What draws us time and again to this trope? Hate-to-love is surprisingly tricky to write, and you have to be carefully toeing the line, but we keep coming back? Why?
The tension. Ooh baby, we love that tension.
Category: Research
Now and Then: Writing Contemporary and Historical Novels
Contemporary stories wiggled around in my head until I gave them life, and soon I found that I was writing in several genres, erotic and more traditional romance in both the historical and modern age. I wrote BDSM novellas and menage novels and pirates stories and everything in between. And along the way, I’ve come to favor certain elements of writing both then and now.
13 Stages of Writing a Novel
Be a writer, they said. It will be easy, they said.
Don’t Start at the Beginning
As wonderful as my character’s tragic backstory or hushed conversation might be, none of that matters an iota if I don’t get the beginning right.
A Panel on Intersectional Feminism in the Romance Novel
The discussion is ongoing, but the panel was insightful, educational and full of actionable steps that authors, readers, and industry professionals can take to further a fully inclusive, fully intersectional romance genre.
A Matter of Time
There is productivity belief that if you set the bar too high on a day’s project and don’t meet it, you will feel like a failure, thus making you less productive the following day. But if you set a small goal and reach it, you’ll feel like a success, which will then inspire you to complete the next goal and the next.
I Don’t Want to Write
Writing is wonderful. It’s like playing God, sculpting worlds, forming new people from nothing but your fingers against the keyboard, giving life to the two-dimensional creations of your own mind, weaving spells of love and pain and the whole spectrum of human emotion. I love being a writer, but that’s not why I do it.
Seven Stories, Infinite Tellings
Whether there are only seven stories to honestly be told or a vast amount more, the reality is that when you—or any other author—puts those stories to the page, it is the very first time they have been done that way.
On the Write Track
It is also important to find a healthy, sustainable balance between the business and creative sides of your work, or you can find yourself wasting a lot of precious time on to-do items with low ROI.
Actually Working When Working at Home
I’ve been a self-employed writer and journalist for going on two years and there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to treating the home like the office. Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve developed over my career to ensure maximum productivity, even if your desk is an ironing board.
Holland Rae, Writer 