On Writing Romance (37 page)

If you can, put your story away for a few days — even a few weeks — before you start to revise. When you read it again after a break, you'll be better able to judge what works and what doesn't. And you'll be more likely to see whether the words on the page actually evoke the meaning you intended to share with your readers.

When it's time to take a look at what you've written, to figure out what's working and what isn't, and to create a plan of attack for revising, use the checklist below as you reread your work.

This in-depth checklist covers all the main sections of the romance novel and will help you spot areas where you've lost the thread of your story, told too much too soon, or left out crucial information or steps in the development of the plot or relationship. You can use this list at any stage in the writing process to help keep you on track, or as a guideline when you've finished the manuscript.

The more you can distance yourself from your story and pretend that someone else wrote it, the better this checklist will work for you. Try pretending that you're a book reviewer and you will have to give not only your reaction to the story but the reasons for your opinions.

• How does the story start? What do the readers know about the main character by the end of chapter one? What do the readers not know and want to? What do the readers know that they don't need or want to?
  

• How many pages into the book does the plot action begin? When do the readers meet the second main character?
  

• What forces the hero and heroine to stay in the situation? If being around each other makes them unhappy, why doesn't one of them just go away?
  

• What keeps the hero and heroine apart? Could their disagreement be solved if they sat down for a real conversation?
  

• Is the conflict personal? Sympathetic? Important to the characters and the readers? Can the readers picture themselves or someone they love caught up in a similar difficulty?
  

• Is the disagreement between the main characters strong enough to keep them apart despite their attraction?
  

• How much do the readers know about what both the hero and heroine are thinking? At what point in the story do the readers know that the heroine is seriously interested in the hero? At what point in the story do the readers know that the hero is seriously interested in the heroine? After this point, is the excitement level in the story maintained, or does it drop off?
  

• Do the readers get to savor the excitement? Listen to the arguments? Watch the action? Or is the dramatic potential of the story summarized?
  

• By the halfway point of the book, have the readers met all the major secondary characters? If all the characters haven't actually appeared on stage, have you told the readers about them?
  

• How many secondary characters are there? Can some of them be eliminated or combined? Can some of them be reduced to labels —
  the waitress, the receptionist
  — instead of names and descriptions? How much do the readers know about secondary characters, and is this information important to the story?
  

• Are the main characters' actions and words consistent with their personalities, their professions, their upbringing, and their previous experiences?
  

• Is the POV consistent throughout the story? If a second or third POV is used, does it appear early and with some regularity throughout the story? Do the points of view of secondary characters creep in where they shouldn't?
  

• Does each scene and each chapter begin by setting up the location and time frame, identifying the viewpoint character, and creating an interesting hook? Does each scene and each chapter end at a point of interest, where the readers will find it difficult to stop reading?
  

• Of the total number of pages in the manuscript, how many show the hero and heroine interacting together? How many show them in the same room but not interacting?
  

• What is the longest time (in page count) that the hero and heroine are separated?
  

• Do the readers see a relationship developing between hero and heroine? How much time — how many pages — do they spend kissing, flirting, making love? Fighting? Just talking? Do the hero and heroine get cozy too quickly?
  

• Are the love scenes appropriate to the type of romance? To the personalities of the characters? To their circumstances (for instance, to the amount of privacy the couple has)?
  

• Is sexual tension maintained throughout the story? When do the readers see attraction between the characters? Is the sexual tension diminished or increased by the love scenes?
  

• Do the main characters themselves bring about the ending without the interference or manipulation of other characters? How do they do so?
  

• Is the ending satisfying? Are the good guys rewarded and the bad guys punished? Are all the loose ends tied up and all the puzzles solved?
  

Answer the checklist questions for one of the romance novels you've read. Analyzing another author's book will help you to understand how the author structured her book, and why. It will also help you see how the checklist questions can be applied to your own work.

Revising your work is easier if you approach it as a completely separate step from writing. Everyone's working style is slightly different, but here are some things to keep in mind as you're writing the first draft — things that may make the eventual revision go more easily:

• Write straight through your project, without stopping to revise.
  Reading through what you wrote in the previous session can help you warm up and get started again. Noting typos or inconsistencies as you read is fine, but try not to get caught up in making major changes.
  

• Make note of potential changes.
  If you think of something that should have been included in chapter two, but you're already in chapter four, write yourself a note and put it in a separate file to consult when you get to the revision stage. If you go back to actually do the work, you'll lose forward momentum — and you may find in the end that the brilliant new idea wasn't as good as it seemed.
  

• Just write the story.
  Don't fret about finding exactly the right comparison, and don't worry about making every single line of dialogue sparkle. That's what second drafts are for. Nobody but you will see the first draft (unless you choose to share it), so it doesn't matter if it's not up to publishable standards.
  

