writing

The 3rd Secret to a Bestselling Fantasy: The external plot skeleton synopsis

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

What is an external plot skeleton synopsis, and how do you build one for a fantasy novel?

An external plot skeleton synopsis is a high-level roadmap that captures the single most important action across your story arc’s five key structural scenes. Instead of getting bogged down in scene-by-scene detail, it condenses your narrative spine into five one-line main events.

When writing fantasy, your manuscript relies on weaving at least two primary plotlines together: the external plot and the supernatural plot (how the protagonist interacts with magic or mythical creatures). Before layering in complex worldbuilding or magic systems, you must build a solid foundation using the external plot.

Here is how to map the five essential scenes of your fantasy external plot and test whether your story structure holds up.

The 5 Key Scenes of Your External Plot Skeleton

The external plot throws a physical challenge at your protagonist, sends them on an adventure, subjects them to a false victory or defeat, drives them to a low point using dark forces, and ultimately shows them resolving their primary goal.

Your fun task is to summarize each of these five scenes in a single sentence:

  • Inciting Incident (The Challenge): Your protagonist is presented with a challenge, problem, or adventure. This event disrupts their ordinary world and sets the story in motion.
  • Plot Point 1 (Adventure Accepted): The protagonist formally accepts the external story goal and crosses a point of no return. If they can easily abandon the quest after this moment, your story will stall.
  • Middle Plot Point (False Victory or Defeat): The protagonist shifts from reactive to proactive. They face a high-stakes moment, gain crucial new information, and experience a false win or a devastating defeat that forces them in a new direction.
  • Plot Point 2 (Dark Forces): The protagonist hits their lowest physical or emotional point while facing the dark forces of your world. Here, they discover the final piece of information required to face the climax.
  • Climax (External Goal Achieved or Not): The protagonist directly addresses the external story goal accepted at Plot Point 1. The reader must clearly see whether the protagonist succeeds or fails so the story ends on a satisfying note.

The Fantasy Structural Test: What Happens If a Scene Is Missing?

These five scenes form the spine of your novel; every other scene exists to support them. If you skip one of these major events, the structural integrity of your fantasy plot collapses:

  • No Inciting Incident? You don’t have a plot. You just have a detailed account of your character’s everyday life.
  • No Plot Point 1? Your protagonist never agrees to accept the adventure, leaving the story completely directionless. The protagonist has no goal.
  • No Middle Plot Point? Your protagonist never transitions into a proactive driver of the action, meaning they never force the story forward or cause meaningful conflict.
  • No Plot Point 2? Your protagonist never faces dark forces or uncovers the final key insight, leaving them without the means to resolve their conflict.
  • No Climax? The main external goal is never tested or resolved, which means there is not end to the story. And without an end, the reader is not satisfied.

Learn How to Structure Using The Story Arc Scenes.

Drafting or revising a fantasy novel without a clear external plot synopsis makes it easy to get lost in subplots and magic systems. By defining these five main events in clear, single-sentence beats first, you establish a sturdy framework that ensures your story stays engaging from the first page to the last.

Take Your Fantasy Writing to the Next Level

Ready to turn your imaginative magic into a commercially successful novel? Grab your copy of Secrets to Writing a Fantasy by K. Stanley and L. Cooke today. Discover how to apply The Fictionary Method, weave your story arcs, and write a fantasy novel that readers will love.

Build a Captivating Novel Outline in 8 Weeks

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Whether you’re starting a standalone novel or book one of a series, do you know if your plot is built on a strong enough structure to keep readers hooked until the final page?

No? Not sure? Then you need a creative framework built around how the human brain naturally processes a story. Join us and create that framework in Fictionary’s Outline Your Novel course.

Course Details

  • Duration: 8 Weeks (Starting Sept 8)
  • Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  • Format: Live interactive workshops
  • Recommended Text: Secrets to Outlining a Novel by K. Stanley and L. Cooke
  • The Fictionary Membership: This course is part of our membership program. It gives you access to all our courses (both live and pre-recored).

