First Time Romance Writer

A few days ago I decided to tell Norah's story with a duel point of view. My two favorite authors, Elle Kennedy and Kristen Callihan both use duel points of view. I think it helps give the reader feel more connected to the characters.  I recently finished Play, by Kylie Scott   and it was just told from the heroine's point of view. I didn't mind in this story because Mal's dialogue was so enjoyable that I felt like I didn't need to be in his head.  I think the reason I like the duel point of view idea though is that I enjoy the misunderstandings between characters. I mean, sometimes it makes me want to scream, JUST SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY, at my kindle, but it's part of what makes this genera enjoyable for me. I think telling bits of the story from Riley's perspective will also help me learn more about his character.  When you're reading romance, whose point of view do you prefer? 

I found, on Romance University's blog CJ Lyons plot structure. I like that it's set up for a 400 page book and it chunks writing into manageable sections. I came across the term pinch points in my romance novel research and had to know more. I like that she said a pinch point separates Drama from Action. A pinch point is when the character goes through emotional conflict rather than plot conflict. One of the biggest ways to show a pinch point is through internal dialogue- which is something I'm going to work on today. I think conversations with a parent, friend or mentor would work for this as well. I think Elle Kennedy does the conversation version of this well in " The Goal. " Her heroine, Sabrina, speaks with her mentor about having a child while starting law school. I think it just depends on the personalities we develop for our characters. I'm not quite sure what what Norah will do.  I've also decided to set up my story using the formula below. I...

How long should I spend on build up?  I want the characters to naturally fall in love, but maybe it's not about love and more about lust. I think that's okay too. I think I set myself up by having a love triangle. I don't want readers to hate Norah, but it seems like cheating is the only way this love triangle is going to play out and I'm not happy about it.  When I read Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens  I would get so angry that Kiera just couldn't choose a man. I think it was more about her stringing them both along. Maybe it hits too close to home and I can't handle it- but don't  " they" always say, write what you know?  Back to my original question- how much do I spend on build up? I feel like if our characters aren't rushing into their first kiss, then they might be more sympathetic.  I messed myself up because I choose a long car ride for Norah and Riley to get to know each other. It makes for the perfect time for dialogue, but sinc...

It's been a while since I've written, but I've had a huge life change! Last weekend I married the love of my life. The ceremony was beautiful and over all too fast. Since I stupidly planned my wedding in conjunction with Back to School season, I haven't really had a lot of time to write. On the drive home from the wedding, I pulled out my trusty iPhone notes section because three characters were clawing at my brain. Meet: Norah, her fiance Thomas, and Riley the guy unintentionally making everything they've worked for come undone. As I think more about them, different scenes flash before me. The annoying part is they aren't coming in a particular order. In fact the story is all over the place. I can't decide how bad it is to write out of order, but I've got to get everything down before it leaves. What are you thoughts on writing out of order? Am I going to have to go back and make so many edits because it doesn't go smoothly? I don't thin...

I'm two pages into my third story, "Working Title: Arranged" and there's a scene where Drake is talking to his dad. As I'm writing, the characters are saying things, but I haven't used the word said once. A little back story, as a writer and a reader, I hate seeing the same word over and over and over and over.. (do you see what I did there?) Because I am attuned to this, especially when grading my own student's work. So, when I started writing dialogue I was alarmed at how many times I used the word said . I did a bit a research into my dilemma, I think I was in high school at the time and I found something along that lines of: use said instead of synonyms- it's tried and true for a reason. I've attributed this idea to Stephen King's On Writing , but I'm not 100% sure that's where I read that bit of advice. Anyway, as I'm writing "Working Title: Arranged" I realized I've used says and not said . Then, holy cow,...

Ultimately, my goal is to publish my work on Kindle Direct Publishing.   I was reading bits of advice about doing so, you know: love what you write, write what you actually read, and stick to generas that sell- if you want to make money. But, the most interesting piece of advice I read was: publish several works at once, that way if your readers like what you write, they can find more of your work in the amazon store.  I love the idea of putting multiple works out at once. I've recently finished the third book in the Off Campus Series: The Score, by Elle Kennedy   (more about what that did to my writing in my next blog post). I like when books take place in the same world, and mostly, I loved that I got to see my book crush Garett throughout the series, even though his story was finished in book one.  So, I said- it's time to develop my world. I've changed the college a bit. Pembrook is now closer to the Chesapeake Bay. I'm still stuck on what this will do...