See this article as an illustrated PDF.

Summer is coming, and so are the romance conventions, most notably the Romance Writers of America convention to be held in New York City beginning at the end of June. It’s the premiere convention for hopeful writers who attend workshops and panels in the hope of learning the craft and making a sale.

To these aspiring writers I offer the following tips I’ve compiled over my roughly thirty years of editing and agenting romance novels.

1. Remember that the main plot is the changing and developing relationship between the hero and the heroine. I have seen writers create a synopsis of what they say will be a romance that contains no romance. The story is about other things. “The romance part is understood!” they say. That won’t work. It means the romance isn’t important enough to be actual plot. The romance is the plot.
2. Keep background to a minimum, not just at the beginning of your novel but throughout. Background slows down your story. Definitely keep it out of chapter one, but also spoon feed it to us beyond chapter one. Tell us only what we need to know to understand what is happening now in your story.
3. Keep minor characters to a minimum. Romances have low word counts so there’s not much room for anything beyond the main story—the relationship between your hero and heroine (see #1).
4. Make your novel the same as but different from romances you’ve read. The same in that your book will also be in the third person, it will have the correct level of sensuality, it will not introduce elements never seen in this line—for instance, a short contemporary romance should not include vampires—and it will end with happily ever after. Different in terms of your story’s situation, plot twists, perhaps the occupations of your hero and/or heroine.
5. Don’t hold back on emotion. Your characters’ emotions are as important to your story as their actions. Emotion is plot! Develop your characters’ feelings fully and describe these feelings fully. Emotion is one of the things readers want most in a romance.
6. Know exactly what line of romances you’re targeting. Harlequin Desire? Romantic Suspense? Special edition? Ideally it will be the type you most enjoy reading and are therefore most familiar with. Later, when you submit your novel to a publisher, be sure to mention which line you have targeted.
7. Word count is extremely important! Find out the required word count for the line you’re targeting and make sure your manuscript is the correct length.
8. The largest romance publishers such as Harlequin and Mills & Boon accept manuscripts written in English only. If you decide to submit to one of these publishers and English is not your native language, hire an editor to smooth out your work, or don’t bother submitting here.
9. If you need to query a publisher before submitting your manuscript, put adequate effort into your query letter. A query letter is a one-page business letter in which you: give your novel’s title, its word length and the line you’ve targeted; briefly describe your story; give your background and credentials if relevant (previous publishing credits, or you’re a nuclear scientist and that’s the occupation you’ve given your heroine); and a request for action: “May I send you my complete manuscript? Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”
10. Many romance publishers happily consider unagented material, so don’t let the lack of an agent stop you. Follow publishers’ submission guidelines carefully.

See this article as an illustrated PDF.

In The Marshall Plan® novel writing system, there are two units of story action: the action section and the reaction section. The action section is where your story’s action takes place; one of your viewpoint characters seeks to achieve a short-term, or section goal that she thinks will take her closer to achieving her overall story goal.

In most cases, an action section ends with the viewpoint character making a decision as a result of what has happened in the section, and another action section follows, based on this decision.

But sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes the failure at the end of an action section is so devastating or momentous that something more is called for. That something more is the reaction section. The reaction section is a protracted account of the character’s reaction to the failure in the last section. You write a reaction section in three distinct phases:

• the character’s emotional response to what has happened;
• the character’s rational response to what has happened;
• and the decision the character ultimately makes based on his rational response—that decision being the next action he will take.

Here’s an example from the novel Disclosure by Michael Crichton.

In an action section, Tom Sanders, the novel’s lead character, tries to convince Phil Blackburn, his company’s chief legal counsel, that Tom’s new boss Meredith Johnson sexually harassed him. But Meredith has already told Phil a conflicting story, saying that it was Tom who harassed her, and Phil is siding with Meredith. He says that, whatever really happened, it would be best for all parties if Tom accepted a transfer to another office. If Tom accepts the transfer, he forfeits a chance to make a lot of money if his current division is sold.

“Look, Tom. Let me review this with Garvin. Meanwhile, why don’t you go off and think this Austin offer over. Think about it carefully. Because no one wins in a pissing match. You may hurt Meredith, but you’ll hurt yourself much more. That’s my concern here, as your friend.”

“If you were my friend—” Sanders began.

