by D.S. Murphy | Writing
Five tropes show up again and again in YA paranormal romance: the love triangle, the best friends, the magic, the identity issues and the big satisfying ending.
I’ve been skimming through some YA paranormal romance titles. Some of them are decent. Some aren’t. I’m reading one now that’s good but also incredibly cliche. And that’s not a bad thing. I want my books to hit all the same buttons.
I need to recognize what elements are so ‘overused’ in paranormal YA romance writing, so that I can make sure I have them in mine as well.
So here goes: this is a list of character-based considerations you probably need to have in your YA romance book if you want it to be a bestseller.
1. Love Triangle
Usually there’s the good boy and the bad boy.
Both like her for strange reasons. The bad boy is a rebel, with leather pants and tattoos and a motorcycle. Probably with long hair. She’s really attracted to him but hates him too, for making her feel this way. And he probably is mean to her, or ignores her, or can’t stand her for some reason. She feels stupid and judged and angry. The bad guy is openly flirtatious and hostile at the same time. His sexual innuendos leave her red-faced and speechless. He has a “sardonic smirk” (almost always, even though I hate that phrase). And often, olive skin, black hair and green eyes (apparently the “perfect man”). She feels chemistry.
He has a grown up, muscular, man’s body. He’s confident and fearless.
The good boy is a nice guy. Well dressed, cute, charming and friendly – a gentleman and a supporter. He makes her feel good about herself… but she’s not into him the same way. But she wants to like him. Because he’s a smart, safe choice.
Of course she can’t stop thinking about the bad boy. “Why the hell does he hate me? He doesn’t even know me!” Which makes her subconsciously eager to prove herself to him.
She’s usually in a school or environment that forces her to work with or be close to the bad guy who she has so much tension with.
Sometimes these roles are reversed, and she ends up with the good guy anyway (after at least kissing the bad guy, then finding out what a jerk he is).
Either guy might have a super hot girlfriend, or at least a girl who likes him, but he quickly breaks it off, probably because of a fight about the heroine. “I’m not blind, I can see the way you look at her!”
2. Best Friends
She also has two best friends; a girl who’s indignant and supportive, and a guy who is empathetic and understanding (and either gay or secretly in love with her). These friends allow conversation, chatting, fleshing out ideas. If they are far away it can be through chat, email or phone calls.
3. Magic
That’s the hot, sexy romance stuff that needs to be there to get the right kind of mood and attention. But then there should probably also be the magic side (for YA, paranormal or dystopian romance sells better than straight romance).
This includes some of the “hero’s quest” journey. She has powers she can’t control. She doesn’t know who she is. She accidentally hurts someone, or flares out – she’s scared of herself and her abilities. But she meets other people, who do know what she is… and they tell her she’s special. Chosen. Powerful. Perfect in her own way. (Even if she’s a demon).
There’s probably some supernatural, eternal conflict coming to a head, and both sides wants to find her and claim her (or destroy her).
4. Identity Issues
She doesn’t know who she really is. Her mother or father or both are dead; missing or murdered, maybe mysteriously. One of them might turn out to be not really dead. If so, they’re probably on the other side. She has memories that don’t make sense. Things that can’t have really happened.
5. Satisfying conclusion
Eventually, she learns to harness her powers and protect herself and her loved ones. She gets the boy she wants or likes to fall in love with her (or she learns enough about herself to fall for the nice, safe guy who loves her… probably not though. It’s usually the bad boy). The villains are defeated in a big battle; probably temporarily (so we can write more books in the series).
What does this tell us about teenage girls?
I’m not going to pretend I have any idea. As a guy, the realities of female emotion seem nonsensical, illogical to me. But I can recognize that certain situations and themes appeal to them, and I can satisfy those longings by including them in my YA paranormal fiction.
Edit: Ok actually, it’s not that hard to figure out. Teenage girls hate their boring lives, always feel conflicted about their emotions, aren’t sure what they really want, wish they were living a magical adventure and had more power and respect, and hot guys looking at them like nobody else ever existed. They want to be in control of their own destinies and they want their lives to have purpose and meaning.
by D.S. Murphy | Writing
How do you write books that readers love? The short answer on this page: write for the readers of a popular genre instead of for yourself, and expect the book itself to take a lot of rewriting.
Your first book is practice
The first novel I tried to write was the one I wanted to. My passion project. The one that took all of my beliefs about the world and had the character shout them to the reader. The writing was actually pretty damn good. Maybe better than my writing today (Purple Prose wise… I’m now much more like Hemingway; terse and simple).
