From Chemistry to Commitment: Writing Relationships, Not Just Characters

From Chemistry to Commitment: Writing Relationships, Not Just CharactersIn romance, readers dont fall in love with characters in isolationthey fall in love with the relationship. Yet many writers devote enormous energy to perfecting individual backstories, wounds, and quirks while assuming the relationship itself will emerge organically on the page. This workshop reframes romance craft by shifting the focus from character building to relationship building. Participants will explore how attraction, conflict, trust, power,

In romance, readers don’t fall in love with characters in isolation—they fall in love with the relationship. Yet many writers devote enormous energy to perfecting individual backstories, wounds, and quirks while assuming the relationship itself will emerge organically on the page. This workshop reframes romance craft by shifting the focus from character building to relationship building. Participants will explore how attraction, conflict, trust, power, vulnerability, and choice evolve between people—and how those dynamics create emotional momentum no single character arc can sustain alone. Through craft discussion and practical frameworks, writers will learn to treat the relationship as an active narrative force, one that grows, strains, and transforms under pressure from both internal and external conflicts.

Instructor: Vanessa Riley is an acclaimed author known for captivating novels such as Island Queen, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, and Queen of Exiles, an ABC View Lit Pick. She was honored as the 2024 Georgia Mystery/Detective Author of the year for Murder in Drury Lane and the 2023 Georgia Literary Fiction Author of the Year for Sister Mother Warrior. Her craft highlights hidden narratives of power, love, and sisterhoods of Black women and women of color in historical fiction, romance, and mystery genres. Her works have received praise from publications like the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publisher Weekly, and the New York Times.