On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [131]
• 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
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