“I am your friend,” Blackburn said. “Whether you know it at this moment, or not.” He stood up behind his desk. “You don’t need this splashed all over the papers. Your wife doesn’t need to hear about this, or your kids. You don’t need to be the gossip of Bainbridge for the rest of the summer. That isn’t going to do you any good at all.”

“I understand that, but—”

“But we have to face reality, Tom,” Blackburn said. “The company is faced with conflicting claims. What’s happened has happened. We have to go on from here. And all I’m saying is, I’d like to resolve this quickly. So think it over. Please. And get back to me.”

This section failure is too devastating to Tom to confine his response to the end of this section. A reaction section is called for so that we can see the stages of his response.

Tom’s next section—the reaction section—reads like this (text in brackets mine; some text omitted):

[EMOTIONAL PHASE:]

Look at the situation.

Sanders stood in Pioneer Park and leaned against a pillar, staring at the light drizzle. He was replaying the meeting with Blackburn.

Blackburn hadn’t even been willing to listen to Sanders’s version. He hadn’t let Sanders tell him. Blackburn already knew what had happened.

She’s a very sexy woman. It’s natural for a man to lose control.

That was what everyone at DigiCom would think. Every single person in the company would have that view of what had happened. Blackburn had said he found it difficult to believe that Sanders had been harassed. Others would find it difficult, too. . . .

[RATIONAL PHASE:]

Susan would never accept it. Her practice in Seattle was successful; she had spent many years building it. They had just finished remodeling the house. The kids liked it here. If Sanders even suggested a move, Susan would be suspicious. She’d want to know what was behind it. And sooner or later, she would find out. If he accepted the transfer, he would be confirming his guilt to his wife.

No matter how he thought about it, how he tried to put it together in his mind, Sanders could see no good outcome. He was being screwed. . . .

[DECISION PHASE:]

As Sanders stood in the rain, his sense of shock slowly faded. And with it, his sense of loyalty. He started to get angry.

He took out his phone and placed a call. . . .

The call Sanders is placing is to a pit bull of an attorney who specializes in workplace harassment cases.

Crichton’s text follows the action/reaction section structure so perfectly that one wonders if he used The Marshall Plan®! I wouldn’t be surprised. Many successful writers tell me privately that they use it but don’t talk about it. It’s their secret weapon.

Keep the reaction section mind, and use it when it’s warranted in your novel. You’ll increase your story’s dramatic impact while realistically showing the thought sequence that invariably follows a devastating blow.

An important part of The Marshall Plan® novel writing system is building into your story at least three “surprises.” A surprise is an especially dramatic event that occurs in the “failure” phase of sections in these three places in your story:

• at the end of the Beginning (or one-quarter of the way through your story)
• in the middle of the Middle (or halfway through your story)
• at the end of the Middle (or three-quarters of the way through your story)

What is a surprise? It can be:

• a horrible or shocking discovery your lead makes;
• revelation of new information that is dire news for your lead in terms of her achieving her story goal;
• an action taken by the opposition (the villain or antagonist of your story) that negatively affects your lead;
• or information that means your lead’s efforts and beliefs about how to best achieve his story goal have been all wrong.

Here are a couple of examples.

Example #1:

Your lead, a young woman named Ann, has just received word that a great-aunt has left her a rambling old Victorian house on the coast of Maine. Ann has recently ended a long relationship and sees this news as a chance at a fresh start, so she packs everything up and moves to the house she’s inherited but never seen. But things don’t seem quite right there; she picks up clues that her mother once lived in this house and that something terrible may have happened here. Then comes Surprise #1: While going through some boxes in the attic, Ann finds an old newspaper clipping, a story about a child who died in this house under mysterious circumstances . . . a little boy. An uncle Ann never knew she had . . . who appears to have been murdered . . . and her mother was somehow involved. The impact of this surprise is that it now seems extremely doubtful that Ann will find her peaceful new life here, at least not until she solves the murder of this little boy so many years ago.

Example #2:

Your lead, a young man named Daniel, is deeply in love with a young woman named Rachel, a fellow student at the college they both attend. Daniel goes to great lengths to get Rachel to go out on a date with him, and the evening goes wonderfully well . . . until he begins to kiss her good night at her door but suddenly, instead of wanting to kiss her, he wants to sink his teeth into the tender flesh of her neck. He’s horrified, scared, and gets away as quickly as possible. Soon, after interrogating his parents, he learns that he’s a vampire, and that his vampirish tendencies have emerged because for the first time in his life he’s in love. The impact of this surprise is that Daniel cannot be with the woman he loves.

