3 Tips to Make Your Romance Characters More Relatable

I don’t know about you, but nothing turns me off more than a romance novel where the characters feel too perfect. While I of course want the characters I’m reading about to be likeable so I can root for them to end up together, I also want them to feel like they could be real people.

As authors, it can be hard to give our characters flaws or struggles. After all, we like these people we’ve created, so why would we want to make their lives anything less than perfect if we could help it?

But the truth is, your readers will grow bored of a story with characters who feel too good to be true. They want to see two people who have some flaws and challenges overcome the odds and find a happily ever after together.

Here are three tips for making your romance characters more relatable to ensure your readers stay engrossed in your story and continue turning those pages.

1. Give Them Realistic Flaws and Struggles

While it can be fun to fantasize about the perfect partner, readers don’t read stories to watch two perfect people living pleasantly perfect lives. They want to see the flaws and how they overcome them so they can relate to them, even if their flaws are different than our own.

People in general are flawed. We all have traits that we may not love about ourselves, but these are what make us who we are. So, by giving your characters flaws they must cope with and overcome, readers are more easily able to connect with them. And when readers connect with characters, they’re more likely to stay engaged with the entire story.

Beyond just allowing your readers to relate to your characters, it’s these flaws and struggles that will allow for tension and conflict between your love interests. If one or both of your main characters are perfect, then there wouldn’t be much room for a story to unfold. Again, readers don’t want to read about characters who have everything handed to them easily; they want to go along for the journey to see how they overcome the obstacles stacked against them.

2. Show Their Authentic Emotions

Anyone who has worked with me know one of my favorite phrases is “dig deeper.” One of the best ways to make your characters more relatable is to show us their emotions as they’re experiencing them. Telling us what the protagonists did on their first date is great, but what readers really want to know is how they both felt about that date.

And while there are likely some obvious emotions that go along with an event like a first date, in reality, we all usually experience some not-so-obvious emotions as well. For example, your female main character will probably be excited during a first date with the male main character, but might she also be nervous, anxious, or worried? Showing us her experiencing those emotions as well will make her more realistic and also serve to heighten the tension within the story. Dig deep and give your readers those secondary and subtle emotions as well!

Conveying your characters’ emotions goes beyond just telling us what they’re experiencing. Body language, internal thoughts, and subtext are all excellent ways to show the reader what your characters are experiencing in the moment, and these allow your reader to feel like an active participant in the journey of your story rather than an outside observer.

3. Give Them Meaningful Relationships Beyond the Love Interest

Romantic relationships don’t exist inside of a bubble, as much as we might sometimes wish that were true. Just like we have other important people in our lives, so should our characters.

Showing the meaningful relationships your characters have with others beyond the love interest will make them feel more realistic and also serve as a way to convey to readers the kind of person they are. For example, showing a character serving as a caregiver for his frail and aging mother conveys a certain type of person to the reader without you having to outright say that. The way they interact with other people in their universe combined with their flaws and emotions add up to create a three-dimensional, realistic character for readers to cheer for.

These meaningful relationships can also serve to add depth to your story. Their relationships with those other characters may guide the decisions they make with respect to the love interest or the thoughts and feelings they have about their relationship with the love interest. Again, this adds depth and potential conflict to the storyline, resulting in a deeper, more engrossing story for the reader.

The more realistic you can make your characters feel for readers, the more likely that they’ll connect with them and root for them through the end of your novel, and the more likely those readers will jump to buy your next release!

Want to Write a Romance Novel Readers Can’t Put Down?

Every great love story has key ingredients that make it unforgettable. Whether you're working on your first romance novel or refining your latest draft, knowing what truly makes a romance irresistible can help you craft a story that readers will swoon over.

Grab your free copy of my checklist, 10 Must-Have Elements for an Irresistible Romance Novel, and start crafting your next page-turning romance today!