Romance readers are famously loyal, but even loyal readers have their limits, and the quickest way to lose one is a badly executed trope. Tropes are the reason readers pick up a romance in the first place, the enemies to lovers arc, the slow burn, the forced proximity, but tropes are the promise, not the…
Enemies to lovers works because it is two conflicts in one. The plot conflict, rivals, feuding families, opposing sides, must be defeated for the story to end, and the romantic conflict, the attraction neither will admit, must be surrendered to. The whole book is the tension between a couple fighting each other and fighting what…
How to write romantic tension is a matter of want, obstacle, and restraint. Two characters want each other, something stands in the way, and neither fully says so. The tension lives in that gap between desire and expression, and readers feel it most when you delay resolution rather than rush it. These seven techniques are…
Meet Anna Hayes: Author Biography and Writing Journey Anna Hayes writes stories that stay with you long after the last page. If you have found your way here, you probably searched for "Anna Hayes author" and want to know more about the person behind the books. This is that story — where the writing comes…