GROWING THE LONG CONTEMPORARY
by Joan Kilby

Long contemporary category romances run about 80,000-85,000 words in length. They differ from short contemporary in being more complex, with well-developed subplots and deeper characterization. They utilize the concept of community, that is, an interwoven network of family and friends. They are more realistic in tone and less fantasy-oriented.

CHARACTERS

Every character, major or minor, must have a purpose and a personality appropriate to their role.

Primary: Hero and heroine—Main focus of the book. They drive the central romance plot and determine the overall story needs including secondary characters and subplots. They require in-depth characterization, detailed backstory, strong goals, conflict and motivation.

Secondary: Include best friends, mentors, rivals, siblings, parents, children—They are central to the subplots which impact on and interweave with the main plot. Although less well-developed than the hero and heroine, secondary characters also require strong characterization, story goals and growth arcs. They are the hero/heroine of their own stories. In other words, the subplot is just as important to them as the main plot is to the main characters.

It's mainly the extent to which secondary characters, and the subplots arising from them, are developed that distinguishes the long contemporary from shorter books.

Tertiary: Co-workers, relatives, store clerk—any character encountered by the hero and/or heroine in daily life. They will have fewer defining personality traits but these should be distinctive. They often provide complications to the main story. They may (or may not) have their own (very) simple story arc but it won't have an important impact on the central plot.

For example, in my second book, Temporary Wife, the receptionist, an older woman named Lillian, has a small role in facilitating the hero's activities. To add interest to her character, I gave her a different hair style in every scene in which she appeared. This illustrated her character (she was willing to try new things and kind enough to be a guinea pig for her niece, an apprentice hairdresser) plus added minor story interest—what will Lillian's hair look like this time?

Walk-ons: characters who appear only once or twice. They ground the other characters in the story world and lend colour and verisimilitude to the setting. For example, the chatty hotel doorman who hails a taxi for the heroine during a rainstorm. Sometimes they're used to illustrate a point. Eg, the elderly couple strolling hand in hand who remind the heroine of her dream of a long and happy marriage.

Note: While you want to establish a "real world" for your hero and heroine, be careful not to create too many characters. It'll dilute the story and possibly confuse the reader.

Make the characters you have do double or even triple duty. Eg, the heroine's best friend is also the hero's accountant/lawyer (or whatever pertains to the plot). Combining roles makes the story more complex and textured. This technique increases opportunities for contact between the characters and possibilities for complications.

PLOT VERSUS CHARACTER

"Plot is a vehicle for the character to grow and change."

This is the purpose of plot in a nutshell. Plot exists to illustrate the character arc of a person in conflict who must change in order to resolve that conflict and achieve their goals.

I called this talk "growing" the long contemporary because for me writing is an organic process. It's a little like the chicken and the egg. What comes first—a character or a situation? I usually start with a character, say the hero, and put him in a situation where his life has changed radically for some reason. He must then deal with the situation. How he does that and the choices he makes are dictated by his character. The choices reveal his character and create complications. If the internal conflict caused by external events (plot) is great enough he's forced to reinvent himself, to grow and change into a person who can resolve the issues. Add to this a heroine whose goals are in opposition to the hero's, who's also thrown into a situation where she must make choices and determine a course of action. Her actions have repercussions for a secondary character who is thrown off balance in the pursuit of their own goals in their own subplot which in turn affects the hero. Maybe a tertiary character's innocent remark causes complications that ripple up the line. A little plot, a little character and gradually the story grows into a complex web of interweaving stories.

The more personal the conflict, the more compelling it will be to the reader. What matters to your characters whether they be hero or heroine's best friend? What hits them where they live? This will determine the course of action they take when confronted with a situation unacceptable to their peace of mind.

It's essential for the hero and heroine's goals and motivation to be clear and consistant throughout the book. This isn't as easy as it sounds. At the beginning of a book characters and plot are fluid and able to change at the author's whim. As you get deeper into the book and come to know your characters better you might find that what you wrote in your synopsis isn't going to work anymore because your heroine simply wouldn't do that. Or she changes internally in response to plot and ends up reevaluating her goals. Don't panic. Relax and figure out what she would do. Whenever I'm stuck on a story it's usually because a character's motivation has taken a false turn.

