What do the Thriller and Romance Structure have in Common?

It might surprise you to know that the Thriller and the Romance story structure have some things in common. Firstly, and most importantly, both story structures revolve around emotion and a relationship. In the romance the relationship is between the two protagonists or lovers and the central emotional arc is the discovery of love. In the thriller the relationship is between the protagonist and the antagonist and the central emotional arc is the destruction of love and the exercise of revenge.

In the Romance, the story is entirely driven by the tension between the two protagonists, likewise in the Thriller, the story is driven by the tension between the protagonist and the antagonist. In both, the emotional connection between the two players is the story. In the true Thriller the two players have backstory, history, they are connected in some way and its deeply personal, even if the protagonist is not aware of the connection at the beginning of the story, the antagonist surely is. For the antagonist the protagonist represents everything they hate or desire. In the romance, the lovers may or may not have any direct history or connected backstory, but their respective backstories and individual sources of emotional pain set them up as perfect foils for each other. So that their emotional needs mesh perfectly. Each will provoke the other into facing their demons and overcoming them. In this sense the lovers are antagonists for each other.

The romance story structure revolves around a crucible of some kind that forces the two lovers into close physical proximity, so that they must deal with each other, must get to know each other and thus discover their physical and emotional chemistry and compatibility. At the same time they are kept apart emotionally by some element of their backstory and emotional journey, usually fear of being hurt again. This adds the tension to the love story, that keeps the actors interacting even while part of them is trying to escape.

The thriller story structure revolves around the protagonist and antagonist having to deal with each other too, either because the Antagonist is forcing the protagonist to dance to their piping or because the protagonist is motivated to exact revenge on the antagonist for ruining their life. The former trope is more common in Thrillers, the latter more common in action stories. The distinctive trait of the thriller is the emotional tension between the antagonist and the protagonist and this should be rooted in as intimate and personal set of history as possible to give it the requisite emotional punch. The audience needs to care deeply in order to get the emotional payoff at the end of the story.   

The romance is about love and the thriller is about love gone sour. The opposite of love is not hate, its indifference. The thriller is about hate and the Romance is about love. Both are powerful emotions and the good thriller and the good romance will explore themes around what the characters will do for love and for hate, how far will they go? What will they sacrifice? What wont they do?

In both the Thriller and the romance it is essential to give the characters true emotional depth in order to provide the emotional payoff the reader is looking for. You can get this emotional depth by using the protagonist and antagonist development templates to explore their backstory and give them solid and believable change arcs and wring the hearts of your readers.