When writing romance stories, sometimes things can become mundane or too familiar. We pull inspiration from what we experience in life and the people we know, but what happens when our characters and our ideas seem to resemble something else we've already written? There needs to be differences in our characters and plots. It can't always be "boy meets girl and then they fall in love." Readers would find that rather boring. Below are a few ideas that may help, if you find your story and characters too common.

Writing Suggestions

Point of View: Try telling the story (poem) from a different perspective. If you usually write from the female aspect, then try writing from the male's point of view. Doing this may give your writing a fresh voice and some interesting ideas.

Switching Roles: Have your characters switch places. Make your male characters do things that you'd normally have the female characters do. It may seem like a strange idea, but think of how unexpected it could be for the readers.

Create Obstacles: Your characters need circumstances to overcome. If you write about a happy couple, and there aren't any downfalls or challenges then your story is lacking something. Add conflict to the story and later resolve the issues. You want your readers to either root for the characters, or you even want them to loathe the characters. The main purpose is for your readers to react to the characters and the things happening. You want to spark their emotions.

Mixing in Genres: If your main theme is romance, it doesn't mean that you can't throw in a bit of action, comedy, or tragedy. Blending in moments of another genre can make your readers experience a wide range of emotions. Readers can get attached to the characters falling in love, laugh when they have awkward moments, cry when they are in turmoil, and so on.

Create Sexual Tension: If the characters have an undeniable attraction, but they aren't yet together, then you're keeping the readers in suspense. Readers will find themselves begging in anticipation for the characters to finally get together, so they'll continue reading. They'll want to know what finally forces the two characters together and what happens after their first encounter.

Observe Your Characters: Take a look at your characters and how you introduce them in the story. It's important to bring in the characters into the story early on because you want your readers to relate them. It can be very bothersome to get through several chapters and not know the characters.

Pretty Imperfections: Are there any quirks you could give the characters that would help improve the connection your readers have with them? In order for your readers to relate to the characters they have to have imperfections. Also, these little imperfections are what could attract the two characters to one another.

Gaining Knowledge: I know that I have said this before, but this crucial to your story's success or failure. I'm not saying to always play it safe; if you want to explore the unknown then you must research it. It's great to write outside the box, but it's important to gain knowledge first.

Pushing the Limits: Have your characters do something unlikely. It's a nice surprise for the readers when something unexpected occurs in the story. Just keep in mind that you don't want the turn of events to seem unrealistic, so don't make it too extreme.