Welcome to HEA Writing Week 2025 – the character study! All week, we’re going to build characters that can carry your romance novel from the first page to the last. Though we all love a straight-laced over-achiever, brooding cowboy or lovable cinnamon roll, the world of romance characters is your oyster.
As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “character is plot”, which means your characters need to be as multi-faceted as their situations. For the next five days, we will cover everything from the basics to the backstory to secondary characters that fill out a story. If you’re a regular on Write for Harlequin, you know we talk a lot about GMC – how Goal, Motivation, Conflict set stories in motion. We will get to that later in the week too.
Today’s goal is to sketch out ideas that you can develop into living and breathing characters. Close your eyes and imagine someone you’d like to meet in a romance novel. Use the character worksheet below to jot down ideas and check out our editors’ tips to stimulate your thinking about the dreamiest characters you’d ever want to meet.
The Basics
Start with key traits. What is your character’s name and age? What do they look like? Where do they live and what do they do for a living? What outward feature or personality trait might the opposite character notice immediately? What kind of person are they?
Next, give some thought to how your characters are shaped by their environment and people around them so they feel more three dimensional. Who are their families? Friends? Mentors? Nemeses? Jot them down and we’ll talk about secondary characters on Day 5.
Make sure your character sketch is not all backstory. Readers want to instantly visualize your characters as they are in the moment. Editors often see that authors put a lot of time into setting up a character’s backstory, but editors want to know who the character is as the story opens.
It Takes Two
In many fiction genres, there’s a dominant character or narrator who drives the story. Romance novels feature two characters on a path to finding love. The characters need to be attracted to each other, of course, and readers need to see what’s happening in the hearts and minds of both characters as the romantic tension builds. This is why romance novels are typically written with an alternating dual point of view. The point is, think about both characters early on.
We will dive into this on Day 4, but this is also a good time to consider how they will come into conflict. Do conflicting internal values and beliefs pose an obstacle to falling in love? What opposing external goals block their relationship? These questions will lead you to visual the romantic conflict that the characters must resolve to be together in the end.
Make Them Unique
Imbuing your characters with an interesting trait or defining characteristic, or layering in something surprising about them, is a great way to hook readers. Do they have a special talent, a secret passion or a unique job that adds another dimension? Generic characters lead to generic books, so take care to avoid clichés that make characters feel wooden and hard for readers to relate to.
Raise the Stakes
Think about what’s personally at stake for the character in the story. If the personal stakes are high, it’s going to help keep the reader engaged and set up the conflict with the other romantic character.
The stakes will be higher the more personal you make it to your character. The character needing to deliver a project in order to get a promotion is a goal with some stakes. The character needing to get a promotion or else she can’t afford her kid’s cancer treatment is a goal with higher stakes because it’s more personal.
Understand That Your Characters Will Change
Watching characters grow is exciting for readers. Who they are on the first page shouldn’t be who they are on the last. Giving characters a core belief that will be challenged during the story sets the stage for some type of evolution that will help to keep your readers turning pages. Be open to changes!
Let’s Go!
Today’s activity is to let your imagination run and sketch out a few different characters you can play with this week on our helpful worksheet. Dream away and have fun!
Download the worksheet here. Print it or recreate it in your notebook. Once you’re done, check in over on the Write for Harlequin Facebook Community to see how other writers are crafting their characters.
We’re so excited to kick off this year’s HEA Writing Week! Don’t forget about the two live events running this Wednesday and Friday. Register below!
What are today’s readers looking for in lovable heroes? Romance editor Hannah Rossiter will delve into the contemporary Alpha Hero, explain how to navigate tricky tropes like workplace romances, and explore what gives readers the “ick” or makes them fall – hard! – for a hero.
Bring your work-in-progress and close out the week with a live Writing Sprint! This guided, live-streamed event with your Write for Harlequin host Carol Dunsmore gives you an uninterrupted hour to write and then share your progress with fellow writers. Writers love these fun events so give it a try!
