Craft Chat CRAFT CHAT: Introducing A Romantic Sub Plot Into A Non-Romance Novel

[Carol Rose]

Introducing A Romantic Sub-Plot Into A Non-Romance Novel​

Introducing a romantic sub plot into a novel that is not a romance by genre definition doesn't have to be overwhelming or feel like uncharted territory. There are some tips and tricks that can help you not feel out of your element, no matter what type of story you're writing.

The first step is to understand what a romance novel is, and what reader expectations are in the various romance sub genres. A romance is a character driven story. They are about the couple's journey toward falling in love, and readers expect they will be together at the end of the story. Different sub genres of romance tend to have specific reader expectations.

Urban fantasy with romantic elements novels usually have more of a slow burn romance, whereas paranormal romances feature instalove, especially if the heroes or heroines are shifters. Contemporary romance is all over the map, from hot, illicit hookups to sweet romance, but all of them end up with the couple together. YA romance (this includes dystopian) is often closed-door sex, and may contain no actual penetration if the hero and heroine are underage. The sex and language in erotic romances can be as graphic as the author wants to make it. Dark romance deals with, as expected, the darker side of human interaction, and those romances can include heroes or heroines who are serial killers or criminals. Historical romances usually reflect the mores and customs of the period in which they're written. Sci-fi romance can include aliens or different world beings as heroes. Because the world is often made up by the author, that world's rules will influence the sexual or romantic interactions between the couple.

When we discuss specific genre expectations in a future CRAFT CHAT post, we'll return to the above points. But for now, even if you are writing a genre in which the stories are more plot driven than character driven, you can successfully write in a romantic sub plot by first and foremost remembering that a romance is character driven. For the scenes where you show the romance aspect of the story, focus on the internal and external conflicts of your characters, and why it's not easy for them to get together. Of course, you also want to make those interactions real and believable. No matter what you may have heard or read about romance novels, those of us who write them do strive to make our characters three dimensional people, with authentic dialogue and distinct personalities.

Some questions to ask about your novel that might help you weave the romantic sub plot into the story include whether you're writing a stand alone novel or a series. Do you want those characters together at the end of the book, or will you be continuing the romantic thread throughout the series? If it's the latter, you might want to consider planning out the romantic scenes, and how you intend to weave them into each individual book in the series. In this case, it might be helpful to think of the romance sub plot as its own mini story, so you don't lose the thread in the rest of your series' other sub plots and threads.

Also, determine what type of relationship you want those two characters to have. Is it a happily ever after? Will one of them propose marriage? Are they going to live together? Work together? Will they even be together at the end of the book or series? It's not a romance novel, so there won't be a reader expectation that they are together at the end of the book or series. That part is up to you.

Other things to consider include: How do they meet? Do they have a history together? Are they on opposite sides of the central issues in the book, or are they on the same side? The answers will influence the conflict and interactions between them.

Just as in any other character interaction, you want to keep in mind their motivation for developing a romance in the first place. Try to resist the urge to simply drop in a romantic sub plot for the sake of sneaking in some sex scenes, or for some other reason that doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Even in a romance novel, the same goal, motivation, and conflict guidelines apply. If you aren't clear on these for your character - in or out of the romance sub plot - your readers also won't be clear. The romance has to make sense for those characters, or you shouldn't consider putting it in there.

In other words, gratuitous romance/sex scenes for the sake of tossing them in there is going to show. Your readers will know you've dumped the scene(s) in there without any real purpose. We will likely do a future GMC - Goal, Motivation, and Conflict CRAFT CHAT post because those concepts are crucial to characterization for any genre of fiction.

That's it for now! Discussion time...

 

[Amber]

This is interesting and helpful.

What you said about urban fantasy seems very accurate to me. I'm thinking of urban fantasies that have a sort of noir feel to them. The characters never get their happily ever after in the relationship department. They only get to avert disaster, in whatever form disaster comes.

I like books with romance sub-plots. I would be interested in your thoughts on how to determine the right balance between story and romance.

 

[Carol Rose]

I think it depends on how important the romance sub plot is to the story you’re writing.

Outlander is a perfect example. Diana Gabaldon has said the books are not romances, but those stories would be entirely different without Claire and Jamie’s journey as a couple.

 

[RK Wallis]

Thanks @Carol Rose, a subject near and dear. A romantic subplot in integral to my YA Fantasy and fits exactly what you've said.

