Any tips on writing a romance between two characters? One is a quite polite and reserved man, the other is a strong female character. I've never been in a relationship so I have no idea. Thanks,
Well, that's a pretty broad question. They're going to need chemistry. Each should be good, well-developed characters on their own but when they interact together it should be dynamite. How you get there and what kind of dynamic their relationship has is entirely up to you as an author and will be influenced by their past relationships (platonic as well as romantic) and the type of people they are. There is really no formula.
They both meet for the first time in chapter 1, and then the protagonist moves to a different country and only sees her later on.
Best way to do this is read other writer's depictions. The Winner's Curse has a great but tragic romance. Daughter of Smoke and Bone has a romance that ends a war. The Young Elites touches on a romance that never happens. The Devil's Bride is a classic romance novel. There are thousands more, find ones that interest you and grow your experiences through them.
I believe one way to write good romance is like most successful writing is creating conflict. No one likes to read about a perfect romance - its boring. From the looks of it, you have one bit of conflict in the making; 'distance' but that alone isn't enough to make a good romance. Like GingerCoffee said, re-read your favourite romances and some new ones too, and even watch some romance movies and make note of the conflict between the couple. Conflict could come down to a love triangle, supernatural issues (like Twilight, as much as I don't want to say it), family commitments etc.
I've been working on a romance and I have the issue of deciding when to have the characters fall in love. But I agree with Tenderiser that the relationship should be the natural culmination or interaction of two highly-developed characters. I always find when I'm reading a great novel that I can predict how the characters will react in a given situation because they are so well-rounded with back stories and all that. I wish I could put my own characters through some kind of personality gauntlet to help flesh them out a bit more.
I just finished the second book in the Winner's Curse trilogy. The tragic circumstances continue and get worse. But the third novel (not out until next year, dread) promises to end better, or the readers are going to rebel given the comments in Goodreads. The lovers are continually kept apart, tragic things happen to both of them, they sacrifice things for each other but they never quite get to reap the rewards for their sacrifices. It's painful but you can't put the book down. I liked the first one, then read the second one in a day and a half. I noticed reading it that the bulk of the story is these two lovers pining for each other with roadblock after roadblock getting in their way. It's quite different from stories where the bulk of the story is about something else and the romance, with varying levels of intensity, takes a back seat to the story. My novel fits in the latter category, the romance isn't the focus of the story. Decide what your story's main focus is if you haven't already.