What works for one writer isn't always the best solution for another. But here's a basic plan for you to consider and try, and then adapt to suit your working style:

• Give yourself a break.
  Don't try to write and edit in the same session. The two jobs are very different, and trying to switch back and forth can drive you crazy and make you think there's something wrong with a section that in fact is perfectly fine.
  

• Give it a rest.
  Let your writing sit for a few days, if you can — without looking at it — before you try to decide what's good and not-so-good about it. The more distance you gain from the writing, the more able you'll be to look at it strictly from the readers' perspective.
  

• Work on a hard copy.
  A rare few people can edit efficiently on the computer screen, but for most of us the words have more reality when they're printed on paper. Working from a hard copy makes it easier to flip back and forth to compare or to review changes you've already made. Hard copy feels more final and more important — and typos and other errors stand out more clearly on paper than on the screen.
  

• Read it fast.
  When in doubt about whether a story is working, lock up your pens and just read it straight through. The goal is to absorb the whole story so inconsistencies and plot holes can't elude you. (I often take the manuscript onto the treadmill. Since I can't make notes while I'm walking, I'm forced to just read, without fiddling and getting distracted by details.) After you've finished reading, think about how you reacted as a reader to your book.
  

• Read it onto tape.
  The act of reading a section aloud will tell you whether your dialogue is natural (if it isn't, you'll feel stiff or find yourself changing the words). Listening to the tape will help you discern whether the story pacing is good, the characters are likeable, and the POV is clear. If you were listening to this tale as you drove across the country, would it keep you on your toes or put you to sleep?
  

• Get out your colored markers.
  The more the merrier. Highlight dialogue with one color, introspection with a second, narrative with a third, attributions with a fourth, description with a fifth. You'll quickly see whether you've overdone the storytelling, internalization, attribution, or description, and whether the proportions of each in the manuscript are right. If the book feels as if it's dragging, the highlighter test may show that you have lots of dialogue in the first half of the book but much less in the last half.
  

• Set aside a block of time.
  Go through the manuscript page by page to actually make your changes. If you can do it in a few sittings, you'll be better able to remember the details than if you work over a period of a month.
  

Getting advice from other writers, romance readers, or contest judges can be very helpful, but sorting out the useful feedback may not be easy. Trying to apply all the suggestions is a sure recipe for mental breakdown; every critiquer will have a different opinion, and sometimes they will collide.

When you're weighing feedback, separate the suggestions about the story (comments such as “convoluted plot” or “inconsistent characters”) from suggestions about the presentation (“not enough dialogue,” “too much introspection”). Look at the big picture first — does your story work? — before considering feedback about the way you've told the story.

Consider each piece of advice and look for common themes in the feedback before deciding what to do. If one reader says she doesn't like your heroine, maybe the reader just has a hang-up with that sort of woman. But if several separate readers tell you they don't like your heroine, then it's wise to take a look at how you've presented her and whether you can show some additional positive attributes.

Nothing is more reassuring than a group of people who share a common interest in writing, people — published or not — who understand the frustrations of writing because they, too, have dealt with uncooperative characters and illogical plots.

But not all amateur writers' groups are equally good, supportive, or positive. Positive doesn't mean that a group should give only praise; real improvement comes from uncovering flaws as well as recognizing strong points to build on.

Some groups have a positive energy. Members are encouraged; they celebrate success; they cooperate to improve the work of all members; and they take the differing needs of each member into account when offering feedback. (For some writers, feel-good applause is very important. Others feel they're accomplishing far more than they really are if they receive praise for each baby step.)

Other groups have a negative energy. Members may feel suspicious of success, and they may compete. Some writers need exactly that challenge, but for others the negative spin is the kiss of death.

Take your time before joining a writers' group. Visit, listen, and, if the group shares work, begin by sharing a piece that you're not emotionally attached to in case the feedback is harsh rather than helpful.

Do you feel supported by the other members? Do you feel welcome and able to ask questions? Are the programs helpful to you and worth the time spent in meetings?

Make sure the writers' group you join is composed of writers. Many groups are composed, instead, of talkers — people who say they want to write, or people who may have written at one time but who aren't actually producing pages of manuscript at the moment. While those people can be insightful about writing, editing, and publishing, they aren't facing the same challenges as those who are actively writing.

It's helpful if the group is knowledgeable about your field. A romance writer joining a group of poets is unlikely to get useful feedback. But a group that is too specific (for example, romance writers specializing in Civil War — era stories) can get so caught up in checking detail that they miss the obvious (perhaps getting the size of the hoopskirt right to the millimeter but failing to notice that the heroine is acting illogically).

Critique groups are often a subset of writers' groups; within the total membership, a smaller group of people with similar interests and goals meets for the sole purpose of sharing work and giving feedback.

Critique and criticism are not the same thing. Criticism tells you what's wrong. Critique addresses weak spots, but at the same time points out strengths that the writer can build on. Critique that focuses on the good without taking weaknesses into account, however, is hopeful rather than helpful.