Do you love stories where the enemies have lots of sexual tension and constantly flirt under the guise of fighting? *Chef’s kiss*
But you are scared you will never be able to write a good one? Fear not, for I come bearing tips and tricks.
Okay confession, I hate this trope. It builds unrealistic expectations of romance…unless we are talking about Pride and Prejudice. But you know what, it is kind of my guilty pleasure. Shhh…don’t tell anyone.
Anyway so here’s a little bit about the trope before we delve into the structure of many enemies-to-lovers stories. There are many varieties of this. We have enemies on opposing sides of a war who fall for each other. We have rivals to lovers who bicker and butt heads but harbor deep respect and love. We have Dating Catwoman where the cop falls for the criminal. And we have enemies who are lovers.
To understand better, let’s look at how Romeo and Juliet aren’t Enemies-to-Lovers despite them coming from warring clans. Though, Ramleela which is based on Romeo and Juliet can be considered for the trope. That is because the love interests have an enmity between the two of them.
Thus, enemies-to-lovers can mean two enemies or rivals, who over time fall in love, due to a building of mutual respect and appreciation. There’s lots of tension, angst, and sweet sweet slow burn. Like most romance stories, there can be a structure that we can use to plot stories that have this delicious trope. Yet, you must remember your story has its own flavour. You need to pick and choose how you want to structure yours to make it a dish worthy of your book.
Here’s a conventional structure to get you started.
Conventional Plot Structure for Enemies to Lovers Stories
· The First Meeting
Now it can be a meet-ugly, a normal meeting, or an attraction at first sight which can lead to some very uncomfortable revelations later. But it all starts with the first meeting. This is when our Emma runs into Captain Hook, our Lizzie Bennet is turned down by Mr. Darcy’s rude self, or our Brienne is assigned to take Jamie back to his sister. This is where you show your character’s personalities and how the two react to each other. Do they clash? Are they at loggerheads from minute one? Or do they like each other before the inevitable revelation. This is your opening act, folks. Go nuts. Show your lovers and their world.
· Establishing Them as Enemies/ Rivalry
Our characters have met. Now it’s time for things to get ugly. They have to be established as enemies. Now, this can be established in the first meeting itself, of course. But if the first meeting was a meet-cute or they didn’t know they were enemies, then this step becomes inevitable in an enemies-to-lovers. They could have even started out as two people working together on something only to discover they are on opposing sides of a conflict. While Pride and Prejudice and Old Love, started out by establishing their protagonists as rivals, some stories start with an attraction. For instance, Emma and Captain Hook in Disney’s Once Upon a Time.
· Growing to Know One-Another
Now look, to me, instant love just doesn’t make sense. Neither does instant attraction, but that I can logically grasp. Instant love- what now? So for me, any good romance has that stage where they get to know each other- either in flashbacks or by spending time together in the present.
In the case of enemies-to-lovers, this can happen by studying their moves, not stalking, or talking.
Or the villain trying to turn the hero.
Or the two not knowing who they are interacting with.
Anything where the potential lovers get to know each other, sows the seeds of potential romance.
We can often see this potential in their rivalry, like in Old Love. The author began by showing how much they thought about each other to outsmart the other. My teachers, though, recommend that its often better to have this growing appreciation as a separate stage. Show them falling in love, which of course starts with finding respect for the other.
· Mutual/Grudging Respect/Becoming Friends
Truth be told, this is an extension of the previous stage and an important part of the slow-burn. Enemies-to-lovers is as one reel said, enemies-to-rivals who respect each other grudgingly-to-friends-to lovers. This stage is what differentiates a healthy enemies-to-lovers from a toxic one.
Your enemies can learn to respect the others cunning, their stance on their morals, their fighting technique, or whatever. And by spending time together they can see that while holding opposing views, the other isn’t fundamentally someone they cannot love.
You can even make one of the lovers switch sides and accept their feelings and end the story here. But often the story goes on to the next stage instead.
· Denial of Attraction and Feelings
Now, this is just a standard scene in any romance, so I am not going to spend long on it. Characters in love deny their feelings. It can introduce conflict and pining in a story making it angsty and giving us that good good slow-burn. What is special about this stage of romance in an enemies-to-lovers story is that they aren’t denying their feeling to save an old relationship. Here, serious consequences can be the ones stopping our enemies from accepting their feelings. They might be at war, for example. Accepting those feelings can compromise their mission. It can introduce conflict- how do you accept that you love someone so different from you not just in thoughts but in serious opinions? Whom you fight with on a regular basis? How does a hero accept that they don’t just find the villain sexy and respect some of their ideas- the horror- but also want to see if they can build a life together. How? This is the part where the main conflict of your romance lies and how your lovers navigate this shows us who they are.
· Confession of Love
Now, this can be done in several ways.
It can be acceptance of love for themselves and the start of growing to pursue another character. The flirtations come in here.
Or the character can seriously analyze who they are and begin to spend more time with their enemy to get to know them better. They can want to become someone worthy of the other.
