In the face of writer’s block, how do I find ideas for what romance novels to write?
Answer: The AI roulette wheel doesn’t care if its story ideas are stupid.
Hello, my fellow word-weavers and romance junkies! Grace Ann Hansen here, though depending on which side of the Kindle store you frequent, you might know me better by my steamy alter-ego, Anna May Grace, or my sweet alter-ego, Maggie Ann Mae.
If you write Steamy or Sweet Contemporary Romance, you know the absolute terror of the blank page. We sit there, staring at the blinking cursor, paralyzed by our own inner critic. Is this idea too crazy? Is it too cliché? Is it just stupid? Will readers actually buy this? We judge our ideas before they even have a chance to breathe.
Enter my favorite cure for writer’s block: the AI virtual roulette wheel.
When you use AI to brainstorm book concepts, you are essentially walking up to a massive, glittering roulette wheel of romance tropes and giving it a giant spin. Click, clack, clatter… Boom. Because AI doesn’t possess human shame, self-doubt, or a filter, it will hand you the most delightfully unhinged concepts imaginable. You ask for a quick premise, and it spits back: A dominant, ex-con MMA fighter is forced into a fake marriage with his billionaire boss’s socially awkward assistant, and they get snowed in at a remote cabin with only one bed.
It’s ridiculous. It’s over-the-top. And it is exactly what we need sometimes. Especially as a writer of political, social, and religious op-eds. When I step into my day job as a writer of sappy romance novels for straight girls. I sometimes just can’t get into the frame of mind to figure out what to write next.
When the AI proposes something completely unhinged, it shatters the wall of perfectionism. You can look at this wild idea, laugh, and say, “Well, I can’t write that exactly, but what if I tweak it?” The AI takes the burden of the initial spark off your shoulders, allowing you to bypass judgment and dive headfirst into the actual creative process of writing the story.
But here is the secret to turning that unhinged AI chaos into a profitable, binge-worthy book: You must anchor the madness with structure. Even when the premise is wild, we still have to deliver exactly what our readers crave by relying on our proven market rules:
The Trope Stack: We take that crazy AI idea and organize it. We need at least 6 relationship tropes, 2 to 3 character tropes for both of our main characters, and 1 defined setting trope to ground the story.
Heat Level 0–1: When we are targeting Sweet Contemporary Romance, we must master the art of the closed door. No matter how wild the plot gets, we must deliver all the “sizzle without the spice.” We will build intense emotional chemistry, heart-fluttering tension, and swoon-worthy kisses, but we ensure the bedroom door stays firmly shut. A heat mismatch will absolutely kill your sales, so we keep the content flawlessly clean while still making the readers’ hearts race!
The Heat Level 4–5: This is a Steamy Contemporary Romance, not quite erotica or porn, but pretty darn close, so we must match the high heat of the bestsellers. No matter how wild the plot gets, we need our first steamy scene to happen within the first 5,000 words, maintaining a rhythm of about one steamy scene per 10,000 words.
The Non-Negotiable Guardrails: AI might suggest unnecessary drama, but we are the authors. We strip out any hints of love triangles or cheating. Our main characters only have eyes for each other. We write standalones with no cliffhangers, and we always deliver a satisfying Happily Ever After (HEA).
I don’t like the idea of having AI write for me. I will, at times, run my manuscript through my specially configured AI, GEM, or GPT, to see if it detects any stupid mistakes or structural errors before I send it to my editor. But I like writing the stories, so I do. Without me writing the story, I can’t bring my own real-world observations and experience into the fiction I write. My daughter, who is a mental health therapist for our state National Guard, has provided me with background on PTSD and survivor’s guilt, which I used in “The Grumpy Landlord”. In the same novel, I used my LGBTQ advocacy to inform my writing of the character. Riley, the non-binary owner of an art gallery. I have a friend who has been a firefighter his whole professional life, recently retired and working as a fire inspector, who was able to tell me about the psyche of firefighters for my novel, The Fireman’s Promise.
So, real writers, writing real words that come not necessarily from their own experience, but from the experience of people I know and trust to give me the information I need to bring my characters to life.
But, like many authors, I sometimes struggle to envision what the next story should be.
Here is a sample of what I do when that happens:
Author’s Note: For those of you who don’t read or understand romance novels, please don’t judge. This story idea, in fact this entire genre, might seem terrible and inane to you, and nothing you would ever read. But for those of us who love a good romance novel, you gotta start somewhere. I do this about 2 out of 5 times when starting a new romance novel and looking for an idea. LGBTQ Authors, note that I explicitly tell the AI who is in the relationship, so this can easily be adapted for Sapphic or Gay romance.
My Prompt:
Give me a new story idea. Build a trope stack for a steamy contemporary romance novel, then write a synopsis of the story idea with an MMC (Male Main Character) and an FMC (Female Main Character)
AI Output:
Step 1: The Trope Stack
I have stacked these tropes to maximize “clickability” and reader satisfaction. We are focusing on a power-dynamic struggle with high emotional stakes.
Step 2: The Story Synopsis
Title Idea: The Merger Mistake Heat Level: High Heat (Explicit). We will plan for the first steamy scene within the first 5,000 words.
The Setup: Clara (FMC) is a brilliant but overlooked data analyst with a “smart and sassy” mouth that usually gets her into trouble. Julian (MMC) is the “Alpha” billionaire CEO of a rival firm that just acquired Clara’s company. Julian is a “Workaholic” who views emotions as a liability.
The Conflict: When a clerical error lists Clara as Julian’s executive assistant instead of a senior analyst, he refuses to correct it, demanding she prove her worth in the “Big City” corporate trenches. Their mutual loathing is palpable, fueled by sharp banter and “forbidden office sexual tension”.
The Hook: To secure a massive international deal, Julian needs to project a “stable family man” image. He blackmails Clara into a Fake Dating arrangement for a week-long gala in the Swiss Alps. Due to a “booking fiasco,” they are stuck in a remote cabin with Only One Bed during a blizzard (Forced Proximity).
Julian, the man who never loses control, Falls First. He becomes “unapologetically territorial” as he realizes Clara is the only person who actually sees the man behind the billions.
The Resolution: Clara discovers Julian has been secretly protecting her position from the board, risking his own merger to keep her close. They choose each other over the corporate war, ending in a Happily Ever After (HEA) with Julian finally putting Clara before his work.
As you can tell, my AI is specifically configured to understand my writing rules, and I continue to update its configuration with new and novel tropes that are popular on the bestseller charts. I will not be giving away how I configured it. But any good writer can probably figure it out on their own.
And before someone hops on here and tells me I don’t know how AI actually works, let me stop you right there. My master’s degree is in Artificial Intelligence, and my last gig before retiring to be a full-time writer was training AIs for healthcare informatics analysis.
So, the next time you are stuck, don’t let your inner critic win. Spin the AI roulette wheel. Let it give you something completely unhinged, apply your structural guardrails, and let your creativity run wild.
Happy writing!