Ah, young love.
My love affair with writing began in middle school when I was fervently writing high school romance, dreaming about what it would be like. Drama, boys, sports. I was writing fanfiction in my school notebooks, passing it to my friends in between classes, and posting it online at the end of the day.
Rekindling that feeling is a critical part of writing young adult romance. The high school romance novel is an absolute classic both in fanfiction and in YA romance spaces. If you want to write high school romance but don’t know where to start, this article is for you.
I’m going to inspire you today to write high school romance with some great prompts and ideas you can use to kickstart a killer young adult romance project, so keep scrolling.
How to write great high school romance
Even though we’ve all experienced it, for many of us, it might have been a while since we were in school. How can you write great high school romance if you don’t remember what it was like? Capturing the spirit is key.
To write great high school romance, you need to capture the pure and extreme emotions of being a teenager. For teens, everything is happening for the first time, and their emotions are often so large, it feels impossible for them to have ever happened before. Think drama and relatability.
Kids are resilient. They can do anything, and they will. Teenagers won’t be pandered to, either. They can smell insincerity, and they know when they’re being made fun of. Be honest in your writing, and you’ll be rewarded.
Where should I post high school romance?
Check out Wattpad, LiveJournal, or Commaful if you’re a young writer looking to cut your teeth on some original fiction. You can also dip into fanfiction – high school AU is a subcategory plenty of people search on AO3.
Common YA writing mistakes
One of the worst writing mistakes you can make when you write YA as an adult is patronizing your audience. It can happen accidentally, and it does! You have to stay vigilant and, above all, be honest.
Don’t patronize your audience when you write for young adults. Talking down to them or trying to teach lessons through your work will come off as insincere. No one likes a lecture, especially in fiction. Characters can learn lessons, but it can’t sound like it comes from a place of superiority.
One of the most relevant examples of this I see often is characters being negative towards technology. Writing a teenager who doesn’t have a phone is possible, but if your teen doesn’t even want a phone, doesn’t like them, or thinks the other kids are “out of touch” because of technology? Preachy!
Remember how badly you wanted the latest thing, no matter what it was? When you write YA, you need to put yourself back in the shoes of your high school self. What were their motivations? How did they feel?
Respect kids. They deserve it. They’re cool people, and writing young adult romance is really, really fun. Young adults fall in love in a way few adults do. When was the last time you felt such an instant desire for someone? Dating and not caring about career or family values, instead letting your hormones lead the way?
High school romance prompts
There are so many different ways you can play a high school romance novel. Here are some prompts to help you get into writing high school romance.
- Your character is the lead in the school play – the other lead is their enemy/crush/best friend.
- Your character falls in love with their best friend.
- Your character’s bully falls in love with them.
- Your character joins a new club/sport and crushes on the captain.
- Your character gets a part-time job and falls in love with a coworker.
- Your character and their enemy/crush/best friend are on prom committee.
You probably noticed that enemy, crush, and best friend can pretty much be used interchangeably, and that is part of the magical spice that is high school romance. A bully or an enemy can become a crush or a best friend. A best friend can become a crush. A bully can become a crush. No one changes their mind faster than a teenager – have fun with that!
High school romance tropes
Tropes are a really big part of the romance genre, and if you don’t believe me, check out my article on romance novel tropes. Here are a few high school romance tropes we could read over and over – and never get bored.
- Popular kids and outcasts
- Tutors and study partners
- Field trips
- Sneaking out
- School dances
- Prom
- Skipping school
- Project partners
- Passing notes
- Detention
- First kiss
- Transfer students
- Senior class trip
- Fundraising competition
- Clubs and sports
- Student council
How many more can you think of? Leave some in the comments so I can keep the list updated with all of your favorite high school romance tropes.
High school romance love confession scene
Romance novels have three essential elements: build-up, climax, and resolution. To make the most out of your high school romance, you’ll need to put a lot of thought into how you want your love confession scene to play out.
Confession scenes happen at the dramatic climax of romance novels, and for high school romance, you can have a lot of fun with how that looks. The overall plot of your novel should blend with the romantic plot so the two are inextricably linked. Confession scenes are dramatic, satisfying payoffs for readers.
Refer to the earlier prompts and inspirations. How will these scenarios tie into your confessions? If your novel centers around a school play, have the confession scene take place during the play. What’s juicer than a character going off-script to confess their love, but the audience believes it’s all part of the show? Here’s more help on writing an amazing love confession scene.
Inspiration for young adult high school romance novels – final thoughts
Writing high school romance can be fulfilling, rewarding, and downright fun. Spend some time remembering what books got you into reading, and you’ll realize that fiction takes hold of us early on in life. Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas and inspiration so you can enjoy writing high school romance novels.
Once you’ve decided what your novel will be about, check out these tips on finding a novel writing schedule and planning your novel.