On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [145]
• A conflict that is resolvable primarily through the characters' actions, not through the interference of others.
• A first line/paragraph/chapter that grabs attention.
• A heroine and hero who have logical, acceptable reasons to like and respect one another, as well as reasons to distrust each other, and whose attraction is not based solely on physical factors.
The manuscript most likely to be returned suffers from:
• Poor writing.
• Conflict that isn't legitimate, logical, or believable.
• Conflict that isn't important to both hero and heroine.
• Conflict based on a misunderstanding that could be resolved by discussion.
• A cliched first meeting (a car crash, etc.) unless this is handled in a fresh or different manner.
• An unbelievable or illogical first attraction between the characters.
• A plot that is different for the sake of being different rather than because conflict and characters call for it.
• A writing style that uses ten-dollar words when fifty-cent words would be better.
• A synopsis that doesn't give a full summary of the entire plot, but leaves out important elements or doesn't show how the conflict is resolved.
REJECTION LETTERS
There are two kinds of rejection letters: form letters and personal letters. Conventional wisdom has it that a personal letter is more promising than a form, but
this isn't necessarily the case. Some publishers make a point of responding to each manuscript with a personal letter, and such letters may include stock phrases just as a form rejection letter does. Certain phases that appear frequently when romance novels are returned to their authors include:
• The characters are inconsistent. In some way, the characters are acting inappropriately or not in the manner you indicated they would. Why is a normal, sane hero self-destructive when it comes to a certain woman? Why does the heroine walk down the dark alley when there's a lighted storefront she could go into for help?
• The characters lack motivation. Often this happens because you haven't asked yourself why your characters act as they do. Why does the hero spend so much time and energy preventing the heroine from reaching her goal? Why does the heroine go along with what's suggested to her rather than taking action on her own?
• The conflict is weak. The problem between the characters isn't important enough: There isn't enough of a difference of opinion between the characters, or enough of a conflict in their goals, or enough trouble for the characters to keep the readers interested.
• The conflict is undeveloped. The events don't follow logically from what has happened before. Things happen because you needed them to at that moment in the plot, rather than because of cause and effect.
• The plot is contrived. The plot relies on cliches, hokey devices (the heroine falling off a ladder into the hero's arms), or random events, rather than on real problems.
• The execution is substandard. The dialogue doesn't sound natural; characters think in cliches or worn-out images; you have used the wrong words; grammar and punctuation errors make it difficult to follow the sense of the story; sentences are too long; or the narrative is hard to follow.
• Not for us. This may be a summary of the objections listed above, or it may mean that the story, while fine, isn't suited for this particular line at this time. You may have missed the distinction between two similar categories, and this book might be just right for the other one.
• Please read our books. The work isn't a romance, or it is so far outside the parameters the editor is looking for that it seems you are unfamiliar with the line, or perhaps even with romance novels as a whole.
• It just didn't excite me. There may be nothing wrong with the book, but it just doesn't have the zest and sparkle that would set it apart from the ordinary and make it a book the editor can take to the acquisition committee with enthusiasm.
REVISION REQUESTS
If an editor asks you to revise, or suggests specific changes in the manuscript, it's because