How to Turn Your YA Romance Story Ideas Into Compelling Plots
You have a notebook full of amazing YA romance story ideas, but when you sit down to write, you struggle to turn those concepts into well-structured plots. You want to write stories that are deeper than just “boy meets girl, they fall in love.” But how do you take your ideas and flesh them out into interesting, multi-dimensional narratives?
Many aspiring writers get stuck at the plotting stage. The good news is there are some key strategies you can use to build your ideas into rich, engaging plots that will keep your readers turning pages!
Start with a central conflict
Every good story needs a central conflict that drives the plot forward. In a YA romance, this is usually more than just “will they or won’t they get together.” Think about what is keeping your characters apart. Some ideas:
- They’re from different social circles or cliques at school
- Their families disapprove of the relationship for some reason
- One of them is already in a relationship
- There’s an imbalance of power or popularity between them
- They have opposing life goals or plans for the future
- They have clashing beliefs, values, or cultural backgrounds
Develop your main characters
Compelling characters are the heart of any good story. In a YA romance, you need at least two well-developed main characters that readers will root for. Here are some ideas:
- Give them unique personalities, quirks, talents, flaws, and backstories
- Develop their individual goals, motivations, and fears – what do they want and why
- Highlight the ways they are similar and different from each other – what attracts them, and what causes friction?
- Have them make difficult choices throughout the story that reveal their true character
- Give them opportunities to be brave, vulnerable, kind, and selfish – let readers see all their sides
- Avoid clichés unless they serve the characters or the story
Use the supporting cast
Don’t just focus on the two main characters. Develop an interesting supporting cast of friends, enemies, family members, teachers, etc. Here are some ideas on how to utilise supporting characters:
- Have them provide advice, support, or a listening ear for your main characters, helping them navigate their feelings and conflicts
- Use them to introduce new complications or obstacles in the main relationship, like disapproval, jealousy, or misunderstandings
- Let them be comic relief or a source of levity to balance out the heavier emotional moments in the story
- Have them act as foils to your main characters, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses through contrast or comparison
- Give them their own subplots and character arcs that intersect with and impact the main storyline
- Use them to raise the stakes by putting them in danger or jeopardy as a result of the main characters’ actions or choices
Raise the stakes
Think about how you can raise the stakes throughout the story to keep readers engaged. What’s at risk if the characters don’t get together?
- Put the relationship at risk — make them choose between love and something else important to them (family, friends, dreams, etc.)
- Introduce a ticking clock element — give the characters a limited time to overcome the obstacles or make a crucial decision
- Have actions or choices unintentionally hurt each other or the people they care about
- Raise the external conflicts to be life-or-death, not just inconveniences – put characters in physical danger as a result of the romance
- Reveal new information that changes everything the characters thought they knew, forcing them to question the relationship
- Make the characters sacrifice or lose something important to be together, and make them grapple with whether it’s worth the cost
Add twists and turns
Don’t let your plot be too predictable. Throw in some unexpected twists and turns in the relationship to keep readers on their toes. Some examples could be:
- Reveal that one someone has been keeping a major secret that changes the relationship when revealed
- Have a supporting character turn out to be working against the central relationship for their own reasons
- Introduce a love triangle, forcing the main characters to question their feelings
- Reveal a shared history or connection they didn’t know about, casting the relationship in a new light
- Have the characters break up or be separated due to a misunderstanding or outside force
- Include a major plot twist that isn’t directly related to the romance, but that impacts the characters and their relationship in a significant way
Create a satisfying resolution
Ultimately, readers want to see the characters end up together (it is a romance, after all). But that doesn’t mean the ending has to be all sunshine and rainbows. Here are some ideas for a satisfying resolution:
- Have the characters end up together, but make them earn their happy ending by overcoming the conflicts and growing as individuals
- Show how the relationship has transformed the characters for the better, and how they’re now stronger together than apart
- Resolve the external plot conflicts in a way that feels authentic and earned, not just convenient or contrived
- Give the characters a moment of romantic triumph where they declare or demonstrate their love in a meaningful way
- Hint at the future and the challenges they may still face, but make it clear they’ll face them together
- Leave the reader feeling like the characters are going to be okay, and that their love story will continue beyond the final page
