Make A Living Writing Romance

Each and every one of us is unique.

You have your own experiences. You have your own personality, preferences and knowledge.

And chances are, you have a unique story that’s been tumbling around in your imagination for a while.

Many times, we set stories aside that don’t fit neatly into a genre or category.

Yet this story is likely the one that is easiest to write.

Why?

Because it is uniquely you – you’re not trying to fit it into any specific genre. You’re free to follow the story wherever it takes you.

This is the story to work on today.

Set aside that category romance and Write a few pages from a scene that keeps showing up in your imagination.

For me, I have a story about a beautiful “crazy” woman. She looks like a young Jackie O and thinks she’s Eve. She’s looking for Adam. (Yes, Adam and Eve)  I’ve avoided writing this story because it might be perceived as blasphemous and quite frankly it doesn’t fit any genre, certainly not a romance genre because Eve is a love em and leave em type of woman. Yet beautiful and crazy Eve has stuck with me for more than ten years.

So what’s your story?

Take the day to enjoy it.

Roll around in it like a puppy in the grass.

Have fun!

Time: 30 minutes

Show, don’t tell is a writing cliché to be sure but it’s a vital skill.  There’s nothing worse than reading story that reads more like a how to manual than an actual story.  Readers want to feel as if they’re there in the story with the characters.  That’s one of the reasons people read, to escape.  To hone this skill, spend some time practicing with your own personal memories.  This is a great way to really get into a scene because the senses are or were real to you.  Then, once you’re writing your fiction scenes you can close your eyes, imagine what your characters see, smell, hear and feel and add those elements to your scene.

Action Step #1 – Choose a childhood memory.  Any childhood memory, good or bad.

Action Step #2 – Write the memory at the top of a piece of paper.  Under the paper write the following words:  Taste, touch, sight, smell and sound.

Action Step #3 – Spend the next 20-30 minutes describing the childhood memory using your five senses.  Close your eyes and take yourself back to the memory in question.  What did you see? What smells were in the air?  What did you hear?  Be as detailed as possible to help the reader be right there with you.

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Time: 30-60 minutes
 
Action Step #1 – Set the timer for ten minutes and write as many one or two sentence plots as you can think of in that time.  Aim for ten plots and let the wheels of creativity start spinning.  Don’t edit yourself, just write.  There’s no right or wrong answer, no good or bad plot, right now, just a brainstorm session.

Action Step #2  – Spend a few minutes, five or so, taking a look at the list of plots.  Choose the one that intrigues you the most.  The one that seems to hold the most value or the one that gets you the most excited to continue investigating.

Action Step #3 – Taking that single most compelling and promising plot, spend at least twenty minutes fleshing it out.  Who are the main characters?  What are their conflicts? What can happen to them to deepen the plot and add to the conflict?  

Just have fun with this.  It doesn’t have to turn into your next romance manuscript.  The goal is to get the creative juices flowing and to realize that writer’s block doesn’t have to happen.  Whenever you’re short for ideas, use this technique to get the wheels spinning.  In fact, you can use this process to help work through hiccups that occur as you’re writing your novel.  Sometimes you just don’t know what happens next.  Brainstorm ten possibilities, choose the one that seems the most interesting or compelling and flesh it out.  
 
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Romance Theme Exercise – What the Audience Should Take With Them

Time: 30-45 minutes

Action Step #1 – It is human nature to look beyond the surface of things for a deeper meaning. We are beings that look within and without for inspiration and purpose. In a story, this is what is termed, “theme.” A theme is not necessarily something that you start with but it ends up finding a way into the story through your characters.

What are some common themes that occur in stories and novels? An example would be “evil never triumphs over good.” Write down common themes you have discovered when reading a book or short story. Include common themes that seem to govern life in general in the real world.

Action Step #2 – Finding a nugget of wisdom in a writer’s work, whether good or bad, is one of the reasons that the reader is reading your book. Something caught their attention and they didn’t want to stop reading until the story was complete.

Reread several of your stories. Do you find a theme in each one? What is it?

Action Step #3 – The theme emerges after you have written the story not before. Try this exercise. Think of a theme (cheaters never prosper, etc.) and then create a one-page story around it.

Now, write a one-page story with no aim as far as theme. Pick a situation or some characters and create a believable story.

Read both stories. You may notice that the pre-themed story is predictable and stiff. The second story will flow easier. Is there a noticeable theme in the second story?

Romance Story Idea Exercise – Where It All Begins

Time: 30-45 minutes

Action Step #1 – Often you wonder what sparked such a great idea after reading a book. It begins with the things around you. It could be a story someone else told that gives you the inspiration for a short story or a novel. When you hear something that sticks with you, your next question is “What if?”

Are you working on a story of some sort now? If so, where did the idea come from? If not, take a look around and see what inspires you in your everyday life. Does anything that you experience lead you to the “What if” moment?

Action Step #2 – It’s time to write down those ideas. Simply put pen to paper or hand to typewriter and see what happens. Carrying a small notebook with you all the time is the writer’s way of not losing any good story ideas. Don’t worry about punctuation or sentence fragments. The point of this exercise is to get those ideas down. Get in the habit of writing down at least one new idea each day.

Action Step #3 – Story ideas are really neither good nor bad. Some just don’t seem to end up working in your favor. Take one of the ideas that you wrote down in Action Step #2. Begin fleshing out the idea and see where it takes you.

What are your favorite genres? Write up the story idea as a romance, a mystery, a horror story and an adventure. You get the idea. Which one looks like the more promising story?

Try another one if you dare. Don’t get discouraged if you hit a wall. The world is filled with situations just waiting to be turned into story ideas.