a guide
rivals to lovers is a popular sub trope, commonly found in romance and fantasy novels. it's interchangeable with enemies to lovers, although rivals are often trying to compete with each other, not kill each other! some popular examples include:
beach read by emily henry
if you could see the sun by ann liang
from lukov with love by mariana zapata
red, white & royal blue by case mcquiston
when creating a good rivals to lovers novel, it's important to establish a few things:
why are they rivals?
what traits do they have in common?
how do they resolve the conflict between them?
what is the external conflict impacting their relationship (besides from their rivalry)?
these are the basic building blocks of the trope, and allow you to form a good foundation to your story!
since this is quite a major trope, the why in ‘why are they rivals’ is so important to the plot! without a reason for their riff, your storyline will seem pointless and silly. often, both characters will want the same or a similar thing - a shared goal. since only one of them can achieve it (or achieve it first), they become rivals! some goals could be:
getting a top mark
winning a race
having their [something they both own] do better
remember to also include a motivation for why they want to achieve this goal! this provides more substance and backbone to your plot. corresponding examples to the previous slide are:
parents approval
career advancement
making more money
your chosen motivation should be relevant to your goal. if your character's an orphan, they probably won't be looking for approval from their dead parents. it also has to be a strong enough motivation that later on when they're considering giving up, they don't!
next, establish what they have in common! since they're rivals, it'll be easy to distinguish everything that is different about them, and harder to find similarities. however, it is essential for them to have corresponding characteristics, if they're going to become lovers (or even just friends). afterall, if your characters are completely and utterly incompatible, it's unlikely that will change in a short ~300 pages!
however, keep in mind that for the first third of the book these should be underlying traits - not immediately visible. make your readers have to wait/identify their similarities themselves, and reveal them gradually! by the end of the novel, both your readers & characters will be wondering how they ever disliked each other.
if you're struggling to make two polar opposites fall in love, utilising sub-tropes is a great way to improve your work & get ideas to expand on your plot.
some of the most commonly used in rivals to lovers include:
forced proximity
fake dating/marriage of convenience
hurt comfort
while these shouldn’t be the only plot points in your novel, they can help you to establish ideas & scenarios for your characters you otherwise might not have thought of.
it’s unlikely your characters are going to wake up and decide they suddenly like each other, so it’s important to have a planned way for them to decide to confess. they’ll often be a period of time where they’ll try to deny their feelings. it might take a large act or external event to convince them that they do like the other character. examples of these include:
character a giving up so character b wins
character a comforting character b when they’re upset
character a seeing character b with someone else
and finally, like most sub-genres of romance, rivals to lovers novels often have a complication about 3/4 of the way through the novel. this time though, it’s usually an external conflict - meaning it isn’t directly caused by any of the characters. it can, however, be caused by:
family interfering with their relationship
job prospects/opportunities
losing the event causing their rivalry
these are very basic examples, and are probably different from the ones used in your novel! the external conflict should directly link to other events in your book - it should be hinted to and established throughout the book.
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