Building Romance

An Honor at Stake post

I've obviously done romance before, but mostly as a subplot in the books I've written.

With Codename: Winterborn, for example, there were two reltionships going on.  One was between Kevin Anderson and his wife.  The other was with hunter and prey, and even then, it was a little odd. It was very, very ...Laura, really.**  Though the main plot is heavy on the action.

[**Laura, a murder mystery in which a detective falls in love with the victim through her portrait. In the case of Codename: Winterborn, it was via files and seeing him in action]

With Codename: Winterborn, however, this took place over months, the average romance novel takes, what, days? A week or two? Then jumping into bed like sex-starved hyenas during mating season?  I think the longest was a Kenyon novel called Fantasy Lover where holding off on sex was a massive plot point.

The closest to falling in love in a matter of days was Scott Murphy and Manana Shushurin in A Pius Man, and the rest of the Pius Trilogy (books two and three take place over the course of a week or so).

But now, Honor At Stake ...

I wanted a damn love story. Something that looks real.  Something that feels real.  Something that takes time to develop.

Reason #3 why Honor At Stake takes place over the course of 9 months.

How do I do that?

The casual visitor to this blog says: "Well, Declan, you've been in love before, right? Use your real love life."

I say: “Have you read my blogs about my love life?”

Yeah.  Fun fact, any relationship of mine that survived in real life for any length of time was unreal in so many ways, I can't even describe it without people calling me a liar.

Hell, I don't even believe my own love life.

Besides, I suspect that a love story that is a blow by blow of a real relationship would probably bore the crap out of most people.

However, I am a follower of one of the better romances on television: Castle.

Yes, Castle.  It has character development, a relationship that grows out from mutual attraction, to partnership, to friendship, and then to love. Heck, I've got one review that noted that's how it should work, but let's face it, when else do you see that in the romance genre? The phrase “Let’s just be friends” is pretty much the end of any romantic relationship — in romance, and in my own experience.

And, along the way, basically everyone else sees this relationship except these two.

In Honor At Stake, with Marco Catalano and Amanda Colt, oy, these two have got relationships baggage that look like Samsonite, or maybe a Haliburton.  Emotional issues? Well, one's a vampire, the other is a killer, what do you think?

There is also, of course, the belief that some people have that they are unloveable.

Not that I knew anything about that, of course.

So you have two creatures of the night — one who would rather be feared rather than loved, and one who eats people.

Now, I'm not going to say that this is the most unlikely duo I've ever created.  Manana and Scott of The Pius Trilogy were pretty much the most opposite I could get while making them still human.

I like little things. Little details.  Little innocent things that can be taken the right way if you look at them really hard, but don't because neither one thinks the other wants to go there. Little looks and touches, and smells and “if she hugs me any closer she's going to realize I'm having a not-so-innocent reaction,” and “stay calm, or the increased heartbeat will give the game away.”

You know, things like that.  I'm told I do that well.

And there are ninjas, but that’s another day.