When I'm Sorry Was Enough

We have all heard or used the phrase, "Get over yourself." We know what that means. This is simply a you problem and once you deal with it, the issue is over. And this, my friends, is what I see too often in romance submissions lately. The characters simply have to get over themselves and just move on. 

What we are dealing with here are stories that are simply lacking conflict. When the characters are in situations like this, we would simply call this a complication. In other words, once they come to grips of simply saying, "OK, I can have this relationship" then the story is over. Bada Bing, Bada Boom.

They kiss and make up and we are at that happily ever after. What is unfortunate is that more often than not, authors have created scenarios where this can happen before the half-way mark in the book. And then, they spend the rest of the book filling it with mindless drivel and pointless scenes just to drag it out and make the story longer. That just makes the story repetitious and boring.

What we really want to see is a conflict. This is something that is truly standing in the way of the characters achieving their goal. It is problem they will have to solve, and in the case of a romance, they will likely have to figure out how to do this together. The conflict cannot be an easy solution either. For example. The hero and heroine are trying to build a relationship, while at the same time trying to build a career. Now they find themselves competing for a job, or the jobs might take them to different parts of the world. At some point, something is going to have to give. Is it the relationship, or will someone have to give up all or a part of their dream career to make the relationship work. 

You see, this is not a simple as saying, "I'm sorry."

Now, let me add here, that readers DO NOT want the author to jump in at the last minute and save the day for the characters by throwing the Fairy Godmother at them and saving the day for them. For example, the owner of the company suddenly pulling money out of his "you know what" and now deciding he had money in the budget to hire two people instead of one. This is like the stories where we find out in the last 5 minutes of the movie that there was a dead uncle that left the family $10 million dollars after we spent the entire movie getting the couple to solve their own problem. This means all of that hard work early on was pointless. 

So, if you want to submit to me, make sure you have a REAL conflict and not a complication.