There are three different types of personal conflict your romance book can showcase between your lead characters. And you might be accidentally making important decisions about your PLOT. Because if you don't give EACH of these three types its own unique external hook, your story might feel flat through the middle.

Inside, I share an example of one of these romance arc types—straight from a published book!—and how understanding the character push-pull it creates can prevent a saggy middle plot problem in a Friends-To-Lovers story. Then, I explain what each of the three relationship conflicts is and how to hook them into the external plot in a romance manuscript.

SPOILER WARNING: This episode reveals major moments in the book Hot Axe by May Archer. So if you hate spoilers and love reading May Archer, go buy Hot Axe first.

You'll learn:

• Why each of your leads is determined to stay just friends, and why neither one will make a move without plot help
• Three different ways their self-protections can enable and conflict with one another, and how each one needs a different type of external event to earn the HEA
• How to use the Friends-To-Lovers example from a real book to map out what your own lovers need in their story (even if you're writing a different trope!)
• Two super simple do-it-yourself questions that will test whether your romance arc is stuck in a rut mid-manuscript

This 35-minute episode is for romance writers who can feel that something is off with your story even though all the romance beats hit just where they should.

By the end, you'll learn a new technique for diagnosing where the problem might be by asking two deceptively deep questions that can inspire the right fix for your own manuscript today.

Resources from this episode:

• The Protection Pattern exercise (module inside Enemies To Experts) → suebrownmoore.com/enemies-to-experts
• The Turning Point Plot Milestone: Read this free article on the two-step framework for setting up a story arc → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/plot-milestones
• Augmentations intro: This article introduces 4 types of hero defenses that affect your story’s scenes → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/armor
• Flair examples: Read about how two different “big personality” characters break under pressure → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/flair
• Live Workshop: Write Without Resistance: Book this live workshop with Sue to learn how to identify and gently redirect the four types of emotional self-protections that show up as creative resistance, so you can write with more consistency, confidence, and joy. → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/wwrlive
• Workshop: Cake, Not Chaos: The Moment To Moment Method (replay inside E2E) → suebrownmoore.com/enemies-to-experts
• Community: Join Enemies To Experts → suebrownmoore.com/enemies-to-experts
• Author Spotlight: May Archer: Visit May Archer’s website and check out her books → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/mayarcher
• More Resources: Learn from Sue at your own pace → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/learn

• May Archer (author website)
• Write Without Resistance: Book your group’s private workshop with Sue
• Plot Milestones: The Opportunity & Turning Point
• Flair comparisons: Star-Lord vs Illium (Augmentation CCV)
• Hero “Armor” (Augmentations CCV) - Free article: The 4 types of hero defenses that affect your story’s scenes → podcast.suebrownmoore.com/armor
• Enemies To Experts™ - Learn more about the Enemies To Experts™ program with Sue Brown-Moore. Because falling in love with your manuscript starts with understanding it.
• More resources - Learn from Sue at your own pace at podcast.suebrownmoore.com/learn

Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.