Love and Danger: Why Romance and Suspense Are a Perfect Match

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnn Mills

Love and danger have caught the reader’s attention since the beginning of time. Storytellers gathered faithful listeners around a crackling fire and told stories that caused others to tremble with danger and swoon with romance. The match seems perfect, but why does it work?

The following parts of a novel show why love and danger are popular features in our fiction. The romance and suspense have equal billing. That’s a necessity for the romantic suspense genre.

Characters

Romantic suspense always has a hero and a heroine. The reader sees two balanced characters who have traits that show both are strong individuals. They are not equal but complement each other with their unique skills, wisdom, knowledge, expertise, strong values, and experience. The hero and heroine share the goal of stopping an antagonist, be it a person, nature, mental, or an alien encounter. The heroine does not need the hero as her knight in shining armor. Neither does the hero need the heroine as his knightess in glittery robes.

Emotion

The hero and heroine are passionate about ending the crisis. Their emotions are initially for those who will suffer if the antagonist is successful. The two are courageous and willing to take risks that most of us fear. The seven universal emotions are repeated throughout the story: surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, happiness, and contempt.

The respect the two have for each other will escalate to friendship and more by the end of the story. This is the romance aspect, which brings the writer to the next point.

Danger

The hero and heroine experience various types of danger throughout the story. The danger is psychological (unique to the character’s personality and life experiences), professional (again this can be unique to the character), and physical.

Emotions play a critical role in danger:

1. If the hero and heroine verbally confess their growing attraction, their work ethics can be compromised. Each could be guilty of putting the case/plot or themselves in danger by reacting unwisely to a dangerous situation.
2. Feelings of endearment must be constrained until the big crisis is over. Sometimes they creep through, and that’s all a part of showing humanity.

Plot

The storyline contains missing details in the way of information, the antagonist, the outcome if the antagonist isn’t stopped, and continuous threats. The writer creates emotional tension, stress, and conflict in the reader’s mind, causing concern and worry. Much is at stake if the hero and heroine fail.

Dialogue

Dialogue must always create tension between the characters, even between those who usually agree or are family or friends. Dialogue is filled with double meaning or subtext. *Think of your mother claiming, “What you are not saying speaks louder than what you are saying.”

Considerations include the emotional tension in the romantic relationships and the dialogue with other protagonists or antagonists. What is said. What is not said. What the characters know about each other. Is a character seeking information, to manipulate, betray, or explain?

That brings us to word choice.

Word Choice

Word choice is a powerhouse for the romantic suspense writer. Personality, emotion, genre, plot, and romance weave into a tapestry of who the character is talking to and the motivation for the conversation or internal dialogue.

If the narrative or dialogue is focused on a romantic setting for the hero or heroine, the word choice is flowery, musical, using soft consonants and long vowels. Open body language and kind gazes are part of the word choice.

If the conversation is blunt, suspenseful, or threatening, the word choice uses hard consonants. Short sentences. Stiffened posture. Closed body language and gestures to go with it.

Always emotion and always body language and motivation.

Point of View

Point of view is a treasure chest for the romantic suspense novel. The scene is written in the point of view of whoever has the most to lose and the most to gain in the scene.

Another aspect of point of view is the character’s faith or morals. How does the character view romance and suspense?

Setting

I believe every scene should have an antagonistic setting—an underlying opposition to whatever is the character’s goal in the scene. This works wonderfully in the romance and plot.

The next time you read or write a romantic suspense, think about the traits of the genre that make love and danger a perfect match.

What do you look for in a romantic suspense novel?