More on RULES FOR ROMANCE
Inspiration for this blog:
The Sometime Bride, written c. 1993, e-published in 2000 by Starlight Writer Publications, soon to be uploaded to Kindle, Smashwords, Nook, Sony, Palm, etc.
As I plowed my way through The Sometime Bride, re-editing all 144,763 words of it, I made a mental list of things I now know not to do when writing a book. But the only things I actually changed were places where experience has given me a better insight into sentence structure. For example, making occasional sentences more active. I left all the other horrible beginner's "mistakes"exactly as they were.
Why?
Because it's still the best book I ever wrote.
What did I do "wrong"?
I wrote in the style of the books I had been reading for the previous forty years, not in the style dictated by romance how-to books (which I didn't know existed).
The Sometime Bride is too long.
The heroine is too young.
Bride is too historical - it even offers historical news bulletins!
The hero has adventures on his own.
Just about everybody has a point of view, which inevitably leads to head-hopping.
The hero commits adultery in the first few pages.
The expediency of war kicks romance to the gutter.
It's still the best book I ever wrote - the true book of my heart.
I'm sure I've failed to mention other broken romance rules, but you get the idea. Bride is a long and challenging read. It's also fun and fascinating, as we watch a young girl become a woman during the course of the Peninsular War. Cover & blurb will be featured on my next blog.
I hope to have The Sometime Bride ready for upload shortly after I get back from an RWA conference in St. Augustine. If I don't get lost on the Ghost Tour!
Until then, enjoy the lovely month of October.
The Sometime Bride, written c. 1993, e-published in 2000 by Starlight Writer Publications, soon to be uploaded to Kindle, Smashwords, Nook, Sony, Palm, etc.
As I plowed my way through The Sometime Bride, re-editing all 144,763 words of it, I made a mental list of things I now know not to do when writing a book. But the only things I actually changed were places where experience has given me a better insight into sentence structure. For example, making occasional sentences more active. I left all the other horrible beginner's "mistakes"exactly as they were.
Why?
Because it's still the best book I ever wrote.
What did I do "wrong"?
I wrote in the style of the books I had been reading for the previous forty years, not in the style dictated by romance how-to books (which I didn't know existed).
The Sometime Bride is too long.
The heroine is too young.
Bride is too historical - it even offers historical news bulletins!
The hero has adventures on his own.
Just about everybody has a point of view, which inevitably leads to head-hopping.
The hero commits adultery in the first few pages.
The expediency of war kicks romance to the gutter.
It's still the best book I ever wrote - the true book of my heart.
I'm sure I've failed to mention other broken romance rules, but you get the idea. Bride is a long and challenging read. It's also fun and fascinating, as we watch a young girl become a woman during the course of the Peninsular War. Cover & blurb will be featured on my next blog.
I hope to have The Sometime Bride ready for upload shortly after I get back from an RWA conference in St. Augustine. If I don't get lost on the Ghost Tour!
Until then, enjoy the lovely month of October.
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