You, Too, Can Write a Romance Novel

By José de la Rosa

Have you ever dreamed of writing your very own romance novel, but haven´t the faintest idea of where to start? Are you an already established author, but would like a more insight into this particular genre? If the answer is YES to either of these questions, then this book is for you.

YOU, TOO, CAN WRITE A ROMANCE NOVEL will provide you with all the necessary tools to not only write your very own romance novel, but also to ensure that it has the maximum chance of being published and achieving success.

This manual will enable you to express yourself through the story you will tell. Its step-by-step guide and instructions will gently take you through the necessary stages, from coming up with ideas and the best way to grab the reader´s attention from the start, right the way through to producing an exciting climax and ending that will put readers on the edge of their seats, unable to tear themselves away from your story.

Once you´ve completed your novel, it will take you through the best way to attract the attention of publishers. However, it also provides alternatives if you wish to pursue the evermore popular route of desktop publishing (publishing your own book either in ebook form, or on paper).

Grab the book, turn the pages and realise your dream.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Nov 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781071521830

Book preview

You, Too, Can Write a Romance Novel

José de la Rosa

––––––––

Translated by Paul Bowen 

You, Too, Can Write a Romance Novel

Written By José de la Rosa

Copyright © 2019 José de la Rosa

All rights reserved

Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

www.babelcube.com

Translated by Paul Bowen

Babelcube Books and Babelcube are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

YOU, TOO, CAN WRITE A ROMANCE NOVEL

An essential manual both for those who wish to start writing romance novels, as well as for already established authors.

Author: José de la Rosa

Translator: Paul Bowen

1st edition: November, 2019

© 2019, José de la Rosa

© 2019 Paul Bowen

Why read this book?

I started writing my blog because I wanted to relate my experiences as an educator, publisher, reader and fan of the romance narrative in general. It seemed like an appropriate place from which I could display my knowledge and express myself about my impressions, findings and opinions, but little else. These days, I realise that it could also be a driving force for many authors (even for some who don´t yet know they are an author) to take up pen and paper, or to take to their keyboards and convert their ideas and dreams into reality by way of producing their own romance novel.

The reason why this manual will be of interest to you could well be for one or more of the following:

i)  You like romance novels and at some point, the thought of writing one has occurred to you... But would you be capable of writing one?  

ii)  You have written a romance novel but still haven’t managed to get it published and you need to test out if what you are doing is right or not;

iii)  Or, perhaps you are a romance novel writer who wishes to broaden and/or reinforce your knowledge.

Whatever your reason or reasons, you have found the ideal guide: a manual that will be with you through a widely-tested methodology until you have written a successful romance novel. That's right, the object of this book by the time you have finished it, is none other than for you to have written the complete and perfect skeleton or outline for your own romance novel that could be developed into a novel for publication; a structurally perfect, successful novel. This has been attested to by many students who have used this method for years.

YOU, TOO, CAN WRITE A ROMANCE NOVEL brings together, expands upon, updates and puts in order the theoretical and practical knowledge taught over many years in writing classrooms and workshops. It is a practical guide full of clear examples, readings and exercises to help you build any novel you have in mind. It could also be used to discover exactly what it is that does not fit or that is not quite right in the pages of a novel you have already written, but may be lying dormant in your desk drawer. It is a tested method corroborated by many years of practice. With this manual, I wanted to create a tool that is useful before, during and after the writing process; something that guarantees that the novel emerging from your pen or keyboard has the perfect structure and plot, with solid, believable and attractive characters of interest to publishers.

Among its pages you will find a step-by-step guide for building your novel. Starting with the storyline, you will discover what aspects must be taken into account in order to find fresh ideas. We will turn these aspects into a sort of roadmap upon which you can write your story. We will talk about subgenres and their possibilities as a driver of change in the story. We will then move on to the structure (perhaps one of the most difficult aspects to master in this imprecise universe that is the novel), employing sure-fire and fool proof techniques that create solid and addictive novels. However, you must handle this technique correctly before even considering breaking any of these rules. As a writer your mission is to continue learning, always trying new ways and new things, but first you must master these basic rules and techniques.

We will work in depth with secondary plots and characters as these are a necessary part of the action. And we will become familiar with how to build a romantic character, how to create his or her attributes, what possibilities he or she has within a story, and what is the character’s arc of transformation throughout the novel.

And let’s not forget the concepts of time and space within the narrative. The space in which the novel takes place must work in order for the novel to work. It has its own characteristics and rules, both of which must also be mastered. Time is also a malleable element that will give the work dimension. We will review in depth the techniques for documenting your novels, as this is one of the most laborious and yet at the same time exciting aspects you will face as a writer.

We will go on to talk about the narrative elements, and of course how to plan the novel, how to arrange each part and how to organise it. It will be at this point that you will have all the necessary ingredients to start writing your novel. But will you have too many plots and subplots? Will you have too many characters and scenes? Now is the time to plan them all, like a large road map that must be laid out before you reach your desired destination.

