The Bard and I:
What Shakespeare Taught Me About Writing Romance
Copyright © 2004 by Deborah M. Hale
"Learn from the best." That's my motto when it comes to romance writing. So who better to learn from than the King of Romance himself, William Shakespeare? I've studied Shakespeare's plays, watched more than a third of them live and over half on film, and even acted in a couple. In the process, I've absorbed a number of lessons that have served me well as a romance novelist. Does that surprise you?
Shakespeare had more in common with the modern romance novelist than you might think. For one thing, during his lifetime he didn't get any more respect from the literary establishment than we do. His sonnets were fine, but in those days playwrights drew sneers and condescension, in part because they were so popular. Like us, Shakespeare was a commercial writer, especially early in his career, eager to draw and please a crowd. His first play, A Comedy of Errors was a slapstick howler and his second Titus Andronicus was the Elizabethan equivalent of a slasher flick -- so gory it made theatre-goers faint...and packed in big crowds. Like many commercial fiction writers, Shakespeare didn't give up his day job. He worked as a theatre manager and some-time actor all the while he was writing his plays. If he were alive today, I'm certain Shakespeare would be more comfortable hanging out at an RWA conference or Romantic Times convention than attending some rarified literary soiree.
So, what did Shakespeare teach me about writing romance?
The Hook Shakespeare knew how to grab an audience's attention fast. It was a survival trait back in those days, or the groundlings might get restless and start pelting the actors with orange peels! That could be why many of his plays open with a bang. Hamlet sees the ghost of his dead father. King Lear prepares to give away his kingdom to his three daughters. The Tempest and Twelfth Night both begin with shipwrecks. Even with a quieter opening, Shakespeare knew how to create tension with foreshadowing. Think of the three witches in Macbeth and the market scene in Julius Caesar as the citizens of Rome prepare to welcome their conquering hero. Romeo and Juliet manages to combine foreshadowing and action in the fight scene between the Montagu and Capulet servants. Take a hint from the Bard and start your story with action or tension.
Rich Characterization Think romance novels invented 'the spirited heroine'? Think again! Viola, Beatrice, Rosalind -- these gals weren't swooning damsels in distress. They were smart, strong, confident women who went after what they wanted and got it, including a happy ending and true love. You go, girls! Shakespeare also knew how to create compelling heroes that his audience could root for by giving these guys loads of emotional baggage and something they wanted badly -- power, revenge, love. He didn't stop with his lead actors, either. His secondary characters are so richly textured that many great actors are happy to take on small roles in his plays. Finally, Shakespeare knew that the best and most frightening villains are the ones with a touch of humanity.
Conflict to Burn Nobody has ever summed up the conflict of a romance story better than the Bard. "The course of true love never did run smooth." Remember that and you'll never suffer a sagging middle again. Shakespeare knew how to blend all three levels of conflict. He had Interpersonal conflict galore from the covert machinations of Iago to the bawdy battle of the sexes between Katarina and Petrucchio. Is there a more gripping Intrapersonal conflict than that of Prince Hamlet, which Shakespeare brought to life in a series of the most powerful soliloquies ever written? He also tossed in Extrapersonal conflict like the feud between the Capulets and the Monatgus and the great storm in King Lear to give his work a larger than life dimension..
Sizzling Sexual Tension Whether it was the poetic yearning of Romeo and Juliet, the sexually charged banter of Beatrice and Benedict or the smoldering battles between Katarina and Petrucchio, Shakespeare could ignite, fan and sustain sexual tension between his lovers until the stage almost caught fire! Watch and learn.
A New Twist on an Old Story Like romance writers, Shakespeare didn't come up with anything revolutionary by way of plot. All but four of his plays have proven to be based on earlier stories. Shakespeare's genius was in taking the old material and giving it a new twist. He took a fairly stock revenge story from Saxo Grammaticus and made the hero conflicted about murdering his uncle, a Renaissance man trapped in a medieval world. The result has enthralled the world for centuries.
Pick up the Pace Remember the groundlings and their orange peals? Shakespeare knew better than to lose their interest once he'd grabbed it. His technique was simple, but hasn't been improved upon since. He varied his scenes, interspersing action scenes with ones of quieter tension. Or he injected humor to break the tension so he could start building it again in the next scene. Each of his scenes has an opening hook, building tension, moves the momentum of the story forward and ends in a way that leaves the reader curious and eager to know what will happen next. All these scenes build toward a gripping cathartic climax, after which loose ends are tied up for a clean, brisk get-away guaranteed to bring the audience to its feet.
Language and Imagery No writer has ever used imagery with the power and assurance of the Bard. Shakespeare knew that imagery is emotional shorthand, a subliminal message that packs a wallop. Often his metaphors are obvious. "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and Juliet is the Sun!" Other times they are unexpected -- "take arms against a sea of troubles." And he doesn't stop at making the comparison. He tailors his verbs and adjectives to match and enhance the underlying images and emotion of the scene.
A Satisfying Ending Shakespeare knew better than to cheat his audience of the kind of ending they wanted. If he was writing tragedy, you can bet the final scene would be littered with corpses, but the hero would somehow have transcended his tragic flaw and those left alive would have learned a valuable lesson from his downfall. At the end of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, "Jack shall have Jill and nought shall go ill." Sometimes many pairs of lovers would be happily united, separated family members reunited while trouble makers like Don John of Much Ado About Nothing and Malvolio of Twelfth Night would get poetic justice in a way that resonated emotionally with the audience and made them clamor for the next play.
If romance writers take the lessons of William Shakespeare to heart and pour them into our writing, we may be able to boast of our readers, like Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing "In her bosom I'll unclasp my heart, and take her hearing prisoner with the force and strong encounter of my amorous tale."
And nobody will be throwing orange peals, either.