“Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.” (Robert McKee) In the best romances, love’s power to achieve personal growth is inseparable from story conflict and suspense. This is true even in stories ending with the lovers apart. The characters in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, James Cameron’s Titanic, Kent Haruf’s Our Souls at Night, and John Green’s The Fault in our Stars all demonstrate love’s power to achieve personal growth. What is romantic conflict? C