What Makes the Outline Your Novel Course Different

Unlike traditional writing programs that force you into cookie-cutter templates, this course provides a dynamic method designed for plotters and pantsers alike, whether you are writing a standalone book or an installment in a series.

  • The Non-Linear Secret: Built directly on the methodology from the textbook Secrets to Outlining a Novel by K. Stanley and L. Cooke, you won’t map out your story sequentially. Instead, you’ll ignite your imagination by outlining the 5 core Story Arc scenes out of order first, starting with Plot Point 1, to eliminate writer’s block before it happens.
  • The Skeleton Blurb Engine: You’ll anchor your story on a razor-sharp, one-sentence foundation that links your protagonist, an external addressable goal, and high stakes to ensure your story keeps its promise to the reader.
  • Micro-Level Scene Precision: We don’t just stay at the high-level plot. Using Fictionary’s 38 Story Elements, you’ll learn how to outline individual scenes like mini-stories, complete with POV goals, entry hooks, and tension-packed exit hooks.
  • Live, Safe, & Practical Coaching: Learn in real-time with a certified Fictionary StoryCoach editor in a live, unrecorded environment where you can safely share work, ask questions, and make tangible weekly progress.

How to Join

You don’t need a long-term commitment to start building a structurally sound manuscript. You can access this 8-week course for free by signing up for a 30-Day Free Trial of the Fictionary community. You get the first 4 weeks of the course on us.

Overcome Writer’s Block: Build Your Novel with Fictionary

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Are you tired of watching a great outline get hopelessly bogged down in the ‘messy middle’ of drafting?

Transform your outline into a solid, completed manuscript without getting lost in the messy middle. The Write Your Novel live course in the Fictionary community begins Thursday, September 3 at 1:00 PM.

Excel Using the Fictionary Method

Built on the storytelling theory from Secrets to Writing a Novel, this course forms a core part of the Fictionary Method. Instead of pounding out a chaotic draft, you will build structural integrity scene-by-scene. You’ll skip the “hot mess” phase and create a first draft as strong as another writer’s fourth or fifth revision.

Course Overview

Duration: 8 weeks (1-hour live class per week).

Instructor: Linda O’Donnell, co-author of Secrets to Writing a Novel and Secrets to Writing a Romance, and author of romance novel Embracing the Role.

Safe Learning Environment: Classes are live and unrecorded so you feel safe asking questions and sharing your work.

Bonus Included: Full access to a self-paced recorded course is included alongside the live instruction.

Core Goal: Draft at least 27 key structural scenes to build momentum and complete your manuscript.

How to Join

You can join the course by starting a free trial of the Fictionary membership.

Claim your free trial and review membership details here: https://fictionary.circle.so/membership

Ready to turn your outline into a commercial success? Reserve your spot before we kick off on September 3.

P.S. You’ll join the Monday Check-Ins with other authors and gaining accountability and a cheering squad.

P.P.S. You get to experience everything Fictionary has to offer in your 30-day free trial at no risk.

Embracing the Role: A Sweet Small-Town Romance

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Embracing the Role is a sweet, clean small-town romance by me, Linda O’Donnell — the first book in The Northern Star Series — releasing August 25, 2026. After years of writing about the craft, I finally wrote a novel of my own, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to share it.

What Embracing the Role is about

Clancy Lambert left the small town of Brinkerton, Michigan years ago and built a quiet life far from home — one where even her writing goes out under a pen name. But when a mortgage notice threatens her father’s house, and her father’s time is running short, she has no choice but to go back and face the town, the past, and the man she never made peace with.

What she doesn’t plan for is Jamie Callahan: A-list actor, Hollywood’s most recognizable face, and — of all things — her father’s tenant. He’s spent his whole life being wanted for one thing: his fame. Clancy has no use for it, and no patience for the world that comes with it. Which is, of course, exactly when everything begins to change.