SUBPLOTS AND SECONDARY CHARACTERS

Subplot is your secondary character's story and should form a complete story arc just like the main story. Use subplots to deepen conflict between the hero and heroine and expand the story beyond the two main characters. One or two secondary characters and subplots is usually all you can handle with any depth and complexity in a book of 80- 85,000 words. Make subplots and secondary characters relevant to the primary characters and their story. Secondary characters are three dimensional, human and real. Give their lives colour and detail.

Make their conflicts appropriate to their age/occupation/background. Don't go off on tangents about aspects of their life that have nothing to do with the primary characters. I once read a book with a subplot involving a girl who rented a room in the heroine's house. That was the only connection between the main story and the subplot (about the girl and her petty thief boyfriend). It left me annoyed and bored by the pointless diversion from the central romance.

Weave the main plots and subplots tightly together. A tie-in to subplot is easiest if subplot involves characters near and dear to the main characters. When the primary characters' relationship is in a trough, send the secondary characters' lives soaring. Alternatively, you could send both main and sub plots in the same direction, mood-wise, intensifying the gloom or the joy as the case may be.

The conventions of category romance require that the hero and heroine have a happy ending but you can get away with an open ending for secondary characters. In my Superromance, Temporary Wife, I wrote a subplot involving the hero's assistant, Ernie. Ernie's relationship with his fiance was threatened when he became infatuated with the heroine. Ernie got over his infatuation (with the hero and heroine's help) and his girlfriend took him back but I left it up in the air as to whether they would get married.

STRUCTURING THE LONG CONTEMPORARY

Opening chapters: Set up the story and characters. Establish the conflict between the hero and heroine. Introduce secondary characters and their stories.

Open a topic, get it in the reader's mind with a line or a paragraph then introduce another character or issue, perhaps the estrangement between the hero and his father. Go back to the first thing. Or set up a third. Interweave action and thought/emotional reaction (also known as scene and sequel) of the plot and subplots. Leave scenes with a hook, ie, create suspense in the reader's mind as to what's going to happen in later chapters. Spin that suspense out through the book. Deepen it with subsequent events as the story unfolds.

By chapter three or four, every second or third (or fourth) scene dominated by the main story can be alternated with scenes dealing with the developing subplot(s). There's no hard and fast rule regarding the proportion of main plot to subplot. Do what works for your story. Think cause and effect, action and reaction. Events in the main plot cause changes to the subplot and vice versa. In this way the stories of all the characters become intertwined. I generally try to keep either the hero or heroine on scene most of the time. If they have to be away for plot purposes, make it short.

When you're trying to decide where to go next in your story, remember what I said about plot being the vehicle for character growth and choose scenes that will illustrate the steps along this journey. Remember growth hurts, especially if your character doesn't want to change. Take your characters out of their comfort zone. Dinner and dancing might show your characters falling in love but it's boring to read about. Find a less clichéd setting for them realize they're soul mates (a pet shop, bungee jumping, working together in a soup kitchen) and ditch the dinner and dancing or turn it on its head and make it a scene of conflict.

Secondary character point of view can be used effectively to develop plot and delve into characters' emotions. In Child of His Heart, I used the hero's daughter, Miranda's point of view to show how she's feeling about the situation between her father and the heroine and to move the action forward in scenes in which neither the hero or the heroine appear.

Remember, the hero and heroine's story remains the central focus with subplots used to embellish the main story and enhance conflict. Begin and end the book with the main plot and characters .

GROWING "CHILD OF HIS HEART"

I'll illustrate just how I "grow" my books using examples from my RBY finalist Child of His Heart and concentrating mainly on the interaction between main plot and secondary plot/character.

Hero: Nick—the fire chief, comes to a small town to get his 12 yr old daughter Miranda away from LA and bad company.

Heroine: Erin—after breaking up with her fiancé, Erin returns to her home town to care for her sick grandmother.

