How to create romantic tension
BY Lizzie Lee
30th Oct 2025
In this advice blog Lizzie Lee, author of the cosy romance novel The Cotswolds Christmas Café, shares her tips for creating chemistry between your romantic leads.
I’ve always been a fan of romantic fiction, particularly cosy romances set in warm communities where you follow the story of two people who are absolutely made for each other, if only they could see it. Cue lingering glances, misunderstandings and the eventual passionate reconciliation. Bliss.
It’s no surprise, then, that I emailed my agent, the lovely Lucy Morris, out of the blue one day to say that I’d like to write ‘one of those Christmas romances with a sparkly cover’. Luckily for me she gamely took the switch from dark historical fiction to cosy romance in her stride, promising to read the finished book while drinking hot chocolate.
It was a steep learning curve to write a whole novel in a completely new genre, especially one that comes with clear reader expectations that must be met. Creating that essential spark between the main characters was perhaps the biggest challenge, and I’m happy to share a few tips with those of you working on this in your own writing!
1. CREATING STRONG CHARACTERS
The attraction between your protagonists needs to feel convincing and compelling, and the heart of that is to create fully rounded characters with their own flaws, flairs and quirks. This genre centres on the character development of the protagonist, so it’s worth considering who you want this person to be at the beginning of the book, who they are by the end of the book, and how the character of their love interest fits in with this.
Is there an element of your protagonist’s character that they’re suppressing, for example a playful or adventurous side, that the other character might see and help bring out? Do they have a quirky sense of humour that only the other person understands? Do they have terrible taste in music or a habit of using the wrong words that the other character finds adorable? Fully rounded characters will make for a convincing and compelling connection on the page.
2. CONFLICT
Of course, the path to true love never did run smooth, and it would make for pretty dull fiction if it did! As with all good stories, there will be obstacles that must be overcome, and these can provide both external and internal conflict for your characters. There might be concrete obstacles facing the couple, such as distance or having opposing goals, or internal struggles such as a previous betrayal or a reluctance to commit for one of the characters.
From subtle misunderstandings to a full-blown ‘enemies to lovers’ plot, there’s plenty of potential for passion (not to mention physical proximity!) with the addition of a good argument here and there. Conflict is always compelling for the reader, and used well in romantic fiction it can be a great device to demonstrate underlying feelings of attraction. Oh, why is that annoying person on her mind again? They’re so annoying she just can’t stop thinking about them. It’s so hard not to get distracted by those gorgeous blue eyes while having a spat over nothing … And so on.
3. OTHER CHARACTERS' OPINIONS
One sure way to bring the gorgeous good looks of the romantic interest to both the reader’s and your protagonist’s attention is to have other people in the book notice! Creating a little bit of excitement around a character is a great technique to showcase just how attractive they are. This also gives you an opportunity to tell us a little more about them by showing how they react, whether that’s to flirt, ignore the attention or remain modestly oblivious to the commotion they’re causing.
This is where supporting characters have an important role to play – the best friend who questions why the main character talks so much about this man she claims to be annoyed by, the barman who flirts with the gorgeous main character, the colleague who comments on how handsome the love interest is … All this makes it harder for your protagonist to deny they’ve noticed how good looking the other character is (though we might enjoy watching them squirm as they try!)
4. HINTS OF ATTRACTION
Whether your characters are friends from the start or enemies who can’t stop thinking about each other, you can subtly show the reader the attraction between them. Catching the other character looking at them, a lingering touch on the arm, a shared smile or raised eyebrow – it doesn’t take much to show the connection between these two. Having another person observe how much one character is talking about another, or that one keeps glancing at the other, for example, can also subtly show your reader the spark between them.
Perhaps they make the same joke or quote the same movie, and can’t help but notice this connection. Perhaps they share a quirky hobby or are both animal lovers. Making this attraction clear to the reader, even when the characters themselves might be in denial, is one of the great joys of writing romantic fiction!
I can be found on Instagram as @lizzieleewriter and on my website.
Lizzie Lee was awarded the Marian Keyes Novel-Writing Scholarship to study on our online Writing Your Novel – Six Months course in 2018. Lizzie's debut historical fiction Cunning Women was published by Windmill Books in 2021.
The Cotswolds Christmas Café, her first romance novel, is out in paperback on 10 Nov with Embla Books.