I've just gone through my own WIP to tighten my crucible.

Long ago I added to my 'to do' list a quote from a writing book (can't remember which one, I did look, couldn't find it), basically it said you need each character's motivations for entering the crucible to be greater than their need not to enter the crucible (something like that). And to show the stress of the crucible.

As an aside, while trying to find this, I came across David Farland's Million Dollar Outlines. He goes into crucibles for setting, condition and characters.

 

[Amber]

I think it depends on how important the romance sub plot is to the story you’re writing.

Outlander is a perfect example. Diana Gabaldon has said the books are not romances, but those stories would be entirely different without Claire and Jamie’s journey as a couple.

Yeah. I should read those but each time I try I'm overwhelmed with the scent of Diana Gabaldon's wish fulfillment. I'd be interested in knowing the state of her marriage when she started writing those books.

I suspect her hope that they aren't romances might have something to do with her own biases against the romance genre.

I know they're just labels anyway. I think all books have romance in them. But there's the romance genre and romance--I'm not sure they're exactly the same thing. I believe it's possible, I find lots of things that happen in books romantic in general. So, going to an exotic location in a book is romantic. Or, traveling in space is romantic. Not the same as the romance genre. Duh me.

Do romantic subplots need to have the same structure as a genre romance? Although, I understand romance structures have variety to their structures and certainly times when the 'rules' can be broken, I think there are some pretty high reader expectations. I imagine it would be easier to escape those reader expectations when writing a romantic subplot.

 

[Leonora]

Do romantic subplots need to have the same structure as a genre romance? Although, I understand romance structures have variety to their structures and certainly times when the 'rules' can be broken, I think there are some pretty high reader expectations. I imagine it would be easier to escape those reader expectations when writing a romantic subplot.

I suppose it fulfills the requirement for conflict and jeopardy. But maybe you could have lovers who don't have the personal conflict of the romance genre, more external problems instead.
Also a topic for me at the moment. Thanks, Carol Rose.

 

[Carol Rose]

Thanks @Carol Rose, a subject near and dear. A romantic subplot in integral to my YA Fantasy and fits exactly what you've said.

I've just gone through my own WIP to tighten my crucible.

Long ago I added to my 'to do' list a quote from a writing book (can't remember which one, I did look, couldn't find it), basically it said you need each character's motivations for entering the crucible to be greater than their need not to enter the crucible (something like that). And to show the stress of the crucible.

As an aside, while trying to find this, I came across David Farland's Million Dollar Outlines. He goes into crucibles for setting, condition and characters.

Never heard of crucibles. I'll have to look that up.

 

[Carol Rose]

Yeah. I should read those but each time I try I'm overwhelmed with the scent of Diana Gabaldon's wish fulfillment. I'd be interested in knowing the state of her marriage when she started writing those books.

I suspect her hope that they aren't romances might have something to do with her own biases against the romance genre.

I know they're just labels anyway. I think all books have romance in them. But there's the romance genre and romance--I'm not sure they're exactly the same thing. I believe it's possible, I find lots of things that happen in books romantic in general. So, going to an exotic location in a book is romantic. Or, traveling in space is romantic. Not the same as the romance genre. Duh me.

Do romantic subplots need to have the same structure as a genre romance? Although, I understand romance structures have variety to their structures and certainly times when the 'rules' can be broken, I think there are some pretty high reader expectations. I imagine it would be easier to escape those reader expectations when writing a romantic subplot.

Well, they aren't romances, by genre definition, because Clair and Jamie each have sex with other characters at some point in the saga after they meet.

I suppose some readers might be offended if the romantic sub plot in a non-romance novel (by genre definition) breaks the romance genre rules, but really I don't see why they should be. The novel isn't a romance to begin with, so I'd say make your own rules.

 

[Ancora Imparo]

Interesting chat. Thanks for this, @Carol Rose. I'm now going to go and read the first and second chats, which I've missed. I've never heard of crucibles either, so I've got a bit of homework to do...

 

[CageSage]

James Frey was the first to mention writing in crucibles, which basically means the situations that keep the characters in the same place while the scene plays out.

this site has a reasonable explanation: What Is A Crucible, And Why Should You Include One In Your Writing?
Ingermanson also uses the term in his book - how to write a dynamite scene

In my simple words: what's to keep the characters from walking away from the situation?