We will see in detail the elements of a good ending. We all know that every single bit of tension should be resolved at the climax. However, what should happen after the climax? We can finish the story as we wish, but in the romance genre our readers must end up feeling satisfied, even if one of the protagonists dies, even if it ends with a love torn apart. This is the challenge you must face.

We will continue with one of the most important aspects you must face as a writer: editing, correcting and changing. We should not see it as something independent or optional. A novel has not yet been finished until it has gone through an exhaustive and methodical correction process. Think about the time it took you to write your novel. Think about the time you spent creating the road map for it. Well, you'll only have one opportunity per publisher. If you send your work to a publisher with deficiencies, it will be rejected and it won’t get a second chance.

By the end of this manual, we will have found out how to place our precious manuscript into the hands of readers. We will examine both the usual methods and the not so usual ones, while examining formulas that work well. We will talk about publishing lines and policies, literary agents, how to send a manuscript to publishers, as well as self-publishing. All the keys and techniques to seduce publishers so that our novel reaches the hands of readers in the shortest possible time.

We will see all this in detail, with the aid of examples, readings and exercises that will help you to understand each chapter, so that after you have completed each one, your novel will become reality. Your novel will be built step-by-step using your imagination.

Now take a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds and then let it out slowly. What you have in your hands is a path for you to follow, a way of doing things. A new road that, once you have travelled along it, will leave you with the outline for a new novel waiting to be written by you. Perhaps a new profession awaits you; that of becoming a writer.   There´s just one more thing left to say: let´s go!

Contents

Why read this book?

1. THINGS THE AUTHOR OF A ROMANCE NOVEL SHOULD KNOW.

a) Introduction

b) Getting started

c) Brief history of the Romance Novel for the purposes of this manual.

d) Definition of the Romance Novel for our purposes

e) What are the possibilities of being published?

g) Romance Subgenres

h) Most popular subgenres

i) Characteristics to be taken into account according to subgenres.

j) More about subgenres

k) Length

l) The author’s own voice

m) Clichés and stereotypes to be avoided and/or discarded

n) Summary of Chapter 1

o) Some exercises on which to build the knowledge of this chapter

2. CHOOSING THE STORYLINE

a) Introduction

b) The search for the starting point

c) Other basic points

d) Story and narration

e) Expanding the storyline.

f) Other points on which to focus in the creation of the storyline

g) The narrator

h) The planned outline of the novel

i) Orientation to the public

j) Summary of Chapter 2

k) Some exercises to build on the knowledge from this chapter:

3. CREATING THE STRUCTURE

a) Introduction

b) The three part/act structure

c) The setup

d) The first few pages: key to success

e) Conflict

f) The action in the first part

g) Two plot twists

h) Brief notes on the confrontation

i) The resolution

j) Distribution of the chapters

k) Summary of Chapter 3

l) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

4. STRUCTURAL NECESSITIES

a) Introduction

b) Plot Combinations

c) Secondary/sub-plots

d) The structure of secondary plots

e) Problems with secondary plots

f) How to maintain tension

g) Milestones as points of impetus or momentum

h) Techniques to maintain interest

i) Eroticism

j) Theories about structure applicable to the Romance Novel

k) Summary of Chapter 4

l) Some exercises to build the knowledge of this chapter

5. IN SEARCH OF THE CHARACTER

a) Introduction

b) But ... what can the characters do?

c) How to build a character

d) Functions of the Characters

e) Problems with the functions of characters

f) Character’s Arc of Transformation

g) Summary of Chapter 5

h) Some exercises to build on the knowledge from this chapter

6. SPACE AND TIME

a) Introduction

b) The space and setting

c) The Space or Setting as a Tool

d) What can the space or setting be like?

e) How many settings?

f) Functions of spaces and settings

g) Environment

h) Time

i) Summary of Chapter 6

j) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

7. DOCUMENTATION (FACT CHECKING AND INVESTIGATING)

a) Introduction

b) What is documenting

c) Things you need to know before you start documenting

d) The documentation process

e) What we must document

f) Summary of Chapter 7

g) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

8. THE NARRATIVE ELEMENTS

a) Introduction

b) The tone

c) Dialogue

d) The description

e) Suspense

f) Other narrative elements

g) Summary of Chapter 8

h) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

9) GET READY ORGANISE PREPARE PLAN

a) Introduction

b) Preambles

c) Step one

d) Step two

e) Step three

f) Step four

g) Step five

h) Step six

i) Step seven

j) Step eight

k) Step nine

l) How to write a Best Seller?

m) Summary of Chapter 9

n) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

10) THE ENDING

a) Introduction

b) The ending in the romance novel

c) Epilogues, Sagas and Second Parts (Sequels)

d) Examples of endings

e) Summary of Chapter 10

f) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter

11. MAKING CORRECTIONS

a) Introduction

b) What should we correct?

c) Internal Correction:

d) External Correction

e) The most common errors and mistakes

f) The choice of title

g) Summary of Chapter 11

h) Some exercises to build on the knowledge of this chapter:

12. PUBLISHING YOUR NOVEL

a) Introduction

b) Registering and copyrighting your work

c) How to present your work

d) The Proposal

e) The Manuscript

f) Sending the work to a publisher

g) Sending the work to a literary agent or agency

h) Sending the work to a literary prize awarding body

i) Desktop publishing

j) To finish off

k) Summary of Chapter 12

l) An exercise to build on the knowledge of this chapter:

1. THINGS THE AUTHOR OF A ROMANCE NOVEL SHOULD KNOW.

a) Introduction

This first chapter aims to establish exactly where we stand in terms of the romance novel. As an author of romance novels, you must know and understand the world in which you are taking part.

