Around this time last year, I wrote a post about Second-Chance Romances exploring the reasons behind my love/hate relationship with the trope.
Back then, I described myself as being mostly "lukewarm" towards it.
Much to my surprise, my project for NaNoWriMo 2023, A Tided Love, just so happened to be a Second Chance romance.
I didn't set out to write a Second-Chance Romance when I decided to take on NaNoWriMo (but, then again, I didn't set out to take on NaNoWriMo, so there's that). In a sense, it was an unexpected experiment. One of those things that just happened and somehow worked out well.
Now that a year or so has passed since my initial post on Second-Chance Romances and I've been writing one of my own, I thought it would be interesting to revisit the topic and see how my stance towards the trope has shifted—if at all.
Before we go too far, I'd like to preface this by saying that A Tided Love is still a fledgling draft. Any story elements referenced in this post are subject to change.
What Is A Second-Chance Romance?
Second-Chance romances are, as the name suggests, stories in which the characters are given a second chance at love.
This can involve a character braving the waters of dating or courtship after separation from their partner or being widowed, or it may involve characters rekindling a romantic flame after time apart.
You can find my original post on the topic here for additional context.
Second-Chance Romances And Writing A Tided Love
As I mentioned briefly at the top of the post, A Tided Love was my WIP for NaNoWriMo 2023.
For a dash of context, here's a quick blurb:
The summer Caroline Sinclair visited Breamport remains one of her dearest memories—even in the wake of a bitter heartache.
Several years later and now a widow, Caroline returns to the seaside resort at her sister's recommendation in the hopes of mending her spirits. All the while, she cannot help but wonder about a certain gentleman with russet eyes she knew long ago.
Having broken off his engagement, Thomas Heathcott finds himself at the center of gossipmongers' prattle and unable to shirk the ever-elusive Miss Rosebury and her Tea Room Ramblings. All he desires is to move on and forget the blasted mess.
That is, until he runs into his past.
It doesn't take long for the sparks to be reignited between Caroline and Thomas. But with her ex-mother-in-law nipping at her heels and rumors rising like the tide, it might prove enough to keep them apart—this time, forever.
When I was first playing around with the concept for A Tided Love, I did not set out to write a Second-Chance Romance. It wasn't until I began plotting that I realized the trope was at the core of the story (similar to my experience with the Enemies To Lovers trope and Marcus and Nancy's dynamic in Forged in the Salle).
This brings us to the subject of today's post: how have my feelings about Second-Chance Romances changed after writing one of my own?
Wistful Nostalgia
With Second Chance Romances, one thing I do enjoy is the feelings of wistful nostalgia that it inspires. A Tided Love is the first project where I've incorporated an epistolary element beyond letters sent between characters, in the form of the diary Caroline kept when she was nineteen. Every so often, I'm including passages from entries written about Thomas as she's looking back on that summer from a more mature perspective, realizing how much has changed but also how much has remained the same between them. Thomas also brings up many of his memories of her from their bygone summer romance.
I feel like it's helping blend the then and the now, adding context and heightening that sentimental reminiscence Second Chance Romances are loved for.
Sure, they're thrown in a bit clumsily in the current draft and I'm not sure how many of them will survive the first phase of edits, but they've been a useful tool for getting insight into Caroline's mind and heart.
Deserving That Second Chance
As I mentioned in the original post on Second-Chance Romances as well as in last week's post on Enemies To Lovers, much of my disaffection towards the trope partially has to do with the redemption arc aspect. In both, protagonists seek to redeem themselves in the eyes of their love interest, whether it's because they got off on the wrong foot or made a bad first impression or because they made a costly mistake.
The "why" they need a second chance tends to be hit-or-miss for me. What happened between these characters that would create a rift that needs mending? And does the character in question deserve redemption?
In order for there to be a second chance, there needs to be a first chance that went horribly wrong. So what was the reason the romance either fell apart or didn't take off at all?
In the event of a misunderstanding, like not being able to answer an important phone call because they had no service, that's one thing. But when there is deliberate wrongdoing at play, it becomes harder for me to support these characters getting together; for context, I'm referring to things like intentional manipulation or harm caused, not so much things like teasing that accidentally goes too far. The transgressions that are just harder to forgive.
I think that's one of the reasons I based Caroline and Thomas's failed first chance around misunderstandings and a string of bad timing. Her family was only in Breamport for the summer, and neither were outright with their feelings towards the other. When Caroline basically asked Thomas what his deal was about two weeks before she was to return to her home in the countryside, it caught him off guard, which she took as being mistaken in her affections. They did not see each other again that summer because he left suddenly not because he hated her as she believed, but due to an unexpected death in his family and needing to travel for the funeral. And to top it all off, she never received his letter explaining his side of things, which he took to mean she was choosing to not respond because she wanted nothing to do with him.
Thomas and Caroline's mutual misfortunes weren't out of malicious intent. Just cruel tricks of fate. Circumstances beyond their control, which in turn feels like a more compelling story to tell since, nearly a decade later, they're actively defying the hand fate dealt them by overcoming the obstacles of their past and new ones standing in their way.
Make The Trope Your Own
I think the biggest takeaway I've had when it comes to my lukewarm and sometimes conflicted feelings towards the Second Chance Romance trope while writing a story constructed around it is simply this: make the trope your own.
When approaching a trope that's not your fave, take a moment to assess the specific reasons. Determine what it is about that trope that doesn't work for you, as well as what does.
In the case of A Tided Love, I've been focusing on the warm and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia while also allowing my characters to reckon with their past faults.
There's also quite a bit of distance between the events that caused the failure of Thomas and Caroline's failed first chance at love. Everything happened before the main events of the story so whatever bitterness or brokenheartedness there may have been have receded. Second Chance Romances can sometimes feel rushed to me, so putting almost ten years between them helps slow things down (while furthering that sense of nostalgia and pent-up yearning).
Additionally, I'm still weaving the slow-burn-until-it's-NOT trend you'll find in my other WIPs. Even though Caroline and Thomas already have an established history, they also have to rebuild that relationship. While there is chemistry between them from the very moment they unexpectedly reunite, a lot has happened that they need to work through. Thomas was engaged to marry someone else until his fiancée broke things off about a week prior to the first chapter of A Tided Love. Caroline is widowed and has some trauma lingering from her marriage. While they certainly are glad to be back in each other's lives, they're still taking it slow.
Figuring out what makes a trope work for you as a reader can help you write it in a way that caters to your own style. That said, you might also identify elements that don't work for you and change them—or even omit them altogether.
Being a writer is all about telling stories in your own unique way, adding your own nuances and quirks. That sometimes includes the way we handle tropes. In the case of A Tided Love, that's reworking the Second Chance Romance trope in a way that explores the intricacies and imperfections of love, on my own terms.
I never expected I would be writing a Second Chance Romance novel. Even as recently as a year ago, my feelings towards the trope tended to be mixed.
After trying my own hand at writing this trope, I wouldn't say I'm fully enamored with it. Rather, I've gotten a better sense of what I do like about it and the aspects I'm not as big a fan of.
While I'm expecting to be working on A Tided Love for the foreseeable future, I do wonder what other tropes will find their way onto my list of things to write to my own tastes—while also making them fresh and interesting for my future readers.
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