Columns – A Romance Writer's World
Alissa Baxter shares her thoughts about writing romance and real-life relationships
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A Romance Writer's World
Opening scenes in novels
When I was writing my first novel, The Dashing Debutante, I sent the first few chapters to a well-known American romance author and asked her for some feedback. She emailed me a critique of the book and told me that I had started it in the wrong place and that I needed to grab the reader’s attention with an action scene rather than the scene I had written, where my heroine was sitting on a log next to a stream, fishing and contemplating her life. I proceeded to make the changes the author suggested, and started the book with a much more dramatic scene.
A Romance Writer's World
Do you like your characters?
Even though an author creates her characters, she also has a relationship with them. And it’s very clear whether a writer either likes – or dislikes – her characters. It comes out in the level of empathy she has for them. Is her attitude sympathetic, caring - or judgemental? Does the author gloss over her characters’ faults or does she dwell on them? Does she present them in a black and white fashion or does she allow for the varying shades of grey to shine through?
A Romance Writer's World
Setting up your story
The first few chapters of a book can start off with a bang, or take a while to take shape. It all depends on how you prefer to set up your story. I find that I tend to feel my way along in the first few chapters, looking for a firm foothold as I put the platform in place for the rest of the book.
A Romance Writer's World
Getting to know your characters
How do you get to know the characters in a novel you’re writing? Do you introduce them to yourself in the first chapter and find out all about them within the pages of your book as you write it, or do your characters flash into your mind fully formed before you even start writing about them?
A Romance Writer's World
Getting into the writing zone
There is such a thing as a writing zone. It’s that space you’re in when writing seems effortless. However, writers often make excuses not to write, and I’ve come up with some ideas as to why we do this…
A Romance Writer's World
Plotting
I’ve been plotting my novel over the last few weeks. However, when I’m writing a book I find it difficult to think too far ahead, as often story ideas only become clear during the writing process. What I try to do, therefore, is combine the two processes. I formulate a general outline, and then I start writing.
A Romance Writer's World
Getting back into the Regency world
I’ve decided to write another Regency novel. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I’ve decided to re-start writing another Regency novel. A few years ago I wrote the first three chapters to the sequel of my second Regency novel, Lord Fenmore’s Wager….
A Romance Writer's World
Lessons from Cinderella
People often talk about “a Cinderella story” where someone triumphs after a period of obscurity and hardship. In romances, this theme is played out when the “damsel in distress” is rescued from drudgery and oppression by the handsome hero.
A Romance Writer's World
Fiction vs Everyday Life
Novels represent slices of life arranged in such a way that a story can be told. The great thing about stories (unless you read authors who delight in “padding” their books) is that the focus is on the interesting aspects of a character’s life. If something is dull or mundane, an author will often exclude it from her manuscript if it isn’t necessary to drive the story forward. A good story will keep you enthralled from beginning to end, and you will close the book with a sigh of satisfaction, having been kept on your toes throughout the tale.
A Romance Writer's World
Reading is like dating
When I discover a new author I really like, I tend to glom his or her books. I’ve been wondering why I do this, and I think it’s because I like the particular world that the author has created. Something about that world resonates with me on a deep level, and I want to experience more of the same, and so I delve into the author’s backlist.
