On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [120]
Beginning writers often feel that they've created something entirely new when they use one of these cliches. But the appearance of a trite, overused scenario in a manuscript tells the editor that the writer is still an amateur.
1. Look back through the romance novels you've been reading. What sorts of events does the author use to bring the characters together?
2. Choose one book and make a list, in order, of the major events that occur in the plot. How do events early in the story cause or lead to other, later events?
3. How does the author create suspense? Do you want to keep turning pages?
4. Are there times when the characters relax, without pressure on them? At those moments, do you want to keep on reading?
5. What events did the author foreshadow? How did she hint at these events? Did you notice the hint at the time or only see it after the event happened?
6. Are there subplots in the book? How does the author keep them from overwhelming the main story?
1. What main events will occur in your story?
2. How will each event draw your main characters closer together?
3. How will each event complicate their lives?
4. How does each event lead to another event, or cause a complication or repercussion for your main characters?
5. How can you create suspense for your readers to make them keep turning pages?
6. How can you arrange events in your story so the pressure is never entirely off your characters? Can you rearrange events so a new complication arises before the previous one is entirely solved?
7. What events in your story might be considered implausible? What events might be so startling that the reader is confused? How can you use foreshadowing to prepare the reader for those events?
After all the work you've done on your book, it's hard to let go of characters who have become tremendously important to you. At the same time, it's sometimes a temptation to rush through the last chapter or two, just for the sheer relief of writing The End to a project that has consumed you for months or even years. But no matter how strong the rest of the book is, the ending is all-important.
Mystery writer Mickey Spillane has been quoted as saying, "Your first chapter sells your novel. Your last chapter sells your next novel."—and that's just as true of romance as of hard-boiled private-eye tales. The readers remember the ending—and if they don't come away from your romance novel feeling rewarded and gratified, they're not likely to seek you out on the bookstore shelves again.
So the final unfolding of the story—where the conflict is resolved and the couple at last finds a way to settle their differences and be together—is an extraordinarily important part of the romance.
In this chapter, we'll look at both of the important parts of the ending.- resolving the conflict by creating satisfactory solutions to the problems you've given your characters, and bringing the romantic relationship through the threatening black moment and on to a happy and rewarding finish that will leave your readers feeling uplifted.
RESOLUTIONS
At the end of a book, all the important issues must be resolved in a way that is both fair to the characters and satisfying to the readers. This is particularly important in a romance, in which the need for a happy ending pretty much requires that all the conflicts be negotiated, all the problems be solved, and all the loose ends be tied up in neat bows.
The problem your hero and heroine have struggled with throughout the story should not be easily resolved—if it was such a simple thing to fix, it wouldn't have taken them so long to find an answer. If one or the other simply gives in, are they going to be happy for long? If one partner