Last Saturday I was invited to a romance readers luncheon by romance writer Annie Oortman where I picked up a few good tips for writing (and living!) from keynote speakers, Raeanne Thayne and Robyn Carr (who was hysterical btw).
Tips include the following--
1. Your characters need problems. Stories without problems are photo albums, not novels.
2. Write what you love.
3. A novel becomes popular one book, one reader at a time.
4. Don't write about a heroine that's waiting for someone else to save her. And (while we're at it) a woman ought to be the heroine of her own life, not a victim.
Incidentally, Carr is the author of the bestselling Virgin River series, which (she noted) some people call the Vagina River series. (She shoots! She scores!)
Tidbits seems like an awful good word for romance novels. Tidbits and heaving bosoms, I am not sure I have ever read a romance novel, but I did read a Danielle Steele novel once. It was ostensibly about the Viet Nam War. I don't remember much about it.
ReplyDeleteI love that photo album comment. Great perspective.
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