Charlotte Ingham on writing a slow burn romance

The only thing I love more than reading a slow burn romance—one where I have to fling the book on the bed simply to scream, “Why is nobody kissing?”—is getting to write one instead. For me, the best tension comes from the almostmoments. Where the chemistry is so off-the-charts that you’re convinced something is finally, finally, about to happen, only for fate to intervene (or for the characters to be too completely, hopelessly, oblivious) and you’re left kicking your feet in simultaneous glee and frustration.

A Match Made in Hell allowed me to take this to another level, thanks to the lust trial. In order to escape Hell, Willow must complete seven tasks by resisting the seven deadly sins, but it’s particularly tricky when the person tempting her to give in to lust is the one person she’d love to give in to.

But one almost moment isn’t enough. For a slow burn to truly work, it has to be built up from lots of little almosts. As excited as I was to write that scene, I first had to lay the groundwork for that will-they-won’t-they moment, using both the earlier sin trials, along with the time they spend together in between, to allow their budding friendship to build into something more.

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