It’s a sweet, clean small-town romance set against a Michigan winter — swoony and warm on the surface, with a deeper current underneath about coming home, mending what’s frayed, and learning that the walls we build to protect ourselves are sometimes the very things we need to tear down.

From teaching the craft to living it

For years, Kristina and I have written about the craft of storytelling — how to build a character worth rooting for, how to make a scene land, how to give a reader a reason to turn the page. Writing my own novel taught me what the craft books couldn’t: all the technique in the world doesn’t matter until you’re brave enough to put a real story on the page and let people read it. It’s one thing to teach the swing. It’s another to step up to the plate.

Meet The Northern Star Series

Embracing the Role is Book 1 of The Northern Star Series — six standalone sweet romances following the women of Brinkerton, a tiny Michigan town with an inexplicable knack for catching the most famous men in the country. Each book stands alone, and each ends with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

Where and when to read it

Embracing the Role launches August 25, 2026, in ebook and paperback wherever you love to read — Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble — with library availability to follow.

If you’ve ever taken our advice about writing, I’d be honored if you’d see what I did with it. And if you’re simply a reader in the mood for a cozy, heartfelt escape to a snowed-in small town — even better. Come home to Brinkerton.

— Linda O’Donnell

Frequently Asked Questions

(Great for readers, and this is what AI answer engines and Google’s AI Overviews pull from. Keep the questions as headers and the answers self-contained.)

What is Embracing the Role about? Embracing the Role is a sweet small-town romance about Clancy Lambert, who returns to Brinkerton, Michigan to save her ailing father’s house and unexpectedly falls for Jamie Callahan, a famous actor renting her father’s place — the one kind of man she wants nothing to do with.

Is Embracing the Role a clean or spicy romance? Embracing the Role is a sweet, clean, and wholesome romance. There is no sexual content of any kind — the physical romance is kisses only — making it a comfortable read for anyone who prefers clean fiction.

When does Embracing the Role release? Embracing the Role releases on August 25, 2026, in both ebook and paperback.

Where can I buy Embracing the Role? Embracing the Role is available on Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble in ebook and paperback, with library availability through platforms like OverDrive and Hoopla to follow.

Is Embracing the Role part of a series? Do I have to read them in order? Embracing the Role is Book 1 of The Northern Star Series, a set of six sweet small-town romances set in Brinkerton, Michigan. Each book is a standalone with its own happily-ever-after, so they can be read in any order.

Who is Linda O’Donnell? Linda O’Donnell is a sweet, clean romance author and the co-author of two books on the craft of writing: Secrets to Writing a Romance and Secrets to Writing a Novel. Embracing the Role is her debut novel and the first book in The Northern Star Series.

The 2nd Secret to a Bestselling Fantasy: The Supernatural Plot

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

Have you ever sat down with a brilliant magical system, epic mythical creatures, and an enchanted world, only to feel your manuscript drifting without real direction?

You know your world has magic, but your story feels unfocused, bogged down, or lacking genuine momentum.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Many fantasy writers struggle to balance imaginative worldbuilding with story structure. In our previous discussion, we looked at why every novel requires a strong external plot. However, an external plot alone will not turn your draft into a true fantasy novel.

To create a book readers cannot put down, you must understand the second crucial story arc of your manuscript: the supernatural plot.

What Is the Supernatural Plot?

Kristina Stanley points out a foundational truth for speculative fiction: a story without an external plot is not a story, and a story without a supernatural plot is not a fantasy.

When we look at the supernatural in a fantasy novel, we are referring to magic systems, powers such as telekinesis or precognition, and mythical creatures like dragons, vampires, or fairies. Readers pick up fantasy books specifically to experience the protagonist grappling with and harnessing these forces.

In Secrets to Writing a Fantasy, K. Stanley and L. Cooke explain that whether your world relies on magic or fantastical beings, the supernatural must directly help or hinder the protagonist from reaching their story goal. Magic should have limitations and costs. It cannot exist simply as decorative background detail. It must drive the conflict.

