How Reading Category Romance Improves My Writing

As a writer and reader of paranormal romance, my tendency lately has been toward more plot--more bloodsucking, more killing, more evil dastardly villains. Basically, more paranormal-ness. But unless you have an emotional, internal conflict that's just as riveting as the external one, the story is flat, lacking in depth.

So what do I do to combat this tendency in my own writing?

I read more category romance, particularly Harlequin Presents. Why?

[image error] 1. They're emotional, character-driven stories with alpha-heroes, but without the paranormal-ness. Intense emotion is squeezed out in every scene, every time the hero and heroine are together. I'd been glossing over this in my own writing as I focused on the external story arc. However, my favorite paranormal books are the emotional ones, not the ones with zillions of paranormal creatures. Harlequin Presents books bring this emotion center-stage and Lynn Raye Harris writes some of my favorites.

2. They're fast-paced. I don't have to wade through lots of complex sub-plots to get to the heart of the story conflict, so the story structure is easier to see (and learn from). My favorite way to analyze stories is using the simple W-plot. Pick up a Presents and as you read it, make note of the following elements.
a) Inciting Incident - kicks the immediate story into motion
b) Change of Plans - the character(s), who are resistant to change, do something they hadn't planned
c)Point of No Return - something happens where the character is forced to make a decision and now there's no turning back
d) Black Moment/All is Lost - the world is ending, things look bleak, the characters are forced apart and you don't know how things will ever work out
e) Climax/Resolution - the characters overcome the black moment and the story has an emotional, satisfying ending

3. They're relatively short. You can read them in one or two sittings. As a writer, I don't have as much time as I'd like to read other books.

4. I'm inspired to delve deeper into the emotion in my own writing. While my characters have different reactions because they're different people--vampires, actually--it's interesting to read how someone else handles a similar emotional situation. When you see it in a Presents, it's easier to follow the sequence of how the character grows and changes, because the story is shorter and has less external fluff to wade through.

5. In our politically-correct society, I love reading about larger-than-life heroes, bosses, chiefs, and bad boys who would probably make me mad in real life. The intense emotion is fun to explore because it's so different from my reality. If I receive a critique of my work that my hero isn't sounding or acting alpha enough in a particular scene, I ask myself this: Would a gorgeous billionaire-playboy-prince who's a tortured vampire warrior act this way?

Since there are so many lines of category romance (romantic suspense, contemporary, historical, paranormal), you might want to try this with the type of books you write.