Trust me when I say, the experience is the last thing you need to write in a certain genre. you don't need to live through a war to know how to write a war novel, you just need to seize the appeal of the romance genre ( which is in most cases the appeal and desire to be in a relationship with someone who showcases the forms of a universal appeal) and all the components that make a story generally appealing ( struggle, relief, character development...etc) or so I believe.
"Say, the main character moves to a new town and don't have a job and the love interest owns a bookstore and so they give them a job in their bookstore." Me: laughs nervously and hides the drafts of my novel where an accomplished musician goes to a countryside to escape his trauma and meets a bookstore owner who happens to be his future love interest.
What do you mean by magical realism? A magic system that has consistency? Or is realistically integrated into the setting, which is properly shaped by the magic?
@@Tiyev magical realism is a kind of story that is set entirely in our world, the stakes are real-world stakes, but there are moments of magic imbued into the story. often the magic serves as an engine to highlight a theme or argument the author is trying to make about the society she lives in. there are no consistency concerns or magic system rules, because there's not a system under which the magic must exist in order for it to be viable. the magic just is.
I don't think it is; it seems like it just features relationships, but I'm not sure. Since the book is narrated by a ghost and not the MC, it's unclear.
I've never written a pure romance, but I have written books with romantic subplots! I wouldn't consider Holding a Ghost a romance, though it does have a romance in it (like many books that aren't romance novels). Like +Nabila Miah said, the book features relationships, but it's literary/coming of age more than romance!
Hi, good afternoon. I’ve learnt so much from this video. Thanks to Shaylene and the Reedsy team for making this. It’s very enjoyable and useful to beginners like me. Btw, I’m going to start writing my romance novel later on, wish me luck!!
I am writing a romance, maybe... could be a drama? Who knows at this point, a love story anyway. However, a question came up when telling my friend about it, and letting him read the opening pages. He made a comment which I have been chewing over for days now. The comment went something like this... "What is in your head man?" That was after he told me it was really well written and he wants to read more. So my question is now this... If a woman writes a romance novel it be like, "oh how sweet, "What a lovely romantic story," "that's beautiful"... BUT, if a man writes a romance story it be like, "what's in your head?", "What are you thinking?", "Who have you been sleeping with?", or my favourite, "who is she?" Why is that?
I have a question. I'm writing a m/m romance set in the late 90s. I have a few locations. The club at the start (where MMC1 realizes he doesn't fit into the world of gay standards and begins to doubt he is lovable), his home, his work and the sandwich shop him and his friend go to for lunch and discuss topics. He goes to a local bar a few times with friends, and a ball game in San Jose once with a friend. MMC2's areas are his house, his parents house (where he is reminded he is single and should settle down already because he's 35) and his church (where he struggles with the conflict between his religious beliefs and his attraction to men), then the park where MMC1 and MMC2 spend time together. It's a friends to lovers trope. So, is that too many locations? I'm not sure how to narrow it down. Thanks for all the advice you give. It's been extremely helpful.
I wrote a Romance short story to explore whether or not I liked writing the genre. I couldn't imagine writing a Romance novel, at this point. But I like Romance and Women's Fiction, as a reader.
Typically, the romance genre is expected to have a happy ending. For a sad or ambiguous ending, you'd probably be better marketing it as a romantic drama, since most romance readers expect a happy ending as a convention of the genre and you wouldn't want to mislead them!
I wonder what the standard is for the level of HEA to qualify for romance category 😂😂. I mean I don’t think you must have the couple walking down the aisle in the last chapter. They don’t even have to be engaged on the last page. I think they just have to be shown both committing to each other and their relationship but yes in a non ambiguous way. However, perhaps you could foreshadow trouble on the horizon if you are planning a sequel… So at the end of your story, the old vengeful girlfriend that everyone thought had been killed in the car explosion she had planned for the protagonist is actually watching the happy couple through the window of the restaurant as they hold hands across the table while they discuss which apartment they will start to share together and plan to go ring shopping that weekend. 😂😂 It’s your HEA - but with trouble on the way!