The Five Supernatural Story Arc Scenes

Using The Fictionary Method, you can build a structurally sound supernatural plot by establishing five key story arc scenes that run alongside your external plot:

  • Supernatural Inciting Incident: The protagonist gets an inkling that the supernatural exists or that they can influence it.
  • Supernatural Plot Point 1: The protagonist fully believes in or uses the supernatural for the first time.
  • Supernatural Middle Plot Point: The protagonist proactively uses the supernatural to drive the story forward.
  • Supernatural Plot Point 2: The protagonist faces a major limitation of the supernatural or experiences a painful lesson about its boundaries.
  • Supernatural Climax: The protagonist uses the supernatural in a final attempt to achieve their goal.

Creating Your Supernatural Skeleton Blurb

Before you outline or edit, summarize this plotline into a single sentence called a supernatural skeleton blurb. The structure follows a clear pattern:

The protagonist must use the supernatural, otherwise they will not achieve their supernatural story goal.

By defining your protagonist, the supernatural power or creature they must interact with, and the stakes on the line, you establish focus for every scene. When you weave these five supernatural scenes together with your external plot arc, your novel gains the deep structure found in commercially successful fantasy books.

Take Your Fantasy Writing to the Next Level

Ready to turn your imaginative magic into a commercially successful novel? Grab your copy of Secrets to Writing a Fantasy by K. Stanley and L. Cooke today. Discover how to apply The Fictionary Method, weave your story arcs, and write a fantasy novel that readers will love.

The 5 Mystery Story Arc Scenes You Mustn’t Miss

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever finished reading a mystery novel and felt a profound sense of satisfaction, as if every puzzle piece finally clicked into place? That feeling isn’t an accident. Commercially successful whodunits, from cozy mysteries to gritty police procedurals, all share a structural DNA. In our book, Secrets to Writing a Mystery, we dive deep into the five non-negotiable story arc scenes that guide readers from the first drop of blood to the final handcuffs.

To write a mystery that keeps readers turning pages past midnight, you must master these five signposts:

1. The Inciting Incident: The Call to Action

The mystery begins when a crime is committed or discovered. This usually happens within the first 15% of the book. Whether it’s Siobhán finding a body in her family bistro in Murder in an Irish Village or Vera Wong discovering a corpse in her teahouse, this event shakes the protagonist’s world and introduces the central question: Whodunit?

2. Plot Point 1: Accepting the Goal

Occurring between 20-30% into the story, this is where the sleuth commits to the investigation. It’s not just about curiosity anymore; the stakes have risen. In A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Pippa receives a threatening note that proves her friend’s innocence, forcing her to accept that she must find the real killer.

3. The Middle: Shifting the Investigation

Right around the 50% mark, the investigation changes direction. A false victory, a new threat, or a second body (as often seen in classic mysteries) propels the sleuth from being reactive to proactive. They now understand the gravity of their mission. In Missing, Presumed, the identification of a new body links crimes together, forcing Detective Bradshaw to refocus her efforts entirely.

4. Plot Point 2: The Darkest Hour

At close to 70-80% into the story, your protagonist hits their lowest point. They might be abandoned by allies, as Vera Wong was, or lose something precious, like Pippa’s dog. While the sleuth may not fully realize it, this is also where they find the final, crucial crumb of a clue that will help them in the climax. Without this moment of doubt, the resolution won’t feel earned. It’s the point where the sleuth is furthest from the truth, or so it seems.

5. The Climax: The Puzzle Solved

This is the non-negotiable resolution where the sleuth identifies the culprit and brings them to justice. Whether it’s a high-stakes confrontation or a brilliant deduction, this scene (around the 85-95% mark) must satisfy the reader’s expectations. The mystery must be solved.

Writing a mystery is an iterative, rewarding task. By following these patterns for these essential scenes, you ensure your story isn’t just a series of events, but a compelling arc that keeps readers hooked. 

The next few blogs will focus on each of these key story arc scenes in more detail.

If you are ready to dive deeper into these scenes and more right now, check out Secrets to Writing a Mystery and start building your whodunit today!

