Tips and Tricks to Writing Romance ©
By Mary Beth Lee

If you're anything like me, you just finished reading a book and you know you can do better.

If that's your inspiration for writing romance, stop right now. You might be right, but that's not going to get you published. The writer who decides to make the huge commitment of writing a book needs more internal motivation than, she thinks she can do better than the author of the book she just read.

Yes, it's fun to write romance. Yes, it's a blast to create characters and settings and basically play God. But writing anything is tough. Your characters are going to wake you up at 2 in the morning and make you write. Chances are you're going to receive a few (or a million) rejections before you get The Call.

For every great book you write, there are 100 more people sending in manuscripts. Chances are your first book isn't even going to be awesome. It'll be rewarding and amazing to you, but it really is a learning tool.

My road to publication is not yet finished. I've been writing part time for five years and it's only in the last year that I found my true internal motivation for continuing. I don't write because I can do better than so and so. I write because writing is my craft. I'm an artist, and I've chosen the romance genre to express my art because I love happy endings.

1.) RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. I don't mean background research for your book. Yes, that's important, but it's just as important to study the market. Are you writing category (monthly line releases for Harlequin and Silhouette such as Desire, Blaze and Temptation) or Single Title (longer books that stand alone published by Avon, Warner, Bantam, etc.)? If you determine you're writing a category romance, study the different lines. Desire and Temptation are different even though they call for same word count. Same with the others. Also, future category authors would be wise to check out eharlequin.com. You can go to communities and then to writing romance and find TONS of category information. You can even ask editors questions there. They might send the rejections, but they're people, too, and their answers to questions are full of great information.

2.) Surround yourself with other writers. Published and unpublished, it doesn't matter. Writers are the only people who understand crying after you type the words the end. They can help you through the rejection blues and give you tons of advise on writing. By joining RWA®, I learned which publishers wanted what and which agents were actively acquiring. I wouldn't trade RWA® for the world. Same goes for my local chapter RRRW. I didn't even know what point of view was when I started, and when the editor at Harlequin requested my full manuscript with synopsis, I didn't even know what synopsis meant. I actually sent in something like a playbill that ended with the words, will Samantha and Jeffrey find true love? Read Tuesday Parent to find out. Now that I've been writing for five years and heard all the editors speak and listened to horror story after horror story, I know the number one thing never to do is send in a synopsis without telling the ending.

3.) If you can, go to conferences. Conferences are pure inspiration. While there, you meet incredible authors who don't mind talking about their own tips and tricks. You hear valuable information you can use in your manuscript. You have the opportunity to pitch your completed manuscript to authors and agents. Word of warning: DO NOT BRING YOUR MANUSCRIPT with you to these appointments unless someone has specifically requested that you do. I know some of you are saying, 'well, duh!' but let me tell you from personal experience, some people don't know.

4.) Join on-line message boards. You can't beat the RWA® boards or cata-rom list. There are others, just look for them and ask other writers. Again, another great place to find out information is eharlequin.

5.) Write. I know that's a given, but it's not as easy as it sounds. It's easy to let life take over and forget to practice your craft. The only way you're ever going to get published is to write. The only way you're ever going to become a better writer is to practice. Set aside a time to write, and try to write something every day.

6.) Accept that fear is normal.

7.) Read. Read everything. Good writers read. Read romance, biography, the newspaper. Read and learn about language and how certain words sound different but mean the same. Find your favorite authors and pay attention to their pacing. Don't plagiarize, but learn what they do to make their voices stand out and then find your own voice. The only way to find your distinctive writer's voice is by writing.

8.) Finally, this comes from a workshop given by Darlene Gardenhire to RRRW, and it's the single best advice I've ever heard: give yourself permission to write a lousy rough draft. You can fix lousy, but you can't fix blank paper. Get the story out there and worry about it being great later.

Good Luck and Happy Writing!

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