I have two characters of similar age who are single and of good health. They would naturally be attracted to each other. What's their conflict?

The more personal the conflict, the more compelling it will be to the reader.

Kids can be a source of conflict in a relationship so I decided to look at Miranda's potential to cause trouble. Miranda is 12 going on 20, causing Nick the high-level paternal anxiety that only a wild teenage daughter can. But what does this have to do with Erin? Janine, Nick's late wife, told him on her death bed that Miranda might not be his biological child. Two years on, Nick is still coming to terms with what this means for his often turbulent relationship with his rebellious daughter.

Nick is trying hard but needs help. Erin is a candidate but she needs to have her own relationship with Miranda independent of her association with Nick. Her getting to know Miranda and gaining the girl's trust becomes important later in the story to further the plot.

Develop complex plot and character relationships between secondary characters and main characters in ways unique to their personalities.

I decided Erin should coach basketball and Miranda should join the team, encouraged by her father to take part in a wholesome activity. This is somewhat arbitrary and convenient on my part but because it doesn't contravene anything else in the two character's personality or goals there's nothing wrong with giving them both a liking for basketball and a reason for getting together without Nick. However it doesn't go far enough to establish emotional connection and trust. One day Erin meets Miranda in the drugstore. Miranda is buying feminine sanitary products for the first time (remember her mother is dead and she's new in town and has no one to ask for help). She's bewildered by the huge choice available but pretends it's nothing. Then, to make matters worse, a boy she likes from school chooses that moment to come into the store. Embarassed and desparate, she turns to Erin for help. Erin feels new compassion for this troubled and difficult girl. Their tentative bond is cemented when Erin confides that she, too, lost her mother at an early age.

Tie subplots involving secondary characters in to the main plot. Use subplots to deepen conflict between the hero and heroine and expand the story beyond the two main characters.

Nick and Erin's budding romance suffers a serious setback when Erin discovers she's pregnant with her ex-fiance's child. The possibility of raising yet another man's child is enough to give Nick second thoughts about getting involved with Erin.

At the beginning of the story Miranda doesn't know Nick might not be her real dad. Then she overhears Nick telling Erin. What are the effects on Miranda and how does this impact the story? Here's where character and plot are intimately intertwined. Miranda, being the rebellious type, decides that if Nick isn't her father she doesn't have to do what he says. Yet for all her bravado, she's still a young girl in desperate need of reassurance that she's loved.

What matters to your character, whether it be your hero's daughter or your heroine's best friend? This will determine the course of action they take when confronted with a situation unacceptable to their peace of mind.

Miranda decides to take a mail order DNA test to determine if she and Nick are related. If not, she intends to run away to LA and find her real father. Since she is only 12 she uses Erin's address without permission to get the DNA results sent to. Erin, when she finds out, is torn between the needs of this motherless girl and the legitmate concerns of her father, between not betraying Miranda's trust and telling Nick the truth. Erin chooses to keep quiet with disasterous consequences to her relationship with Nick when he eventually finds out. When he and Miranda fight and Miranda runs away after angrily proclaiming he's not her father, Nick feels betrayed not only by his daughter, but also by Erin.

Use plot events to force characters out of their comfort zone and take action when they would otherwise choose not to.

Nick and a heavily pregnant Erin put aside their differences to go after Miranda. Erin begins contractions just as she glimpses Miranda in the crowded bus station. Erin finds Miranda hiding in a toilet cubicle, refusing to admit she's there. When Erin's water breaks all over the toilet floor Miranda puts aside her own goal (getting to LA undetected) to help Nick take Erin to the hospital.

Make the resolution of subplots dependent upon events in the main plot and link the two emotionally.

On the way home from the hospital Nick tells Miranda that the DNA test she used wasn't conclusive but it doesn't matter because he will always love her and be her dad even if she isn't his biological daughter. After witnessing Erin's baby being born he's realized that Miranda, like Erin's baby, is a child of his heart, and that's the true meaning of being a father.

© 2003 Joan Kilby. Not to be reprinted without permission of author.