Last week we went over the first five beats of a romance novel. Let’s move on today and talk about the last four beats. Beat 6: The Sexual tension (the Kiss!). This is my favorite part. (Ok, I like the dialogue leading up to it too!) But, a great romance has at least 2 great kisses—sometimes three. (If you’re writing for ABA, you might have more than a kiss). Kiss One: An “introductory—I didn’t mean to, did we just do that?” Kiss Kiss Two: A, “I really want to kiss you now and I’m going to” Kiss Kiss Three: And an “I love you, and I mean it” Kiss If you have to, the last two can be combined. Of course, before the First […]
Read the RestTag Archives | How to write a Romance
Ten Beats of a Romance Part 1
We’ve taken a little hiatus from our How to Write a Romance blogs over the past two months – but it’s time to get back to work! As we got this year started, we had a chat about the 10 beats or points in standard romance. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to recap just a bit before we continue on and dive into how to create these points. Every genre book out there has key elements—things that we expect from that genre novel. A suspense has a ticking time bomb, and a deadline. A mystery has a dead body, and red herrings. A romance has elements too that we expect. Now, people might say that because of this, a romance if predictable. […]
Read the RestIt’s just a little Kiss
So…you turned in your Frasier entry…feeling tense? Of course – because you’re hoping for a great outcome, but your fears of your manuscript – the frailties you recognize in your writing are shouting at you that you might not succeed. And, the more you continue to write, the more you fall in love with story-crafting, the more you invest into the process, and the more you see the hope of publication. What you have here is….sexual tension! Okay – no, it’s more like Award Tension. Or Publication Tension, but it has the same elements of Sexual Tension. You didn’t know that did you? I bet right now you feel a little weird. It’s okay. You can read this in the privacy of your own home. Maybe ask the kids to […]
Read the RestBut I’m so broken inside…
Yesterday, we talked out the PLOT or EXTERNAL Obstacles (Why Nots) that keep our characters apart. The point of a great romance is for love to overcome the obstacles and triumph! So, without obstacles….well, there’s no story. I’ll say it again. YOU MUST HAVE EXTERNAL OBSTACLES! (Yes, that was shouting). Now that we have that settled…let’s turn to the Internal Reasons why we (and our characters) run from love. This is the easy part. We can all come up with a long list of the reasons why we are unloveable. Our sins, our flaws, or fears, our idiosyncrasies….you name it. It’s a wonder we don’t all live in an igloo. The problem with finding internal obstacles is often authors either; 1. Pick too many or… 2. Focus […]
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