 

[RK Wallis]

Cagesage mentions a fab book

You'll probably both find you're using a crucible subconsciously

 

[Paul Whybrow]

The love lives of fictional detectives are rarely smooth, and for many sleuths, be they male or female, the only partner they have is their sidekick.

I can think of only a few coppers and private investigators who have a married life, and the romance is fleeting. A notable example of coupledom is Dennis Lehane's Kenzie and Gennaro series featuring married private detectives in Boston.

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is on his third wife in the latest books, having lost the first two to murder and disease. Walter Mosley has two series of hard-boiled private investigator stories following the investigations of Easy Rawlins and Leonid McGill, whose love lives are on and off, with the women calling most of the shots—though both have impromptu sex with witnesses at the drop of a hat!

Such examples affected how I gave my Cornish Detective a love life. Mixing genres is said to be a bad thing, as it confuses the reader. I wasn't embarrassed about writing of love and lust, but decided early on to concentrate on describing my protagonist's character in depth...partly to encourage reader loyalty.

In the first novel, he's been a widower for two years. Book 2 sees him in full-blown depression, a delayed reaction to losing his wife. He's recovered and is rebuilding his personal life by Book 3, but wary of getting involved with another woman. His only possible romantic interest is a witness he met in Book 1, but she's returned to Wyoming. They're in contact by email and Skype and though there's some flirting and lewd banter, he doesn't think he'll ever see her again.

In Book 5, she unexpectedly turns up at his door. They swiftly become lovers, which happiness makes my detective drop his guard in a tense confrontation with a murder suspect, leading him to be stabbed. He's in a coma at The End, likely to be suspended from duty for beating his attacker to death. Falling in love, or at least into bed, with a woman has immediately cost him.

I felt a bit cruel about doing this to my fictional hero, but also rather gleeful! It wouldn't work to make everything hunky-dory with him solving cases and having a blissful affair. Instead, his new romantic interest will prove to be concealing a bit of a shady past from her youth on the prairies, having acted as a getaway driver in a bank heist.

How this will affect them both in Book 6 Kissing & Killing I don't know yet. As Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

The course of true love never did run smooth

My fictional detective will realise that his lady love has become the sand in the Vaseline. Having a romantic subplot is going to provide me with friction!

​

 

[ghuffman]

I have a romance subplot in my WIP, and honest to the characters, I’ve let the romance be quite slow burning. The reason is good: Devin has some deep issues around accepting some of the nastier things he’s done, so he refuses to let himself be loved. That, and he has a bad habit of night terrors that turn violent. But they’re alone a lot... At a ranch in the mountains... So the adult in me keeps asking if this is credible.

Does slow burn get annoying to modern reader, even if it’s true to character? For me, the tension was fun to write, but is it fun to read?

 

[Leonora]

Once a romance is emotionally consummated I think the arc is done. So it has to be slow.

 

[Carol Rose]

I read a couple of romance novels when I was a teenager, so I'm sort of familiar with the rules of the genre. The virgin must be threatened and rescued by a hero who simply cannot resist her charm - try as he might. The virgin will have a crisis - unsure of how she feels about the hero after what has happened between them. There will be an older woman who acts as a mentor and who helps the virgin to see the hero in a new light. Everyone lives happily ever after.

If you think this is the rule for all romance novels, you're mistaken.

 

[Carol Rose]

I have a romance subplot in my WIP, and honest to the characters, I’ve let the romance be quite slow burning. The reason is good: Devin has some deep issues around accepting some of the nastier things he’s done, so he refuses to let himself be loved. That, and he has a bad habit of night terrors that turn violent. But they’re alone a lot... At a ranch in the mountains... So the adult in me keeps asking if this is credible.

Does slow burn get annoying to modern reader, even if it’s true to character? For me, the tension was fun to write, but is it fun to read?

Readers enjoy a range from slow burn to instalove. Readers know how they're going to end. They read them for journey of the couple overcoming the conflicts that block their way to being together.

 

[Carol Rose]

Would you venture a guess at what percentage of romance novels have this structure? In my mind, Fabio or someone similar must be on the cover to qualify for a strict 'romance' designation.

Very few that are now being written. Like perhaps somewhere around 5%.

