Do Not Fear the Archetype, the Trope, or the Formula

As a romance author I hear this all the time: “Oh, I don’t read romance. It’s all the same.” Or “I would never write romance, it’s just formula.” Or “Writing romance must be so easy, you just follow the formula.”

Well, friends, let me tell you, mysteries follow a formula. Sci fi, fantasy, and thrillers do as well. Nearly all books follow a “formula”. It’s called a story structure and if we didn’t follow it our readers would either be confused or dissatisfied. Unless you are writing “literary fiction” all readers expect the same thing to happen at certain points in the story.

Ready for it? Here’s the formula:

· Inciting Event

· First Major Turning Point

· Climax

· Dark Moment

· Resolution

That’s it! That is the formula for writing a book. Easy right? Just fill those in and — boom! — you’ve got a story!

Now wait a minute, I hear you say, those are just the major beats that can be found in nearly all pieces of fiction. That’s Freytag’s Pyramid. You probably studied it in your English class in high school.

Well, I’m sorry to say, that is the formula used by romance authors. There is no other. It is the basis of all stories.