By the end of these twelve chapters you will have learnt the rules and the tools of the trade. For this to happen, we must start at the beginning.

b) Getting started

Although not being very orthodox, we can speak of the existence of a genre centred on the Romance Novel. This genre has its own characteristics and is divided into clearly identifiable subgenres.

It is difficult to find the limits covered by this genre since, as we will see later, it only needs one essential ingredient: the romantic plot must clearly articulate the novel. From here on, we have to look back at the history of literature to realize that this ingredient is the connecting link and common thread that runs through the greatest number of literary productions of all time. Can all novels containing a love story be classified as Romance Novels? What criteria will we apply to say that it is or is not?

And it is here where the problems begin because we have no choice but to agree on and stick to a definition. You, as a writer, and all others as readers, must be clear that we are talking about the same thing when we think of the modern-day Romance Novel. This is the single theme that we will cover throughout the following pages of this book.

However, before defining what a romance novel is, let’s take a very quick walk through its history, from the dawn of the Romance Novel up to the present day. This will allow us to better understand the key concepts of the genre and clarify where its boundaries lie. 

c) Brief history of the Romance Novel for the purposes of this manual.

Let's start with a great leap by discarding all love stories from the beginning of time that have been developed in verse, and even that early Hellenistic and Roman prose that would later give rise to the Byzantine and pastoral novel. We will even ignore the love stories included in the medieval novel (some authors point to Romance as a precursor of the Romance Novel). Let's start with Spain and the dawn of the Renaissance (XV century), where the Sentimental Novel was born. Maybe this subgenre is the first one worth mentioning. What is it about? Inflexible, strong and cruel warriors who surrender and become docile for the love of a lady. Without doubt we are already faced with an easily-classified style in which we find many of the ingredients that made up the genre centuries later.

It is undoubtedly the seed that we will find in Pamela by Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), and in The Princess of Cleves, by Madame de La Fayette (1634-1693). Both tell the story of a virtuous young woman who manages to redeem a rakish young man through love.

But let's not fool ourselves; when talking about the Romance Novel as it is understood today, we are talking about a purely Anglo-Saxon genre (United Kingdom and North America). Henry Fielding (1707-1754) with Tom Jones would take a great step forward by providing three fundamental ingredients: sense of humour, guile, and above all, the profile of a heroine who is not only beautiful and angelic, but fun and witty, even over and above the male protagonist. From this moment on, the cards are dealt and the table is set for Jane Austen, the master of the genre. It is unquestionably Austen who carries the torch and the first author of what later we will call Regency.

From here, the novel continues to use to a greater or lesser extent ‘the love plot’ in order to solidify the story and hold it together (for example, in the Gothic novel). With the advent of cinema there is a diversion of storylines with the inter-war period seeing the first examples of what would become the Romance Novel as we know it today, although it was still devoid of any erotic and even sensual tone. This led to the extensive diversification in today’s subgenres (Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, or Daughter of Anna, by Eleanor Burford, best known by her pseudonyms Philippa Carr, Victoria Holt, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate or Jayne Plaidy). It is also at this time when Harlequin Enterprises Ltd is founded, with its English subsidiary Mills & Boon. Since 1909, this publisher was already a specialist in romance novels (that's why I thought it was the perfect publisher to edit my novel Seven Reasons not to Fall in Love).

It was in the 1980s when the Romance Novel entered its Golden Age, with authors that today are thought of as the greats of the genre and others whom we are reluctant to admit to it (Danielle Steel). Nonetheless, they fulfil all the requirements to be brilliant novelists of romance: Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Danielle Steel, Janet Dailey, Nora Roberts, Dixie Browning, Margaret Way, Anne Mather, Jayne Ann Krentz (pseudonym Amanda Quick), Penny Jordan, Carole Mortimer, Diana Palmer (also published as Diana Blayne and as Susan Kyle), Johanna Lindsey, Charlotte Lamb, Betty Neels, Emma Darcy, Barbara Delinsky, Barbara Andrews, Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux and also Barbara Cartland.

The genre has grown, becoming richer in the process (Lisa Kleypas, Julie Garwood, Judith McNaught, Shirlee Busbee, Stephenie Meyer ...).

So far, our brief history of the Romance Novel is based on the style of the authors. All