And Fabio hasn't done covers in decades. You should go on Amazon and check out the variety of covers these days. They're all over the map in terms of design.

As far as it being a "romance" genre novel, readers expect a couple or a menage (any gender combo) who end up together at the end of the novel. No one has to be a virgin, though that is still a popular trope in the erotic romance genre. One or more of the couple or menage can be a shapeshifter, a ghost, a demon, or another supernatural being. Readers still don't like cheating. Once the couple or threesome has decided to make a go of their relationship, no one has sex with anyone outside that duo or trio. And readers also like a variety of conflicts they overcome before they are together for good. Readers also don't like non-consensual sex or dubious consent. It's still written, and has a small following, but the majority of readers prefer there be clear consent. Readers today like strong, independent characters - both male and female. And in a contemporary romance, you'd best make sure your heroes/heroines are utilizing sex safe and birth control. Readers get bent out of shape when no one mentions condoms or at least acknowledges they've just had unprotected sex with someone they barely know yet.

 

[Carol Rose]

What makes up the majority of the plots? My statistics are not very great. I read a couple of bodice rippers on an airplane back in the 90s and I read twilight and skimmed 50 shades after finding them in the book pile at a hotel. All four books followed the structure I described. Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre also follow this pattern.

Like I said, virgins are still popular tropes, but they are very much the exception when taken in context with the big picture today.

Twilight is YA, so the expectations are different. Characters are expected to be virgins because the hero and heroine are underage. Edward was one, too, if you remember. Twilight is also paranormal, and those genre expectations are different than those of modern contemporary romance.

50 Shades is fraught with incorrect details about a BDSM lifestyle that goes way beyond the scope of this thread, and which has been discussed ad nauseam already. They sparked a flurry of copycat billionaire hero books that is now dying out, in terms of reader popularity.

Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice are not romances by genre definition. The romance genre did not yet exist as we know it today when both those books were written. Romance as a genre began in the late 1950s.

Romance is a formulaic genre, as all genres are, dictated by reader expectations. The reader expectations change as society changes.

The true bodice rippers usually contained rape of the heroine by the hero. That's where they got their name. And by that I mean the consent was dubious at best for most or all of the sex scenes. They also frequently contained scenes where the hero cheated on the heroine, with or without her knowledge. If an author tried to write one of those today, she'd be flayed in reviews.

Modern-day contemporary romances are expected to be about real people facing real problems.

Now, if you're writing historical or a Regency romance (Regency is still very popular), you're still going to have to write according to the mores and customs of the period in which your story is set. But most authors do not include the hero cheating, even in Regencies, though that would be an acceptable behavior for a man in that time period.

 

[Carol Rose]

That is really interesting. When did the bodice ripper trend spring up and die out?

I haven't seen a true bodice ripper for decades. They were very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and were set mostly in the past in exotic and unusual locations. They were true sagas, spanning decades in the story and having word counts of well over 90,000.

 

[Barbara]

Why would the women switch from enjoying reading about cheaters to not enjoying that anymore

Probably because at one point is was portrayed as 'romantic' to have an illicit affair, but now many readers will have experienced the pain of a cheating partner and don't want to relive it? The internet has made certain things way too easy.

I suspect in romance, as in many other genres, the readers want to / or don't want to see themselves. As with any art, stories deal with and reflect the Zeitgeist.

 

[Carol Rose]

I think that what I picked up on that airplane was from the 1980s, but it was pretty tame. Consent was definitely in the grey zone, though.
I wonder if the shift away from bodice rippers occurred at around the same time that internet porn became a big thing and normalized hardcore imagery that had been far out on the fringe before. I wonder if after romance novel customers saw something painful on the computer screen, it wasn't so much fun to read about anymore because the reality was a lot uglier than what they'd imagined?
I know a younger woman who dated for a lot longer than I ever did and she said that she had to remind people that violence wasn't something she liked. They had gotten an internet education in sex!
The cheating aspect is a bit more confusing. Why would the women switch from enjoying reading about cheaters to not enjoying that anymore. I'm a bit puzzled about that.

Also. If we look at the shift from bodice rippers to twilight and 50 shades, you see lack of consent shifting to asking for abuse from someone who has economic power - in the hopes of winning the lottery of his affection. I wonder if this is a symptom of a larger political picture in which we are trying to come to terms with the abuse we endure from the economic system. (Please ignore this point- I don't want to break the rules and stir up a political discussion.)

