By Kimber Chin
The black moment is the place in a romance novel where all appears to be lost. There is no hope for the hero and heroine. Their relationship is doomed.
Romance readers expect this black moment. It is the peak of tension. A good black moment will make them cry. A bad black moment will make them groan.
The big misunderstanding is an example of a bad black moment. Dashing hero visits beautiful, yet secret sister. The heroine sees them, and assumes they are having an affair. Without any discussion, the heroine breaks off their engagement. All appears lost yet all would have been easily explained with a very simple discussion.
Another bad black moment is the unrelated black moment. Hero and heroine are happily living their lives. Heroine hits her head on a cabinet and falls into a coma. What did the coma have to do with the rest of the story? Absolutely nothing.
A good black moment can’t be easy. It should seem insurmountable to readers. They question how the lovers will push past it to earn their happy ever after. It will, most likely, be either a main character’s worst fear or greatest wish. Often the hero or heroine will have to change or show change.
In my first novel, Breach Of Trust, the hero Philippe trusts very few people. One person he does trust is the heroine Anne. However, when confidential information is released to the competition, Anne looks to be the guilty party. Nothing she says to Philippe can explain away the physical evidence. Even as the writer, I didn’t know how Philippe could ever trust Anne again.
In my second novel, Invisible, the black moment is when the hero has accomplished what he set out originally to do. The problem is that by doing that, he will lose the heroine.
Kimber Chin writes romance novels based in the business world. Her first novel, Breach Of Trust, is now available in print and eBook. Every week, she offers a free read on her site http://businessromance.com/
Article Source: Writing Romance 101 – The Black Moment