Romantic Suspense

Compiled by Stella Cameron (1995)

Many forms of romance incorporate elements of suspense. However, the story classified purely as romantic suspense promises the reader a well-developed thread of mystery or intrigue in one of their myriad guises.

In romantic suspense, the mystery (I'll use the term mystery for whatever brand of "poison" you favor!) is a strong player in the story, but never as strong as the romance. The mystery is what I term an additional character in stories that draw heavily on background. But this additional character is secondary.

In my novel BREATHLESS there is enormous danger to the lives of Sinjun and Angelica, but the overall balance of tension pivots on their romance. Without their romance, either the hero or heroine could decide to opt for safety and we would no longer be discussing romantic suspense.

PURE DELIGHTS is another example of a hero and heroine thrown together by mystery, held together by romance and that mystery, and then forced to see the mystery through--together--because too much is invested in their romance for either to walk away. In PURE DELIGHTS, as in BREATHLESS, you will also see how background and scene choice can be used to further both the romance and the suspense facets of a story.

Balance is everything in this form of fiction. The lion's share of the action/space must belong to the growing love relationship between hero and heroine. The mystery is strong and threatening, but unless it runs a definite second to the romance, the novel is not romantic suspense.