Your three surprises should increase in intensity if possible, but the important thing is simply to have them. They will keep your story from dragging and give your readers the element of surprise they enjoy in the novels they read.

As you write your novel, always remember that it is for your readers. That sounds obvious, yet many novelists are not considerate of their readers.

What do I mean by being considerate? Simply making sure everything is clear.

1. When you begin a new section or chapter, make it instantly clear:

• which character you’re writing about
• the time
• the place

It is especially important to do this in a novel with multiple viewpoint characters. Don’t ever make the reader scratch her head wondering who she’s reading about.

At six o’clock Monday morning, Mark was pulling into InterCom’s parking lot.

Ellen gazed up at the soaring office building, wondering which floor Darren’s office was on. She checked her watch. It was only a few minutes past seven, yet masses of New Yorkers swept by on each side of her, as if she were an island in a stream. Would Darren be in yet? Ellen suddenly remembered his saying that he liked to get in early on Mondays. Straightening her shoulders, she went through the revolving door into the lobby.

2. When you get to something in your story that your readers won’t understand, it’s OK to simply explain it.

Here are two examples from the novel Disclosure, by Michael Crichton. The explanatory parts are in boldface.

Example #1:

He looked over his shoulder. Dave Benedict was coming up behind him. Benedict was a lawyer with a firm that handled a lot of high-tech companies. “Missed the seven-fifty, too, huh?” Benedict said.

Example #2:

. . . She ran her finger down the call book. “Don Cherry called twice about the Corridor, and you just got a rush call from Eddie in Austin.”

“Call him back.” Eddie Larson was the production supervisor in the Austin plant, which made cellular telephones. . . .

The most important thing to remember as you write your novel is that it’s not only OK but vital that you be clear at all times . . . and that it’s also OK to be straightforward about it.

Readers will complain when a novel is too complicated or unclear. They will never complain that a novel is too clear.

Most of us have a bad habit or two. Do you sometimes chew with your mouth open? Interrupt? Leave your socks on the floor?

Writers can have bad habits, too. A bad writing habit is something a writer does unconsciously that in some way lessens the reader’s enjoyment of the text. Here are some bad habits I’ve noticed in my reading. The perpetrators’ names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

A globally popular mystery writer often likes to start a chapter or new section without identifying which character she’s writing about—the character is “he” or “she” and we scratch our heads, trying to guess who it is, until the writer decides to tell us. Then, once we know, we have to go back and reread those paragraphs to get the fully import of what’s been written.

This habit drives me crazy. My hunch is that the writer thinks it’s stylish to launch into a passage without just naming the character. I think it’s just plain inconsiderate, a bad habit this writer should break.

I’m reading a thriller at the moment by a new writer who uses the phrase “and so” over and over again. I can’t believe his editor didn’t see this. “And so it was that she found herself at his door…” “And so he was not surprised when…” You get the picture. These aren’t actual quotes from the book; just the kind of thing this author does over and over again. He should break this “and so” habit.

A bestselling thriller writer has characters constantly resting their chins on their folded hands. Another has characters’ gazes constantly wandering.

A common bad writing habit is “Morse Code”: constant use of dots (ellipses) and dashes. This is frequently a beginner’s habit. Characters are always trailing off or being interrupted. Remember, fiction is like life, only neater. Try to let speakers finish speaking whenever possible, and save the Morse Code for when it’s really necessary.

Perhaps the most common bad writing habit is “She nodded.” “He nodded.” One book I read recently had so much nodding that I had a picture in my mind of a bunch of bobble-head dolls, like in the back window of a car.

What are your bad writing habits? Chances are you have no idea; otherwise you’d probably have gotten rid of them. Few writers can be so objective about their work that they spot these offenders. You’ll have the best chance of doing so if you let your work sit for a while and then come back to it with some distance between you and the words. The other way, of course, is to let someone sharp read your pages.

Try to make yourself aware of your own bad writing habits—we all have them. Your writing will be better for it.

