Category: Motivation

Accelerating from zero

6/11/2019

Sometimes, the most daunting words are ‘Chapter’ and ‘One’. And, then? What happens next? You’ve done your plotting and planning, and naff all comes to mind. Not a single word - nada, zip.

Or you’ve plotted so much that you feel that your voice is getting lost in the writing.

When the going gets tough, it’s time for the tough to get going*:

Start at the end. Write your last chapter. The chapter where the HEA or HFN happens.
Uncover the action. What’s the juicy bit that will change your character’s life? Write that scene. Are they getting fired? Did they catch their partner in a compromising position? Did their bitchy boss tell them they needed to get a life? Whatever it is, write that scene.
Tell me how you met, again? Write up the scene where your lovers meet for the first time.

It doesn’t matter if you write your novel in a non-linear manner. No-one will ever know.

Other things to try:

Only the talking bits. Leave out your description and your action. But, make sure the dialogue either furthers the plot or reveals character, otherwise it’s filling up space.
Find your favourites. I like writing certain scenes more than others. If you like action scenes, write that. If you like sex scenes, write that. Lean towards the writing you find easiest.

*Do not censor what you write, just get in there and GO. You can always fix up and edit later. What we want here is actual words on the screen/notebook/chalkboard.

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Why you probably won’t write a romance novel

6/10/2019

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Are you horrified that I made such a comment? Where’s the motivation? The inspiration?

Relax, it’s here. But, this time of year is shocking for making really BIG resolutions/promises/goals. Like, I want to lose 25 pounds, or kayak across a glacial fjord (is that a thing?), and, of course, I want to write my first romance novel.

Here’s the deal: writing your first romance novel is a BIG thing. If it weren’t a big thing, everyone would be doing it. It’s Everest to the novice climber, the Comrades Marathon to the Parkrun plodder, and Masters’ Math to the eighth-grader.

So, what happens? This particular resolution/promise/goal gets shuffled along to next year, and the next, until, whaddayaknow? you NEVER write the book.

Is it the wrong goal? Almost, never. It’s the approach.

How do you eat an elephant? One spoonful at a time. Ditto, writing a romance novel.

Step-by-step.

Instead of:

Write best-selling romance novel
Work out marketing plan
Retire on yacht in Caribbean

Try break it down (and I mean really break it down):

Decide which sub-genre of romance to write in.
Read a few romances from those sub-genres to get a feel for the market. What kind of heroines are being written about? Heroes? Settings?
Investigate who the major romance publishers. Which one sounds like a match for you? What are they publishing at the moment?
Consider the tropes you like the best.
Maybe write up a few ‘what if’ scenarios that could shape your plot.
Hang out with cool people from ROSA or any other local romance writer chapters for inspiration.
And so on and so forth…

No-one’s asking for you to whack out the entire first draft in two weeks. But 500 words a day? A thousand? Yeah. Doable.

Ask any tortoise - slow and steady wins the race and beats anyone still procrastinating.

By tackling the monumental task of actually writing the book in smaller steps, you’ll find that instead of putting it off, you’ll be looking forward to it.

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A blog for writers looking to write romance

Accelerating from zero

Why you probably won’t write a romance novel

A little something to get you started on your writing journey:

Do you want to write a romance novel?

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