An Author's Hermes-A Guide to Writing on Wattpad

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

Although many stories include romance, it is also a genre in itself and is a prominent part of literature, both classical and modern.
It can be hard to build romantic tension up between two characters. Below will be a guide on how to proceed.

Firstly, what type of love trope are you going for? Listed below are some classics.
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers
Strangers to lovers

Secondly, who loved who first? Or did both characters fall in love at the same time?

What caused this love? Did it blossom gradually, or did seeing them with another start jealous feelings?

These are questions you should ask when creating a couple. Now that you've (hopefully) answered them, we can move on to the next step: creating romantic tension.

When writing, say, a first kiss scene, you must ensure it has romantic tension in it.
The key is to describe the events leading up to it. Both characters are feeling anticipation, anxiety, perhaps fear preceding the actual kiss.
You can describe that.
Make sure to describe the body language. If they are both feeling awkward, they most likely will not be too touchy, whereas if they have been waiting for this moment for so long and just can't keep their hands off each other, you might describe the hands on the waist, neck, cheek, etc...
Make it slow. Make the reader wait for the kiss ardently, silently begging. Once the characters' lips touch, you may accelerate things a bit and turn it into, perhaps, a passionate snogging session.
If you're leaning towards a more innocent approach, describing the feelings is more important, since they won't be touching much.
Overall, make it sound pleasant, as if trying to give even the reader butterflies in their stomach.
Describe the heartbeat accelerating, the heavy breathing, the blushing, the eye contact... These are all ways to add romantic tension to a kiss scene.

Next, I will focus on the "Enemies to Lovers" trope, with which I have no writing experience, since I don't enjoy reading it.
However, I do know, in theory, how to write it. And so I will show you how below.
Think about it; how would two enemies start having romantic feelings for one another?
The answer is forced proximity.
Forcing them to work together, sleep in the same bed, or be group project partners are all typical ways to make this trope work. As they are close, you might describe their ardent eye contact, their heartbeats' acceleration, and their accidental hand touching.
As their romantic feelings grow, confused ones will grow with them. Make the two characters question themselves on why they suddenly feel attracted to the other. You might take the Anthony Bridgerton approach and turn this confusion into anger.

For the "Strangers to Lovers" trope, you will need to take things more slowly.
For strangers to become lovers, they must go through many steps. As they grow closer, eventually into friends, they will realise a blossoming feeling in their chest is erupting.
In such a relationship, one should avoid immediate love or lust. The characters are strangers-one doesn't feel love at first sight in real life. You must also build a solid friendship before it turns into a romantic relationship.
Lastly, you must also think about what makes the two characters become close in the first place? Are they in the same art class? Do they go to the same bar every week? Do they meet at a party and keep seeing each other after that?

Lastly, I will give a few instructions on my favorite romance trope of all, "Friends to Lovers".
It is not much different from the "Strangers to Lovers" trope, except that the characters already are friends.
Now, just like two enemies, two best friends don't miraculously start pining for each other. Either they have liked each other for a very long time and are scared to confess, or one of them gets with someone else, causing a jealous reaction in the other.
Once that is figured out, you must just add in elements of romantic tension such as eye contact, hand brushing, etc... and you are done!