The query letter is one of publishing’s necessary evils. Most people hate writing them, hate having to boil their projects down to a page, but in most cases it’s the only way to get your foot through the door with agents and editors. Like other agents, I receive thousands of these a year, and more often than not I’ll spot something that pegs the author as an amateur. Here are some tips based on my observations.

You did not write a fiction novel! Nor did you write a fictional novel. You wrote a novel. “Fiction novel” and “fictional novel” are redundant and make you sound like an idiot. A novel is always fiction.

Don’t try to teach me about publishing. A recent query letter began with a lesson on why people read thrillers. Others have explained to me what’s wrong about books in a given genre, what’s wrong with books currently on the bestseller list, or what’s wrong with people for putting those books on the bestseller list. I don’t know everything, but I do know publishing, and even if I didn’t, this kind of lecturing has no place in a query letter.

Don’t “review” your own work. Last week I received a query letter about a work that would become a classic in its genre. At least that’s what the author thought. I’m glad when writers are proud of their work, but it’s amateurish to blow your own horn in a query letter.

Do state right up front the genre your novel belongs to.

Do state the novel’s word length.

Do tell me if you think your novel will appeal to fans of other (preferably successful) authors.

Do give relevant background on yourself. For example, let me know if your novel is based on your own career experience. Tell me if you have published stories or other novels, but for God’s sake tell me who your publishers were! Authors are often embarrassed to mention very small or regional publishers, thinking they will detract from the credit. If you’re embarrassed to mention the name of your publisher, don’t mention the credit at all. Otherwise give the name. Don’t make me Google you.

Do give a brief summary of your novel, but not the entire story. The best approach is to give us the setup or problem facing the protagonist, the obstacles standing in his or her way, and what’s at stake if s/he doesn’t set things right. We want the gist of your story, not an actual synopsis, however brief.

Don’t address an agent by his or her first name unless you’re really on a first-name basis. A query letter is a business letter, and the rules of business letters apply. Use “Mr.” or “Ms.” until you’re told to do otherwise.

Don’t enclose a photo of yourself. I’m glad when people like how they look, but how they look has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of their work. Don’t enclose a sketch of how you envision your jacket. Don’t enclose the first page or pages of the manuscript. Don’t enclose a synopsis, unless you’ve read in that agent’s listing that he or she wants one. Don’t enclose a CD of music to accompany your novel. Don’t enclose anything—except a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the agent’s reply.

Even if you’ve already self-published your novel, don’t include a copy. As far as an agent’s concerned, it’s the same as a manuscript, and you shouldn’t send a manuscript unless it’s requested. (However, if your self-published book is selling thousands and thousands of copies, do mention this!)

Keep these tips in mind and your query letter will have a real chance of resulting in a request to see your manuscript.

When deciding what kind of novel to write, it’s not always smart to pick a genre that’s currently hot. By the time your novel is written and on submission to editors, that genre may have gone cold. Some genres appear to be eternally hot—vampire fiction, for instance—but everything cools off eventually. You’re always safer trying to anticipate a future trend and aim your fiction in that direction. How to figure out tomorrow’s vampire fiction?

Look at current films. Films both reflect trends in books and set them. Speaking of vampires . . . when Hollywood saw how vampire novels were selling, it jumped enthusiastically on that bandwagon, not only adapting many of these novels but acquiring original scripts in the genre. That’s Hollywood copying books.

When the publishing industry caught on to the popularity of India-related movies like Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake (itself adapted from a novel), it began looking for India-related novels. Now we are enjoying stories from Shobhan Bantwal, Indu Sundaresan, Anne Cherian, Padma Venkatraman, Farahad Zama and many others. Will the current success of True Grit spark a spate of new Westerns? Keep an eye out.

Watch news trends. Book editors scour the news for hot trends, and so should you. I’ve noticed an unusually large number of animals killing or maiming their trainers lately—killer whales, chimpanzees, elephants. If it keeps happening it will turn into a trend people watch, and editors will no doubt put out the word they’re seeking novels about it. Will more suburban spies be exposed? Will face transplants become commonplace? Will the apparent new spate of floods spark a resurgence of “disaster” novels? As you read the news, keep a list of possible trends.

