All About Love

 

Eighth Secret: Every detail has a job to do

Detail is compelling. It’s exciting to research, and satisfying to include in your writing. It can tell us so much about your characters and your setting.

But too much, and you can choke on it, as James Wood says, in How Fiction Works. [LINK] Significant detail must have a reason to be there. Every description and every subsidiary character must take the story forward or develop your main characters.

Don’t get carried away by your research and write reams just for the sake of showing it off. Research is like good make-up. It should make you look better, but you shouldn’t be aware of it.

You’ll find more on this topic in our Guide to Writing Romance (LINK).

Exercise:

Think of your best friend. Which details, of her appearance and habits would you choose to include if she were your heroine? What will tell us more about what she looks like and what she’s like as a person? It could be as simple as a dimple, if people respond to it, or she uses it flirtatiously. Or it could be her habit of alphebetising her bookshelves.

 

 

Module One

This module is free. Don’t even think about it. Jump right in and start today. It’s about writing romance. In fact, it’s about writing anything - well, perhaps not manuals on automobile maintenance - but anything in the fiction line.

It forms your basic introduction to the writing life.

We will teach you how to find your own voice and write with fluency and conviction. Perhaps, most important of all, we will confirm your power to make the hearts of your readers beat that little bit faster.

Romance isn’t just about heroines and heroes. It’s about using the power of your unique voice to make your reader believe in the world you create for them.

This module, which prepares and leads you into both The Guide to Writing Romance and The Guide to Writing Lesbian Romance, consists of four short sections. We’ve designed it so that you’ll have fun trying a number of writing drills, while equipping yourself with skills.

The exercises will free your inner writer, develop confidence, banish self-conscious writing and grow your own writer’s voice.