On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [13]
4. How can you shape your story to make the drawbacks and challenges more manageable? For instance, if you really want to write that medical thriller but you don't feel confident evoking the doctor's point of view, consider whether you can make your most important character a layperson instead. That way you can still use the medical setting, but you'll have a somewhat easier job creating dialogue and story because not every character has to think and act like a trained physician.
THE MARKET
Deciding which romance subgenre or category your story falls into can be a challenge. There are many kinds of romances, and each has its own special combination of elements. Some feature pure fantasy; others focus on glitz and glamour;
still others involve grit and realism. The best way to figure out where your story fits is to read the books being published today.
Look especially at the newest authors, those whose first books are on the shelves right now, because that tells you what kinds of stories editors are most likely to be seeking from other new authors. (You can often spot the newer authors by reading the bio page, which often list the titles of previous books.) Here are some questions to consider as you select the appropriate market for your book:
1. How big is your project? The more serious the topic or the more downbeat the main characters' overall experiences, the longer the book will need to be in order to solve the issues and create a realistic happy ending. If your hero has killed somebody, or your heroine's been raped, you'll need more room to develop the story and show the characters growing, healing, and overcoming the emotional baggage they're carrying.
The lighter and more humorous the story line, the shorter the book is likely to be. It's not easy to carry a humorous tone through an entire work, and the longer the story goes on, the more difficult it becomes.
2. Does your story have a universal appeal? Appealing to readers in foreign markets is becoming more important as the global economy grows. As established markets become saturated, publishers are increasingly aware that the strongest potential for future market growth lies abroad.
That means they're looking for stories that will make sense to readers in other countries. Some topics, like American politics and pro football, don't translate well, while other kinds of themes and problems (money, kids, property, honor) are pretty much universal—they could occur anywhere. If your story is one that can only happen in the United States, how can you make it more appealing to foreign readers and therefore more valuable to a publisher?
3. Can you shape the story to better fit today's marketplace? If you want to write a complex book but the word count publishers are looking for seems too short for your story, can you trim some secondary plot lines or restrict the number of characters? If your story is too short to meet the publisher's guidelines, don't pad it with detail or extra people. Think about additional complications for your main characters, ones that would strengthen the con-flict and story.
4. What is the story's hook? The hook is the grabber that seizes the readers' attention and makes the book stand out from others on the bookstore shelves. It can be a story type (Cinderella, marriage of convenience), a setting (a town where it's Christmas all year around), or a hint about why the hero or heroine is different ("From special agent to ex-con"). The hook is usually mentioned in the back
cover blurb, sometimes as a tag line ("The bridesmaid and the best man"; "Caught by a tycoon"; "Their perfect divorce is falling apart!").
What specific angle will hook readers into picking up your story rather than one of the hundreds of other new titles released in the same month?
PLANNING THE PLANNING
With a better understanding of the challenges you'll face in writing your story, and with at least a tentative decision on what form it's going to take, look a little more closely at your particular