Writing Tips from KYRW

So, you want to write romance. How do you start?

“By reading romance. Read everything you can get your hands on until you know what kinds of romance you love the most, that most appeal to your need to express yourself. Then write the story in your heart, the story that compels you to put pen to paper. That story may never sell, but it will give you some indication of whether you have what it takes to sit down every day and pour your soul onto paper. Once you're confident this is what you want to do, then start finding the How To books and RWA.”
Patricia Rice
Bestselling author of 37 books with 3.5 million in print

“My best advice would be to write your first book, then go back and learn how to write. There will always come a time when you have to put away the “How To...” books and begin to practice what they preach. If you want to learn how to play the piano, you don't read books about playing the piano, you play the darned piano! You practice until your fingers are stiff and sore and writing romance or writing of any kind is no different. Then once you have a finished manuscript, you can begin to study marketing. Join Romance Writers of America, subscribe to Writer's Digest magazine, invest in a copy of the most recent edition of the Writer's Market and the Agent's Market and learn how to sell what you wrote. As soon as you finish that first project, begin marketing it and start work on the next project. Read widely within the genre, but read widely outside of it as well. There's nothing I'd rather be reading more than romance, but if we're all reading romance all the time, it's inevitable that we'll begin to cannibalize each other.”
Teresa Medeiros
USA Today bestselling author with over 3 million books in print

More tips from members

Articles by Joanne Rock

And tips from other romance writers

10 Myths About Writing Romance by Celeste Bradley
(first appeared in Love Notes, the MCRW newsletter)