♥Writing Romance♥
Tips, articles and Suggestions
The Road to Publication
Harlequin Enterprises receive over 20,000 unsolicited manuscripts per year. So how do you get to be the less than 1% of writers who get offered a contract?
© Read widely and choose a genre you really enjoy.
Harlequin publishes 15 different romance genres in Australia and more than that in the US so the choice is broad.
There is no point trying to write something you don't like to read as this will come across in your writing. You have to believe in what you are doing and love doing it.
© Surround yourself with people who understand that desire to write. You need a lot of support in this writing game so join a writer's group, ideally with people who write romance. The Romance Writers of Australia is a great help to writers starting out. They put out a fabulous monthly newsletter; have a huge annual conference with writing workshops, an online community, and an isolated writer's scheme.
© The eharlequin online writing community is also a wealth of information. Unfortunately I only discovered this two months before I was published, but I would recommend it to people just starting out.
© Learn the basics. When I first started I had no idea how to format a page or to set out a manuscript. No editor will want to read 45 lines of single spaced writing. To maximize getting to the top of the slush pile set your manuscript out correctly.
© Discover plot, characterisation, conflict, emotional punch, point of view and avoiding the saggy middle. Attend writing workshops, read some 'how to' books and be prepared to tear down that brilliant scene you just wrote and re write it again…and again. I know, it hurts, be brave J
© Write, write and write some more. Learn your craft, and hone your skills. To help you do this I really recommend that you… Find a critique partner. Finding someone who is supportive yet constructively critical will help you improve your writing.
© Find your unique voice…this is your own style. Sometimes it is right there on the page, sometimes it hides under a rock but you need to work on it so that when an editor picks up your manuscript she hears you on the page.
© Enter Writing competitions as you get constructive feedback and if you final in the competition an editor reads your manuscript. Great prize!
© Send your book out into the world. That is a big and scary step. You love it to bits and a part of you always goes with your first book. But the only way to get published is to put it out there.
© Bounce Back. Rejections are very much part of the arts community. It is rare for a first manuscript to be accepted. So give yourself an indulgent day or two and then go back to the computer. Take on board what an editor said and re look at your work.
© Just keep writing…and writing and writing.
I once read a quote that said 'Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.' The preparation is the only part of the process you can control.
Good Luck and have fun!
Featuring Keynote Speaker, NY Times bestselling author, Barbara Samuel
Special guest speakers Margie Lawson & Jo Beverley
Fiona Lowe
Small Towns - Big Hearts
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