I think the shift happened because women didn't want to read about non-consensual sex any longer.

And as for 50 Shades, like I said, the books were fraught with incorrect details about a lifestyle that was supposed to be the main point of the "romance" between the two. I don't believe it went any deeper than the author's lack of research, which she has since admitted to.

 

[Carol Rose]

Another important point to remember is that up until roughly fifty years ago, a woman was expected to remain pure and virginal for her future husband, but a man could do whatever he wanted in his sex life. The sexual revolution in the 1960s and into the 1970s changed attitudes, and eventually behaviors. Reader expectations for their stories changed, too.

As for the billionaire trope, it's always been a popular one in romance novels. It comes and goes, along with the vampires. And because women were expected to be virgins, that trope stuck around for a long time. Now that society's expectations have changed, that trope is also dying out.

Romance is an escape for most readers. Those of us who write it know that. We give them what they want. Otherwise we don't sell books.

 

[Carol Rose]

At one time in the genre, a misunderstanding was enough of a "conflict" to engage readers, but these days readers want more. After all, if two or more people are apart because they don't have the brains or the maturity to talk out a simple misunderstanding and get past it, that's pretty silly. Readers expect adult characters to act like adults. A romance writer these days needs to come up with more of a conflict to sustain a story than a silly misunderstanding.

 

[Carol Rose]

But don't people in love always act rather childish and impulsive in some respect? Love makes people jealous, paranoid, and crazy and adults don't act crazy. Adults are professional, reserved, magnanimous, rational, etc.. There is nothing rational about love.

I think we're confusing issues here. Let me give you an example.

Say you read a book where the characters are in their 30s, have solid careers, and the only "conflict" keeping them apart was this scenario: She likes him - let's say she works with him and has admired him from afar for months or even years. But he's off limits for some reason. Then one day he's not off limits because of a change in his work status or hers. She finally gets up the nerve to do something about her obsession, and they have a date. That leads to sex the same night. But then the next day, she sees him with another woman and they look hot and heavy. She jumps to conclusions. Instead of TALKING to him about it, she spends the next ten chapters pissed off and avoiding him, while internally wanting him again. He spends those ten chapters wondering WTF her problem is. Would you enjoy that? I wouldn't. I'd have tossed my Kindle across the room by the second chapter of that nonsense, while screaming , FFS! JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER!!

And that's what I mean when I say act like adults. Make sense?

The so-called conflict needs to be way more than a stupid misunderstanding that they could have resolved with a five-minute sit down over coffee or wine.

 

[Barbara]

But don't people in love always act rather childish and impulsive in some respect? Love makes people jealous, paranoid, and crazy

Totally agree. Sometimes adults act like kids and kids act like adults. But healthy adults tend to have learnt to control or deal with this in a healthy way as opposed to throwing jealous tantrums. Some don't, of course, due to childhood issues or whatever. Humanity is complex. But that makes a different kind of novel. It'd be a story about someone who has problems with an adult relationships, or adulthood, or letting go of their childhood etc. In other words, the genre changes into more of a psychological something or another, women's fiction, whatever. I think in romances, the readers want to see an' ideal' in a sense. How life could be, would be, escapism. But I'm not sure about that. I'm not a romance reader.

adults don't act crazy

Hmmm. I sometimes do

Adults are professional, reserved, magnanimous, rational, etc..

Hmmm.

There is nothing rational about love.
Love is - "But I neeeeeeeed him!"
No, objectively speaking, you don't!

Love can be many things. Some people neeeeeed the other. Others neeeeed to manipulate. Other people can be totally rational about their relationship to the point their partner feels negelcted yet this is the kind of love they have learnt to give. Humanity is varied, and our baggage makes for great stories. I think what you've mentioned, Kirstin, makes for a superb complex novel about a relationship between two people, but not necessarily in the Romance genre.

I think it goes back to what genre we're writing for. I agree, love isn't rational. We can fall in love with someone who isn't our type etc. We can act irrational at times. But an entire story about someone acting irrational and handling it in a iffy way might read like a teen book as opposed to an adult romance. Romance and love has to be expored in a certain way. Which brings me to this:

The so-called conflict needs to be way more than a stupid misunderstanding that they could have resolved with a five-minute sit down over coffee or wine.

