories should ask themselves when they write scenes/chapters/however you subdivide your story. With a few tweaks to Mike Schur’s formula, here’s what those questions might look like for romance writers:
Is it romantic, i.e. leading to an HEA?
Is the scene showing us something about the romantic interest of the main characters? It could be the MCs talking to each other or it could be very indirect—like one of the MCs talking to a friend about work—but the scene should serve a purpose later on in explaining something about that character that affects the love story.
Are the characters being developed?
For my money, characterization is one of the—if not the—most vital component of a romance. In a genre so driven by common tropes, memorable characters help you stand out, so you have to make sure they come through clearly.
Does the scene ask and answer a question about [the theme]?
Making sure each scene reflects the theme of the story is going to create a more cohesive whole. What is your theme? (It could be something as simple and as broad as “love conquers all” or something more specific about the world you’ve set the story in, like the vagaries of fame or duty vs desire.) What is the scene saying about it?
Is it compelling?
This is something any creative has to ask. If a scene is boring and unnecessary, cut it. If it’s boring and necessary, why is it necessary and why isn’t the urgency of that coming through? How do you make it un-boring?
Is it consistent with the larger story you’re telling?
Every scene has to do something to forward the story. There has to be a reason for each scene, and it should help tie everything together at the end. If it’s not doing that, ask why it’s there.
Are you making use of the tropes or premise that the story is based on?
What is the story hinging on? Can you play with those tropes and subvert them in new and interesting ways? (If you need a trope refresher, grab my trope guide here!)
There are so many things to keep track of when you write, but these six points would be good to have on your wall too so you can quickly check in and make sure that you’re hitting them as you go. Take it from Mike Schur: this is how you get a successful network sitcom romance novel.