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Writing Tip — How to Write Good Love Scenes

Writing Love Scenes Some of the most challenging writing is creating compelling love scenes. Originality and emotion are the keys to selling a love scene. Readers will instantly be put off by predictability and cliches. What position does the love story occupy in the overall story arc? In a romance, the love story is the big story. In other genres — women’s fiction, mystery, thriller — it may be a sub-plot. They’d be handled differently…

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Writing Tip: Is It Romance or Women’s Fiction?

Is It Romance or Women’s Fiction? The overlap between romance and women’s fiction is a juicy territory. It’s where characters grow deeper, learn more about why love is important, and develop into better human beings. The story may show how they plunge off a looming cliff of disaster but grow wings as they fall. In the overlap between romance and women’s fiction, a story involves the main character’s growth as a person.

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Writing Tips — Writing Love and Romance

I’m in the mood for writing love and romance. It’s springtime here in Northern California, with roses, lilacs, and poppies bursting out. I wanted to celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary by visiting our local rose garden, and it was a truly gorgeous display! We congratulated ourselves on choosing a springtime wedding date. With love in the air, I resumed work on the romance sub-plot in my new time travel novel, Undoing Time. It’s a difficult…

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Marketing a Romance Novel That’s Non-Traditional

One of the challenges I’m facing is marketing a romance novel that’s non-traditional — that is, doesn’t follow the romance formula. My book The Renaissance Club didn’t start out as a classic romance story formula. I was simply intrigued by the idea of a love story across the ages. As I imagined my heroine, May Gold, I wasn’t thinking about book marketing categories, Amazon, the Big Five, romances, or literary agents.

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3 Reasons We Adore Love Stories

Love stories — why do we adore them? Three reasons: 1) love is essential to every life — love of someone or something 2) stories of love help us understand our relationships 3) every love is unique. Story Genius author and master storytelling coach Lisa Cron thinks humans evolved by learning problem-solving by hearing stories. And if there’s one big problem in your life, it probably has something to do with  “LOVE” — or lack…

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