Like @Carol Rose says, I think the conflict needs to be complex and mulitlayered in romances too because our lives as adults isn't simple (at least mine isn't but that might just be me - I don't know). Yes, Romances can have jealousy, irrationality etc, it's life, but it needs run deeper and have a 'complex' / adult cause that makes sense to an adult, with a motivations, conflicts and fears that work for adults. Too simplistic and it could easily turn into a teen novel. Adult readers should be able to relate to the way it's handled in the story so that they can see themseves, or the ideal they aspire to be / have (hence a happy ending).

 

[Carol Rose]

I guess that's the character arc. But to appeal to an adult audience it still needs to be an adult arc. Not sure I'd want to read about someone having to grow up a bit. In fact, I'd want to smack the one who needs to grow up a bit.

Adults acting like kids wouldn't make a good romance either. But adults struggling with their emotions, exploring what an adult relationship might be, might?

Totally agree. Sometimes adults act like kids and kids act like adults. But healthy adults tend to have learnt to control or deal with this in a healthy way as opposed to throwing jealous tantrums. Some don't, of course, due to childhood issues or whatever. Humanity is complex. But that makes a different kind of novel. It'd be a story about someone who has problems with an adult relationships, or adulthood, or letting go of their childhood etc. In other words, the genre changes into more of a psychological something or another, women's fiction, whatever. I think in romances, the readers want to see an' ideal' in a sense. How life could be, would be, escapism. But I'm not sure about that. I'm not a romance reader.

Hmmm. I sometimes do

Hmmm.

Love can be many things. Some people neeeeeed the other. Others neeeeed to manipulate. Other people can be totally rational about their relationship to the point their partner feels negelcted yet this is the kind of love they have learnt to give. Humanity is varied, and our baggage makes for great stories. I think what you've mentioned, Kirstin, makes for a superb complex novel about a relationship between two people, but not necessarily in the Romance genre.

I think it goes back to what genre we're writing for. I agree, love isn't rational. We can fall in love with someone who isn't our type etc. We can act irrational at times. But an entire story about someone acting irrational and handling it in a iffy way might read like a teen book as opposed to an adult romance. Romance and love has to be expored in a certain way. Which brings me to this:


Like @Carol Rose says, I think the conflict needs to be complex and mulitlayered in romances too because our lives as adults isn't simple (at least mine isn't but that might just be me - I don't know). Yes, Romances can have jealousy, irrationality etc, it's life, but it needs run deeper and have a 'complex' / adult cause that makes sense to an adult, with a motivations, conflicts and fears that work for adults. Too simplistic and it could easily turn into a teen novel. Adult readers should be able to relate to the way it's handled in the story so that they can see themseves, or the ideal they aspire to be / have (hence a happy ending).

You've said everything I've been trying to say in a much better way. Thank you.

 

[RK Wallis]

Anything Jane Austen I care, and that her work isn't considered romance totally resonates with me.

 

[Barbara]

Not meaning to nit pick but:

These are acouple of quotes inc the end quote from the following link:

Austen herself often saw her books fitting into a genre of realism which had a slender yet noble tradition that included Daniel Dafoe ...

Maybe the answer is that it’s impossible to actually categorize Austen into a specific genre. Perhaps because she started writing when the novel was so new and unformed, Austen’s work doesn’t easily fit into a specific category. Or maybe Austen is so hard to categorize because she’s a genre unto herself.

What is Jane Austen’s Genre?

In an earlier blog (Jane Austen and the Rise of the Novel), I had written about the history of the novel and how Jane Austen played a role. I thought that in today’s post I would address the simple…

austenauthors.net

In other words, not what is considered a Romance.

 

[RK Wallis]

she’s a genre unto herself.

how true

 

[Barbara]

But don't people in love always act rather childish and impulsive in some respect? Love makes people jealous, paranoid, and crazy and adults don't act crazy. Adults are professional, reserved, magnanimous, rational, etc.. There is nothing rational about love.
Love is - "But I neeeeeeeed him!"
No, objectively speaking, you don't!

@Kirsten. I've been thinking about this and you've just given me an 'Aha' moment. I've been struggling with a 'sub-plot' type of thing in my thriller which involves my MC's wife and a second sub-p type of thing involving a woman he meets. I've just realised there's a difference between romance sup-p and a romantic sub-p. Now I know how to handle them. Thank you!!