Until next time, Lisa.

From the moment the children’s librarian walked a young bookworm upstairs to the Adult Department and introduced her to the mystery section…Lisa Taylor has been hooked on the genre.

For years, Lisa was an educator and librarian, honing her skills in helping readers and writers develop with curiosity and creativity. Now as an editor and writing coach, Lisa works with a small publishing house as well as being a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editor and Certified Instructor.

Secrets to Writing a Mystery is Lisa’s first published book. Along with editing and coaching, she is currently writing an amateur cozy mystery series set in Northern Ontario.

Want to Learn to Self-Edit?

Join the Fictionary School for Writers and Editors

The Secret Engine of Romance: Why Your Story Needs an External Goal

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

We all know the heart of a great romance lies in the emotional journey. It’s about the protagonist overcoming a deep-seated wound, shattering a lifelong misconception, or fixing a flaw that keeps them from accepting love. But if two characters just sit in a room analyzing their emotional baggage for three hundred pages, the story loses its momentum.

To give those raw emotions a place to clash and grow, your characters need a concrete, real-world objective. In the framework Kristina Stanley and I created in our book, Secrets to Writing a Romance, we map this out using an external skeleton blurb:

[Love Interest(s)] must [external goal]; otherwise [external stakes].

Whether this external plot is a full three-act story or just an initial goal that fades once the momentum takes over, it serves as the essential engine for the romance. Here is how a clear external goal acts as the ultimate catalyst for romantic tension.

1. Engineering Natural Forced Proximity

The most immediate benefit of an external goal is that it provides a logical, undeniable reason for your love interests to occupy the same space.

Instead of relying on random coincidences to bring your couple together, the external goal demands it. They might be forced to share a workspace, cooperate to solve a pressing problem, or navigate a temporary living situation because their individual real-world objectives give them no other choice. Walking away from each other would mean failing at their external goals and triggering those high external stakes.

This forced proximity gives your characters the physical runway they need to let their emotional guards down—or throw them out entirely.

2. Introducing the Perfect Obstacles

While the external goal is excellent for pulling characters into the same orbit, its true narrative superpower is introducing organic conflict. A beautifully crafted external goal doesn’t make the romance easy; it actively throws obstacles in the way of the Happily Ever After.

When a character is desperately chasing a professional milestone, managing a family crisis, or protecting a secret, that goal will inevitably collide with their growing feelings. It creates a beautiful friction where pursuing the romance directly threatens the external stakes, or vice versa.

When a character is desperately chasing a specific milestone or managing a high-stakes crisis, that pursuit should directly collide with the other character’s world. It’s not just about a lack of time; it’s about a clash of interests. For instance, one character’s professional success might directly threaten something the other character is fighting to protect. By introducing these tangible, high-stakes roadblocks where one person’s triumph could mean the other’s setback, the external plot dramatically raises the tension. It forces the characters to navigate a minefield of conflicting loyalties, making the eventual romantic resolution feel incredibly hard-won and deeply earned.

3. Forcing Internal Growth Through External Pressure

The real magic happens when the external goal puts direct pressure on the romance plot. A protagonist shouldn’t be able to achieve their goals without changing.

The pressure cooker of trying to hit that external milestone forces the protagonist to confront their inner flaws, fears, and past traumas. The external pressure is the exact crucible required to break down their internal walls, forcing them to grow into the person who is finally capable of accepting true love.

Master the Combined Punch

When plotting, your external goals and romantic goals shouldn’t run on entirely separate tracks. To ensure your plot and romance are intricately linked, consider fusing them into a combined skeleton blurb:

[Love Interest(s)] must [romance goal and external goal]; otherwise [romance stakes].

By anchoring your characters’ hearts to a concrete, external mission, you ensure your romance has the structure, pace, and friction it needs to keep readers turning pages all night long.

To learn more about Happily Ever Afters and other romance topics, pick up a copy of Secrets to Writing a Romance. 