But I could never finish the story. I wasn’t mature enough as a writer. I didn’t have the experience. Your FIRST BOOK is the beginning of a new hobby. The first thousand hours you spend writing it is JUST PRACTICE.
It probably won’t be your masterpiece. That’s a hard lesson to learn. All those great characters and chapters… hidden in a drawer. Nobody will ever read them. Even if I dust off that project some day – and I probably will – I doubt I’ll use the same scenes or characters. They will have matured with me.
Write for readers, not for pure art
But there’s something else.
I used to write for me. I don’t anymore. I don’t write for Pure Art. I write for readers. I write stories I hope know they’ll enjoy. When people ask what kind of stuff I write, I answer “Bestselling Fiction.”
What does that mean? It means I take hot, popular genres with millions of hungry readers, I read a bunch of bestselling books in that genre, and I figure out how I can write a story that’s as good as those other books. I know I need similar characters, plot devices, setting and heroes. I can make it unique, different, new and interesting, but I’m still trying to make those readers happy by ticking certain boxes and surprising them at the same time.
It’s not the readers’ job to discover and appreciate my book. And it shouldn’t be my job to market it at them and try to get them to read it. If I write the right book; the book that fits perfectly into the genre and satisfies overdelivers to their expectations, my book will become a bestseller.
The hard part is writing the book
Except that…
It’s a shit ton of work. The hard part of writing the book is writing the book.
How a book actually gets written
I love this answer from Neil Gaimon, where he makes up a crazy and inventive mythical process that makes writing easy (of course it doesn’t really exist).
The only way to write a book is to plan it out. Sketch the scenes. Figure out the conflict and plot twists and ending.
Then start filling in the blanks, going through each chapter and writing down what happens. Then going back through and improving every chapter. Then getting frustrated and unsure of what you’re doing. Then revising and moving things around and changing stuff; then writing all the chapters over again. Then changing your introduction or hooks, and endings; then adding some character development and motivation. And then finally, after all that is done, going through it again and improving the actual writing to make it halfway decent. And then again and making it pretty darn good. And then again if you want your prose to shine and touch readers.
How long it takes
This could all easily take a year. I’m going to try and do it faster, by giving up my day job and writing 100% of the time with no distractions or obligations. I expect to be making a full-time living off my writing after the first year. But I’ll never know if I don’t commit and try.
by D.S. Murphy | Publishing, Writing
YA dystopian means young adult fiction set in a broken society: a repressive government or system, a teenage protagonist who is forced to fight it, and stakes high enough that failure could end her world. The “YA” part is the age of the lead and the coming-of-age arc; the “dystopian” part is the ruined, controlled world she has to survive.
If you came here for the one-line answer, that is it. Below is what actually marks the genre, the books everyone means when they say it, and how the romance fits in, because “dystopian romance meaning” is the other thing people search. The rest of this page is my own working notes on writing one.
What makes a book YA dystopian
A dystopia is a society that has been organized into something cruel and called it normal. YA dystopian adds a teenage lead who sees through it and gets pulled into resisting it. The markers below are the ones that show up again and again.
- A tyrant or oppressive system. A government or power with no freedom, no hope, and usually a secret at the center of it.
- Complacency. Nobody is happy, but nobody rebels. People walk the line because they are afraid or because they have given up.
- Violence. Often involving teens, guns, death, and gore. The world is dangerous and the story does not look away.
- An inciting event. Something forces the protagonist onto a path she cannot refuse, often at the cost of someone she loves.
- Love interests. Usually at least two, and usually complicating everything.
- A revolution. The protagonist becomes a symbol or a leader, and her role in freeing her people comes before her own happiness.
Famous YA dystopian examples
When people say YA dystopian, they usually mean a handful of books that defined the shelf. The Hunger Games is the clearest example: a controlling government, a teenage girl forced into violence, and a revolution she ends up leading. Divergent does the same with a society split into factions. The 5th Wave and Wayward Pines push it toward the postapocalyptic end, where the world has already broken and the characters are trying to survive what is left.
That last point matters for the definition. Dystopian and postapocalyptic are often shelved together, but they are not the same thing: dystopian is a controlled society, postapocalyptic is what comes after the collapse. Plenty of YA books blend the two.
What about dystopian romance?
“Dystopian romance” is the same genre with the love story pushed to the front. The world is still broken and the stakes are still high, but the emotional engine is the relationship between the lead and her love interest (or interests). The romance does not replace the revolution; it runs alongside it, and the tension comes from the character having to choose between saving her people and letting herself be happy.
