Heather Burch | Realism in Romance

It’s not the fact that characters are or aren’t real that draws readers. It’s the fact that they are relatable.

One of the most important elements in writing a realistic and believable romance is identification. Can the audience identify with the protagonist? One of the things readers desire in a book is that the characters be like us, but just a little bit more. They are the rare girl back in high school who was pretty but also sweet. They are the guy with swag but also with a heart of gold. Building realism in contemporary romance is as easy as building believable characters. In ALONG THE BROKEN ROAD, my new novel, Charlee McKinley is faced with a dilemma we can all identify with. She’s living out her dream of running an artists’ retreat in the Ozark Mountains—a project she and her mother began before her mother’s death—only to discover the retreat takes all her time and energy leaving no room for her art. Ever been there? Ever start something only to discover the reality doesn’t meet the dream? I think most of us have.

We can relate to Charlee. She’s like us. But how do we use that relatablility without making two dimensional characters?

Building great characters has to do with the tension we create for them. I love the idea of my characters being ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They don’t have to be saving the world, but their battles need to be strong, powerful, a challenge that the readers wonders how the character can possibly overcome. The hero and heroine need to have a level of character that surpasses the turmoil they are thrown into by the author.

Here are three elements of great fiction.

1. An unforgettable character

2. An impossible situation

3. A relentless threat

Think of your favorite book. I bet all three of these elements are there. Remember, a threat doesn’t have to be physical. It can be emotional, relational, mental, it can be time, it can be fear. Whatever the threat, it must be relentless.

In ALONG THE BROKEN ROAD, Charlee has a soft spot for soldiers, so when one shows up on her doorstep, her heart is torn. She has four brothers all deployed and fighting on foreign soil. Her mother is dead and her father, a major in the army died last year in combat. Spending time with a soldier—any soldier—is a constant reminder of her pain, her fear for her brothers’ lives, the family she’s already lost. So what does she do? She gives him a job, of course. From the beginning of the book, my goal was to establish Charlee as a character we can relate to but also a character we can look up to. She is one part us and one part hero.

As a reader, I want to experience characters I can admire. As an author I want to write characters that burrow under the readers’ skin and never leave them. Characters readers think about long after the last page is turned. If I’ve done that, I’ve accomplished my mission. Happy reading!

ALONG THE BROKEN ROAD is book one in the Roads to River Rock series. Book two is titled, DOWN THE HIDDEN PATH and releases in December.

About Heather Burch

Heather Burch’s debut novel, Halfling, was released to critical acclaim in 2012 and garnered praise from USA Today, Booklist, Romantic Times, and Publishers Weekly. Her 2014 release, One Lavender Ribbon, was a #1 bestselling book on Amazon and received an award for having 175,000 Kindle First readers. She writes full-time in Southern Florida in a house where she is the only female. This led her to an interest in the relationships that form between men, especially soldiers, which she explores in her Roads to River Rock series. She lives to write unforgettable stories that make hearts sigh.

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About ALONG THE BROKEN ROAD

Armed with only a journal and a promise, soldier Ian Carlisle returns home to fulfill his friend’s dying wish: to find the man’s daughter and read her his journal, one page at a time. The woman he finds in River Rock, Missouri, is just as warmhearted, artistic, and feisty as her father described. Ian had fallen in love with Charlee McKinley before he even met her, but he has no idea if she’ll ever return his feelings.

Charlee loved her father—but she didn’t like him very much. Regimental and strict, Major Mack never approved of his daughter’s choices. So when a down-on-his-luck soldier arrives on Charlee’s doorstep, she’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, but not her heart. It isn’t until he starts reading to her that the beautiful, touching words begin to unlock something deep inside. But when Ian reveals a secret that shakes Charlee to her core, will she close herself off to love out of fear?