Another route you can take is that the characters confess to each other. Perhaps, even while fighting. This brings in the famous dagger scene.
Or Character A can confess to Character B and get rejected.
How did Old Love do this? Well, they built it up like a nice slow-roasted dal. William takes Philippa to a tragic family event and then when the car breaks down jokes about marrying her. This leads to then them going on dates. He tries to win her affection. Eventually, she sets down the caveat that she would never see him again if he lost to her, which she knew could happen given how good she was at English. Now this story melds the falling in love and confession stages together. Let’s take a look at other stories which keep the confession as a separate stage.
One of my favourite authors of all time is Jane Austen. And Austen means Pride and Prejudice for many. And regardless of my dislike of it, P & P does enemies-to-lovers right. The Confession Stage in that story is a classic. Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy tells Miss Elizabeth Bennet exactly how he feels in very poetic terms, only to get rejected. Oh, the heartbreak. This acted as a catalyst for him to grow as a character and introduced the next stage- The Conflict.
What about when both the characters accept their feelings? Well, the story could end here, like we have mentioned, with a big kiss.
Or it could carry forward exploring how the world and the characters themselves handle this relationship. Emma and Hook, for example, accept their love at the end of Season 3 of Once Upon a Time but she’s still the Town Sheriff and he a pirate. How long will that one last? Conflict is due.
· That Sweet Sweet Angsty Conflict
Your lovers are together but it’s not easy. While some stories end at the confession giving the idea that it’ll be smooth sailing going ahead, others take it a step further.
In Pride and Prejudice, the confession didn’t result in mutual love. Darcy was rightfully rejected. That’s the conflict. He had to grow and change to become someone worthy of Lizzie. And to be honest, she had a lot of maturing to do as well.
Sometimes, even if there’s mutual love circumstances can get in the way- they’re still enemies on opposite sides of a way perhaps. Or their morals don’t match and try as they might, they cannot ignore that. I mean in reality how long can two people with completely opposing views mutually co-exist? There’s got to be friction once in a while right? And that’s where the angst of conflict comes in.
Heartbreak perhaps- they might separate but mutually pine for each other.
Or you can show character growth here, like in Pride and Prejudice.
Two characters trying to change and accept each others’ differences is also fun.
This conflict could also be a point where you end your story, if you are writing a tragic enemies-to-lovers. Their love just doesn’t work and they sadly part ways. In Old Love, for example, this conflict was the essay prize both were vying for and how William had promised Philippa he would not see her again if he lost.
Or you can show them change or to make it interesting, show them try to deny they aren’t working by turning a blind to the others’ actions.
But all stories have to end somewhere right? Which leads us to…
· Resolution
You can obviously continue a love story beyond the romance if there’s a new conflict that can be introduced. Most love stories, though, tend to end when the love is accepted. The battle has been fought, and there is nothing but a mundane everyday life for the lovers going forward.
Yet, not all endings tend to be happy. Or mundane. If your lovers are fighters in a way their every day might be going on the front lines.
But the conflicts preventing their romance are done and dusted. Either it’s a tragedy and break-up or they are trying to make a life together.
Enemies who made it together as lovers are often the same characters but with a lot of character growth. Example- Darcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice.
Or their differing opinions tore them apart.
Perhaps they found someone else better suited for them.
Or circumstances came in the way like they did for Klaus and Caroline, one had to go to New Orleans and another wanted to stay in Mystic Falls.
Yet, feel-good enemies to lovers end with them kissing as the sun sets, so there you have it.
Old Love does the resolution in an interesting way by showing their mundane life and how much they loved each other through it. After all, genre can have an impact on your resolution.
As you can see, despite following the same beats, there is a lot of variety in this trope. But some scenes have become synonymous with enemies/rivals-to-lovers.
Popular Scenes in the Trope
You really expected that I would write an enemies-to-lovers blog without mentioning the dagger scene?
The dagger scene is when the enemies are fighting and one of them holds up a sword or a dagger or gun to another. Let’s just say that scene has made people’s ovaries explode. If you want to write sexual tension without writing smut because you are a prude like me, this is your scene, bestie.
Now, this scene can do a lot.
It can, of course, show the sexual tension between your enemies.
Or it can be used to show trust. While Divergent isn’t Enemies-to-Lovers, I love the scene where Tobias, under stimulation, thinks Tris is his enemy and holds up a gun to her head. The reason I like it is because she talks to him as she trusts their love. 10/10 do not recommend in real life but the scene can be an extreme way of showing the connection two characters have.
Being a recent scenal addition, you will not find this scene in Pride and Prejudice or Old Love. These aren’t war stories, after all, so it would be concerning if there were knives at people’s throats. In Booktok recommended love stories, though, this scene is almost always there.
And there you have it. My how-to on the trope I hate because it doesn’t work in reality- Enemies-to -Lovers. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Oh and if you are like me and a fan of Friends-to-Lovers, here’s how to write that too.
Beta Reader- Shubhr Aakriti, Author in Once Upon a Time
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Updated- 15/05/2024
Anjali's Musings 