If you want titles rather than definitions, our recommended YA dystopian books list is the place to start. For the ones with the biggest revolutionary streak, see the best YA dystopian books that made us want to overthrow the government.
How to write a YA dystopian novel
If you are writing one, the genre gives you a useful set of levers. Start with the system: what does it control, and what does it tell people so they accept it? Then give your protagonist a reason she cannot walk away, a personal cost that makes the inciting event impossible to refuse. From there the revolution is the spine, and the romance is what makes the reader care about the person leading it.
If you are drafting one yourself, the writing and publishing advice for fiction authors hub has the craft side.
My notes on writing one
I’m in the process of writing 5 YA (young adult) novels. As young adult novels, the protagonist in all of these novels are teenage girls. There may or may not also be some teenage guys involved. Well – there definitely are some of course as romantic interest, but I haven’t decided if they will get their own voice or if I stay with only one narrator for each book.
But I’m also currently reading some dystopian/postapocalyptic novels, like Wayward Pines and Dust and The 5th Wave. And I’m making some notes about how elements I need to include in my novels. And I got a little confused, because while most of my novels play with Armageddon settings (the stakes are high enough that failure could mean the end of civilization), my novels all start from the Ordinary World. So they are actually more paranormal romance than they are dystopian.
And I’m almost bummed out, because it would be so much easier to start after the end of the world. Everybody died. The lead characters are already dead and broken and hopeless, just trying to survive. But they find hope and meaning in their love for each other. That’s a simple plot. And it’s exciting. Start with the action. The first scenes can be gore and violence.
In my books, the first scenes are boring high school stuff. A call to adventure, sure… but I’m showing the ordinary world as a foil; so that eventually the heroine will look back and see how far she’s come. She’ll have something to miss.
That means my books are going to be a little bit slower. I’ll have to work harder to add in some early intrigue. I’ll have to work harder to establish the narrator’s voice and personality. And also show her develop in a satisfying way. In dystopian/postapocalyptic, the character can start out broken. The author doesn’t need to show heartbreak. In my novels, I’ll have to introduce a current or past event that makes them afraid, distrustful, uncertain… afraid to love.
I’ll have to throw a lot of shit their way, to force them to become the strong characters I need them to be by the end. This might not all be able to happen in the first book. Maybe the first book is just about survival. They just have to not die.
There are also some elements of dystopian fiction, however, I’ll see if I can work into my stories. I’ve made a convenient list for you.
Tyrant
A dystopian needs a tyrant, an oppressive government/society without freedom. A place with no hope. Cruel and unjust. A secret conspiracy.
Complacency
Nobody is happy… but they don’t rebel. They walk the line. They don’t have a leader.
Violence
Probably involving teens and kids with guns, and death and gore.
Inciting Event
The protagonist gets forced onto a path of action that’s impossible for her to refuse. She does the best she can. It may involve sacrificing herself to save someone she loves (a family member).
Love interest (x2)
There’s usually at least 2 main love interests.
There’s a lost guy, she gives him meaning and purpose.
He wants to save/protect her.
She wants to be strong and pushes him away. They fight because she refuses to accept help. He can be controlling and overprotective. He’s dark and secretive.
The other guy is happy, confident, funny and friendly. She should like him. He likes her. But she doesn’t feel that way about him. This other guy may turn out to be the bad guy. She has mixed feelings; because she does like him a little. Maybe they kiss. Maybe she’s attracted to him.
A revolution
She becomes a revolutionary hero, and leads an uprising. Her role is more important than sorting out her relationships, so she stalls on that front and ignores her feelings. She won’t let herself be happy until her people are free.
She feels bad about killing, at first, but gets better at it.
YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy
If you took out the “dystopian” part, but kept the YA – you’d still get the love interests. Instead of a tyrant, you’d have an evil force or power – she has something he wants. She’s the only one who can stop him. She discovers she has powers; powers that are mysteriously and abnormally strong.
She has a best friend who’s ordinary (and might have a crush on her… but she doesn’t feel that way about him/her).
Daddy Issues
In any kind of YA, parentage is important. Usually one or both parents are missing – assumed dead. Later we may discover they aren’t really dead. They are in prison; or they are the enemy; or something else happened. The protagonist finds out that through her parents she is irrevocably tied to the core plot. Her father started this. Her mother is the villain. She inherited powers through one of them. Maybe we find out that her parents aren’t really her parents, and her new boyfriend is actually her brother.
Dealing with these revelations is part of the character coming to grips with her new self.
What else am I missing? Tell me in the comments!