Monitor conversations. Perhaps the best way to find out what interests people is to simply listen to them. What are people talking about at cocktail parties? At the dinner table? Over the holiday table? Don’t grab at one conversation pulled from the morning’s headlines; watch for trends. For example, lately I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about municipal budget cuts that cause police to be laid off, causing a degree of “lawlessness” not seen before. Today I clicked to my favorite news site and caught this headline: ”Camden lays off nearly half of its police force.”

Budgets cuts aren’t going away anytime soon. My experience tells me that some editors would find a novel about gangs taking advantage of police cuts interesting.

Don’t write what’s trendy now; write what’s trendy tomorrow. If you’re smart you can figure out what that is ahead of everyone else.

Anyone familiar with my novel writing system or my views on fiction writing in general know I stress targeting a specific genre when tackling a novel. Is it a romance? A mystery? A science fiction novel? A Western? I stress this simply because editors stress it, and I’m all about not only writing novels but selling them.

But more and more, people say to me, “But half the novels on the bestsellers lists are blends of genres. If they can do it, why can’t I?”

Well, you can, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Which Genre Predominates?

First of all, though it’s true that many successful novels meld two or more fiction genres, in the majority of them one of those genres is predominant. For instance, a so-called science fiction/fantasy novel may at first glance contain equal parts of both genres, but almost always a careful study will reveal that one dominates, and that’s the one that will determine where the book would be shelved in a bookstore. That’s the bottom line: In what section of the bookstore would I find this book?

So, if you’re writing a novel that doesn’t strictly belong to one genre, make sure one of them predominates. That way, agents and editors can’t say your book sits between two stools and is uncategorizable. Because before a book is shelved in the bookstore, it’s presented in a publisher’s catalogue, and inevitably a book’s listing includes its genre.

When Melded Genres Become Genres of Their Own

Often in publishing, the public reacts so positively to certain melded genres that the “meld” becomes a genre itself. Examples are paranormal romance (paranormal fiction melded with romance fiction) and historical mystery (historical fiction melded with mystery fiction). Call these genres or subgenres, but whatever you call them, they are accepted categories in which agents and editors are always looking.

So, if you want to meld, choosing a popular combination is a good way to go.

When genres collide, the results needn’t be catastrophic. In fact, the collision could result in a sale.

1. I will decide on one genre of novel—the genre I most enjoy reading—and stick with it.

2. I will study novels in this target genre to get a good idea of the kinds of stories they tell.

3. I will work hard to come up with a story idea that fits my target genre yet is fresh and new, something I’ve never seen done before in novels, TV or movies.

4. Before I begin to write, I will create a detailed outline of my novel, so that when I do begin writing, I won’t hit any rough spots.

5. I won’t share my story idea with others, because (a) when you talk out an idea it can lose some of its sparkle, and (b) someone will undoubtedly find fault with it, and I’m not interested in what other people think.

6. I will work on my novel every day, whether it’s writing my outline, doing some research, or actually writing text.

7. I will adhere to a timetable: for example, a detailed story outline by April 1, a first-draft manuscript by Thanksgiving, a polished manuscript by the end of the year.

8. I will keep a running list of editors and agents who seem right for my project.

9. I will not start another writing project until this one is finished.

10. By this time next year I will be ready to start submitting my finished novel . . . and I will already have begun working on another one.

Polish up your writing with these easy tips.

1. Seek and destroy clichés: butter-soft leather, a mighty oak, a trusted servant.

2. To show habitual action, use the past tense rather than would. Not “Each morning he would walk to the Y and swim twenty laps,” but “Each morning he walked to the Y and swam twenty laps.”

3. Watch it, which should replace the noun that immediately precedes it. Not “He took an apple from the refrigerator and ate it,” but “He rummaged in the refrigerator, found an apple and ate it.”

4. Don’t use the weakeners appeared to or seemed to. Not “The road appeared to waver in the intense heat,” but “The road wavered in the intense heat.” Not “Her face in the portrait seemed to call to him,” but “Her face in the portrait called to him.”

5. Don’t tell us what you’re showing us.

Not:

Teddy smashed his fist into the oatmeal. Annoyed, Barbara shut her eyes and groaned.

But:

Teddy smashed his fist into the oatmeal. Barbara shut her eyes and groaned.

6. Limit the use of there was and there were. Not “There were ants all over the cake,” but “Ants covered the cake.” Not “In the next block there was the barking of a dog,” but “In the next block a dog barked.”

Learn these simple but important writing habits and watch your writing improve.