How to Write a Romance Novel

Romance author, editor, and book coach Leigh Michaels breaks down how to write successful romance novels. Brought to you by ButterDocs! Start writing your novel for free at https://www.butterdocs.com/fiction And join us every Monday at 10 AM Pacific for Let's Write Books!    / @butterdocs   Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:28 Meet romance author and editor Leigh Michaels 00:40 How do you make readers fall in love with your characters? 02:36 Are romance books formulaic? 03:41 Is the structure of romance novels constricting? 04:30 What do you start with when writing a romance novel? 06:31 Romance characters need to be heroic (and likable) 07:22 When you can break the "rules" of writing 08:06 How important are romance tropes and reader expectations? 09:12 The elements you need to have in your romance novel 10:41 How do you figure out the story structure? 12:22 How do you make sure the story surprises people? 13:22 Leigh's strategies when she needs inspiration 14:55 The process of developing characters in romance novels 16:20 Figuring out how spicy to make a romance novel 17:50 The proliferation of romance genres 18:57 How to build the plot of a romance novel 19:56 What kinds of problems should characters be facing in romance novels? 21:33 Can you wait to introduce your protagonists? 22:13 Can the story start with the characters already together? 23:31 How do you write a happy ending? 25:25 Lessons from romance that are helpful for other genres 26:30 How do you bring together characters who are very different? "the force" 28:31 When you're having trouble finishing your story 29:46 Can characters in a romance get together just because they're lonely? 31:00 Final words of advice