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There are three different types of personal conflict your romance book can showcase between your lead characters. And you might be accidentally making important decisions about your PLOT. Because if you don't give EACH of these three types its own unique external hook, your story might feel flat through the middle.
Inside, I share an example of one of these romance arc types—straight from a published book!—and how understanding the character push-pull it creates can prevent a saggy middle plot problem in a Friends-To-Lovers story. Then, I explain what each of the three relationship conflicts is and how to hook them into the external plot in a romance manuscript.
SPOILER WARNING: This episode reveals major moments in the book Hot Axe by May Archer. So if you hate spoilers and love reading May Archer, go buy Hot Axe first.
You'll learn:
This 35-minute episode is for romance writers who can feel that something is off with your story even though all the romance beats hit just where they should.
By the end, you'll learn a new technique for diagnosing where the problem might be by asking two deceptively deep questions that can inspire the right fix for your own manuscript today.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Your hero can sob and scream and lose everything, and that scene might be the weakest moment in your entire story. Because big emotion doesn't necessarily make a scene better. In episode 18, I'm sharing my pro tip for diagnosing a boring, lifeless middle section of a romance book manuscript.
SPOILER WARNING: This episode reveals major moments in the book Hot Axe by May Archer. So if you hate spoilers and love reading May Archer, go buy Hot Axe first.
EPISODE UPDATED ON 8/24/26 (If you listened before this date, know that I've updated some of the details about the example story, Hot Axe, that were incorrect in the initial version.)
You'll learn:
This 30-minute episode is for romance writers who are struggling with a laggy Act 2 in your maunscript and just can't seem to figure out what the heck is going wrong.
By the end, you'll learn what specific scene element to look for to diagnose that messy middy and an insider trick to try on your own manuscript today.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Romance readers know how the book ends before they open it. We're not here for the plot. We care about how that book makes us feel. In episode 17, I'm breaking down the sensations we're actually rereading for, and why your hero's backstory is your best tool for threading those feelings into your prose.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode talks about the childhood loss of a pet. Nothing is graphically depicted, but it is mentioned a few times as part of the example hero's backstory. So if this is a sensitive or triggering topic for you, please take care of yourself while listening.
You'll learn:
This 30-minute episode is for romance writers who keep rereading a big scene, feeling like something is missing, and can't put your finger on what.
By the end, you'll know how to tell a plot scene from a story scene in your own manuscript, and you'll learn a simple backstory test can help you pinpoint the story "feeling" your readers are craving.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
You've heard that your first chapter has to hook the reader. But the hook isn't your trope setup or your meet cute. It's a glimpse of who your hero is underneath, and it shows up as a choice they make when the story is barely getting started. In episode 16, I'm breaking down what that glimpse looks like and how to test whether your early pages are giving readers enough reason to stick around.
You'll learn:
This 25-minute episode is for romance writers who are worried that your opening chapters aren't strong enough or that you're giving away too much about your hero too soon in the story (hint: you're probably not!).
And at the end, I give you a simple checklist to test whether your hero's first scenes give readers a reason to keep turning pages.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Your hero gets a chance to do the brave thing in the early chapters, and they don't take it. They dig in, double down, and choose the safe path. And your reader loves them for it. In episode 15, I'm breaking down why that refusal is one of the most important scenes in your entire manuscript and how it sets up (or ruins) every emotional payoff that comes after.
You'll learn:
This 27-minute episode is for romance writers whose readers finish the book and say "that was pretty good" instead of staying up past midnight to read just one more page.
And at the end, I give you a gut-check exercise you can try on your own manuscript today to test whether your hero is inviting the reader into their most vulnerable spaces, rather than simply telling about themself.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
You read back through your big ending and it's... disappointing. Technically, it hits all the right beats, but it feels kinda meh. So you make it bigger. You add more dialogue, more stakes, more feelings. And somehow it gets worse. In episode 14, I'm walking you through why the scene that actually earns your hero's big moment isn't near the finale at all, and why you might have already cut it for "not moving the plot forward".
You'll learn:
This 30-minute episode is for romance writers who can tell your ending isn't hitting the way the way you intended, and you've been trying to fix it by adding more. By the end, you'll know why that instinct backfires and where in your draft the real character-growth work needs to happen instead.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
Your hero walks into a room and owns it. They're charming or tough or impossibly warm. And you wrote it that way on purpose. But if that personality feels more like a performance than a person, the problem may be deeper than surface level. When there's no wound driving the behavior, even "big" personalities can feel empty.
In episode 13, I'm walking you through the four types of protective behavior your romance characters use, how to spot which one your hero defaults to, and why knowing the difference between a personality trait and a coping mechanism is what makes your hero feel real.
You'll learn:
This 33-minute episode is for romance writers who write heroes that have strong personalities on the page but still feel like something's missing. By the end, you'll understand which type of protection your character is using and how to write scenes that crack through it just enough to hook your reader.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
If you've got a scene that should feel gut-wrenching, but it reads more like a shrug, the problem probably isn't your writing. In episode 12, I'm walking you through what happens when a scene looks emotional on the surface but isn't connected to what your hero is really going through underneath.
You'll learn:
This 20-minute episode is for romance writers who keep rewriting scenes that feel almost right but never quite resonate, no matter how many tweaks you make. By the end, you'll know how to spot when a scene is faking emotion so you can stop wrestling with the words and start asking what the scene actually needs to do.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
If you've been making story decisions from anxiety instead of confidence, this episode is going to feel like a deep breath. Because the confidence you want isn't about doing everything right. It's about knowing why you're making each choice so you can make the best ones. In episode 11, I'm walking you through what that feels like in practice, with real stories from writers learned to trust their storytelling instincts.
You'll learn:
This 24-minute episode is for romance writers who keep going back and forth on story decisions because you're not sure what your story actually needs. By the end, you'll understand where that second-guessing comes from and what it feels like to start making revision (and drafting!) decisions you trust.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
You had two free hours to write, and instead you reorganized your Trello board. You love this story. You chose it. So why won't your brain let you work on it? In episode 10, I'm breaking down why romance writers get stuck, what your block is actually responding to, plus how one writer's story block disappeared when she swapped a single word in her heroine's Root Fear.
You'll learn:
This 20-minute episode is for romance writers who keep blaming yourself for being lazy or unfocused when the real issue has nothing to do with discipline. By the end, you'll understand why your brain keeps hitting the brakes on your manuscript and have an intuitive way to start working with through resistance instead of against it.
Resources from this episode:
Subscribe to the Story Sorcery® podcast with Sue Brown-Moore on your favorite podcast app to never miss an episode.
From the publisher's feed