Post Written by Linda O’Donnell

Linda O'Donnell

Linda O’Donnell is a writer, certified structural editor, certified copy editor, and a writing and editing instructor. She co-authored Secrets to Writing a Romance and Secrets to Writing a Novel with Kristina Stanley. Linda’s contemporary romance novel, Behind the Scenes, is coming out soon.

Crafting the Perfect Crime

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Why Victims and Culprits are the Heart of Your Mystery

Are you struggling to capture your story in your skeleton blurb? In Secrets to Writing a Mystery, we dive deep into the mechanics of suspense to help you find your mystery. 

One of the most vital lessons for any aspiring detective novelist is understanding that a crime is only as compelling as the people involved. To create a page-turner, you must look beyond the “what” and focus on the “who.”

The Myth of the Innocent Victim

A common mistake in early drafts is treating the victim as a mere prop, a body on the floor meant only to kick off the investigation. However, the most memorable mysteries feature victims whose own actions, flaws, and “fatal flaws” directly contribute to their demise. When a victim has agency, they create the very motives, opportunities, and means that lead to the crime.

Take, for instance, the blackmailing Niall in Murder in an Irish Village or the cruel, drug-dealing Andie in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. These aren’t just targets; they are catalysts. By giving your victim a complex, perhaps even morally gray history, you naturally generate a wider pool of suspects and more visceral motives. When you assign these traits, you ensure your victim isn’t just a statistic, but the engine of the story.

Humanizing the Culprit

Just as the victim shouldn’t be a saint, your culprit shouldn’t be a cartoon villain. Pure greed or inexplicable rage can feel thin to a modern reader. The most chilling and effective murderers are those driven by deeply human, relatable stakes: protection, desperation, or a twisted sense of justice.

Think of Alex in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, who kills to protect others from his son’s predatory behavior, or Ian Hind in Missing, Presumed, whose desperation to maintain his professional facade leads to a fatal choice. When a reader can understand, even if they don’t condone, the “why” behind the killer’s actions, the mystery gains a layer of tragic depth that lingers long after the final page.

The Mystery Skeleton Blurb Uncovered

Developing these complex dynamics is just the beginning. You can turn these character studies into a tight mystery skeleton blurb and eventually a full-length novel. The interplay between your culprit and your first victim can give you the first version of your skeleton blurb. With this information, you know what crime the sleuth must solve. You may also have a glimmer of how far the culprit will go to hide their crime, leading to potential stakes if the sleuth can’t uncover the culprit. 

My next blog will focus on introducing the five key scenes that create the main structure for your mystery novel. If you can’t wait, pick up a copy of Secrets to Writing a Mystery today and start building a crime that no reader can put down!

Until next time, Lisa.

From the moment the children’s librarian walked a young bookworm upstairs to the Adult Department and introduced her to the mystery section…Lisa Taylor has been hooked on the genre.

For years, Lisa was an educator and librarian, honing her skills in helping readers and writers develop with curiosity and creativity. Now as an editor and writing coach, Lisa works with a small publishing house as well as being a Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editor and Certified Instructor.

Secrets to Writing a Mystery is Lisa’s first published book. Along with editing and coaching, she is currently writing an amateur cozy mystery series set in Northern Ontario.

Want to Learn to Self-Edit?

Join the Fictionary School for Writers and Editors

How to Structure a Commercially Successful Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Want to write a bestseller? We’ve got a free webinar just for you.

Learn the fundamental structure of a commercially successful novel.

Are you tired of staring at a manuscript that feels “stuck”? Most stories don’t fail because of the prose; they fail because the structural foundation isn’t strong enough to support the weight of the reader’s expectations.


Join us for a deep dive into the five non-negotiable structural pillars that turn a good idea into a page-turning commercial success.


The 5 Essential Scenes Breakdown


1. The Inciting Incident: The Shake-Up

The Reader Hook: If nothing changes, there is no story.

2. Plot Point 1: The Point of No Return

The Protagonist’s Commitment: This is where the protagonist steps out of their comfort zone and into the unknown.