I’ve written 5 romcoms. I’d read a couple, and watched hundreds. But I didn’t know the rules. So they, though funny and sexy, don’t have the desired romantic punch needed. One is so bad I’ve unpublished it. And my first is so terrible I can’t stand to even try to rewrite it. But, between immersing myself in videos like this, and reading and rereading Romancing the Beat, I’m going to try and get it right with my new novel. So yes, knowing the rules before writing a romance novel is far superior to going in blind and maybe/probably not hitting these beats by accident.
I'm writing (actually, self-editing at this point) 2-3 contemporary romance novellas with M/M couples, and I'm still confused if LGBTQ is a niche in the contemporary romance sub-genre or if it's a genre in itself and the "contemporary romance" part is the sub-genre.
I have been struggling with writing a good multi-chapter story, mostly on ending the chapter. Any tips on what I should do? I really want to write this idea I have in mind but I'm struggling a lot.
A lot of times a "romantic" literary genre is more flowery or sprawling... many books written in the 1800s or 1900s could be considered literary romances. But really, as long as a romance is the point of the book and it has a happy ending, then it IS a romance. If it doesn't, it could more be a romantic drama or a romantic tragedy or whatever. Now, I would classify Pride and Prejudice as a romance because love and marriage are all over the place in the story. "It is a truth universally acknowledged... must be in want of a wife..." is the first line. It has a happy ending, so it is a romance. Now Jane Eyre is tricky. I would consider it to be romantic. And it has a happy ending. However, we spend most of a lifetime with Jane Eyre, most of which has nothing to do with Rochester or their romance.
@@ejwilly2309 oh. Ok. Well, I am not an expert, but I would say if it's a literary book with those elements but the essence of the story is a romance, then yes- you could label it as a literary romance. Just like if a romance is set in Victorian England, then it is classified as a historical romance. 😀
I'm planning to write something that seems like a romance novel. I feel like everything I write doesnt fall clearly into a cliché genre title. It's like I'm writing on a shard of glass between topics.
I haven't tried to write romance (except for a scene or two for some characters I had a long time ago). I don't really read romance novels, but I do love cute romance webtoons and thought it was kind of neat comparing what Shaelin said to those comics.
I feel like most genres have a conventional expected ending. The good guys always win right? Whether it’s a court room drama or an Action Adventure or a James Bond film, we know who’s going to come out on top from the beginning. The audience expects the protagonist to prevail most of the time - unless it’s the second movie in a true trilogy when the protagonist has to be left in a low position on his arc like in The Empire Strikes Back or The Dark Knight etc. The audience experiences the tension in the story when they are immersed in the story. When we are invested in those characters and on that journey with them, it’s an energy transfer. We’re in the moment on the page with them and we’re not thinking about the ending until it comes. We can know the “what” but it’s the “how” it all plays out that keeps us flipping the pages. I think tension also comes from how the story is told and the level of craft used in structuring the story overall but especially at scene level. Also I think it helps to take care not to answer smaller questions regarding the plot before the audience asks them and then to properly pace and parcel out your answers once the questions HAVE been asked. I think of horror books / movies like The Shining and Jaws and Halloween that I’ve seen dozens of times and I still feel the tension building in the story…even though I know what’s going to happen. Isn’t that true for you on repeat watches or readings of stories you enjoyed? Lastly, we the audience have devices we naturally use in order to allow ourselves to best enjoy story. We suspend our disbelief and we pretend we’re not absolutely sure that Indiana Jones isn’t going to die in the second act of the movie - no matter how many poisonous snakes he falls on top of 🙄😂. We know what the end of most stories will entail in a broad sense; (not just romance). There’s still plenty of tension for the author to build up in the HOW the resolution happens. This is all just my opinion obviously. I used to read romance quite often and I had my favorite tropes before I even knew the word for it. Knowing that the couple would end up together never stopped me from “worrying” about them losing their chance to be happy with each other because of the obligatory huge misunderstanding 😂😂. I know that statement doesn’t make sense on the surface but I think you know how it can still be 100 % the truth. Our minds tend to let us pull the wool over our own eyes to enjoy the story. 😂😂😂.
I am writting my first novel (first anything). I struggle to think what genere it fits. Is as much about heartbreak, maturing, self forgiveness and second chances under a new light as it’s about romance. And then there is a sci-fi element to the twist.
