First Time Romance Writer

My husband has a copy of "Writing Fiction for Dummies" I've been reading through the book and highlighting some helpful information. I liked that the book talked about setting measurable goals for my writing. This reinforces what I teach to my high school students, but it was a nice reminder that I needed to do the same thing. My measurable goal is to write three pages of fiction each week. I'm not sure how long this will take, but I think it will be better than a time goal- I feel like I would count the time I spend researching and writing about writing- rather than the actual writing. I came across their three act structure and I've been trying to add that to the current formula I'm using. I've added the notes in italics. P.1—opener Introduce Characters P.40—catalyst P.100—Turning Point #1/End Act 1 Solidify character goals- things that they have slowing been working toward, but now want to achieve with resolve P.150 Pinch Poi...

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...