3. The Midpoint: From Reactive to Proactive

The Pivot: A “False Victory” or “False Defeat” shifts the stakes entirely.

4. Plot Point 2: The “All Is Lost” Moment

The Crisis: This is the character’s lowest ebb, testing their growth and resolve.

5. The Climax: The Final Confrontation

The Payoff: The highest point of tension in your novel.

Get that bestseller started.

Sign Up Today

Presenters

Ramona Pina

Senior Publishing Specialist, Bookbaby

Ramona Pina is a seasoned publishing expert with over eight years of experience in both independent and traditional publishing. As an author herself, she brings a comprehensive understanding of the industry from every angle, guiding writers through the publishing process with strategies tailored to align with their unique goals and creative vision.

Kristina Stanley

CEO Fictionary

Kristina Stanley is the founder and CEO of the Fictionary: The complete fiction writing ecosystem with powerful storytelling software, live classes from certified editors, and the kindest community in genre fiction. She is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction books as well as being a structural editor.

Romance Novels and the Protagonist’s Wound

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Why the Protagonist’s Wound Is the Beating Heart of Every Romance

Every romance novel begins with a promise: two people will find their way to love. But beneath the banter, chemistry, and swoony moments lies the true engine of the story—the protagonist’s wound, misconception, or flaw. This internal struggle is what gives a romance its emotional weight, its stakes, and ultimately, its meaning.

In a romance, the protagonist isn’t just moving through plot beats; they’re pursuing a story goal that is shaped, and often distorted, by the wound they carry. Until that wound is confronted and healed, love cannot truly take root.

This is why identifying your protagonist early matters so much. Before you can outline or draft effectively, you need to know whose emotional journey the reader is meant to follow. One of the simplest tools for doing this is the skeleton blurb, a single sentence that captures the protagonist’s goal and the stakes attached to it:

[Love interest] must [story goal]; otherwise, [the stakes].

When you write a skeleton blurb for each character, the wound becomes visible. The character’s misconception shapes the goal they believe they want, while the stakes reveal exactly what they fear losing if they fail.

If the characters have different goals, one character’s emotional arc will naturally dominate—and that character is your single protagonist. But if both characters share the exact same romance goal and stakes, you are writing a combined protagonist.

Regardless of your book’s structure, the wound is the compass. Every major scene, starting with the first scene, must impact the protagonist in a clearly positive or negative way. These scenes aren’t just plot points; they are emotional pressure points that force your characters to confront the beliefs holding them back from love.

Consider how this plays out in modern romance, depending on how you choose to frame the journey:

  • The Single Protagonist (The Bodyguard by Katherine Center): Hannah is the sole POV character. The reader only gets her interpretation of the hero’s feelings. Whatever tension Hannah feels because she doesn’t know what her love interest is thinking, the reader feels it too.
  • The Combined Protagonist (The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary or The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory): Both love interests share the spotlight with a balanced scene split. Because they share a unified romance goal, they function as a combined protagonist. This creates a wonderful knowledge gap where the reader knows what both characters are thinking, creating high tension because we can see the misunderstandings coming long before the characters do.

Whether you choose a single or combined protagonist, the core principle remains the same: the romance doesn’t work unless the wound does. A romance isn’t just about two people coming together, it’s about the protagonist becoming someone capable of receiving that love.

So, as you plan or revise your manuscript, return to the wound. Name it. Understand how it shapes your protagonist’s worldview, and then let every scene, every conflict, every moment of connection, every setback, push them toward healing. Because when the protagonist transforms, the love story transforms with them.

To learn more about Happily Ever Afters and other romance topics, pick up a copy of Secrets to Writing a Romance. 

Post Written by Linda O’Donnell

Linda O'Donnell

Linda O’Donnell is a writer, certified structural editor, certified copy editor, and a writing and editing instructor. She co-authored Secrets to Writing a Romance with Kristina Stanley, and together they are working on their latest book, Secrets to Writing a Novel. Linda’s contemporary romance novel, Behind the Scenes, is coming out soon.