Rules for Writing Romantic Suspense

[Cara Cilento]

The construction of a romantic suspense book is key to keeping readers engaged. In a romance book, the protagonists' emotions, wants, doubts, and personalities are the building blocks of the love tale. Conversely, a suspense novel builds tension piece by piece by using facts, innuendo, atmosphere, and action. When you combine the two, you get a romantic suspense novel. Sounds easy,? Not so. The blending of the two must yield a multi-layered tale in which seemingly unrelated threads are intertwined, not just two storylines running parallel. Readers expect a romance novel to have a continuous, evolving relationship between the covers. Between the pages of a suspense story, we expect to find something unknown – a suspicion, a mystery, or a threat. Outside tension is therefore as important and its building must be as careful as that of emotional and sexual tension. But how do we do that?  

Here are some tips from Meg Tilly.

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