by hollandrae | Feb 25, 2020 | My Books, Romance Novels, Series
Shakespeare had one thing right—the Scots were wicked, indeed. Well, one Scot. Broadswords and stone castles might take Isla’s mind off the mess she left back in New York, but not even reenacting battles from military history or exploring ancient Scottish ruins can...
by hollandrae | Feb 17, 2020 | Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Romance Novels, Writing
I figured out what was wrong with my work in progress. After three revisions, rewrites and new drafts, the answer was so simple I’m surprised I didn’t accidentally walk into it face first. There was no internal conflict. Simple. Stupidly simple. See, it’s surprisingly...
by hollandrae | Jan 22, 2020 | Characters, Heroines, Musings, My Books, Reading, Research, Romance Novels, RWA, Statistics, Women, Women's Rights
There are some pretty distinct rules that separate romance novels from every other genre, including genres with love stories. The most obvious of which is the HEA, The Happily Ever After, where the reader is left with a sense that, not only is everything okay right...
by hollandrae | Jan 14, 2020 | Characters, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
I’m not going to take the necessary time to go over all the ways romance gets a bad rap. If you read or write the genre, you know that it’s up against a high level of misconception and condescension for myriad reasons. But despite all those things people tend to say...
by hollandrae | Jan 11, 2020 | Editing, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
Throughout the course of our artistic careers, we will evolve and grow into different habits, styles, and approaches to telling stories. Some of us are outliners, some of us are completely insane and dive right in without a second thought. Each book or story will...
by hollandrae | Dec 26, 2019 | Historical, Intersectional Feminism, Regency, Romance Novels, Series
I want to start by wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year! 2019 was a wild ride for me: I had two new books come out, spent time exploring my new city, taught writing classes, and did a lot of writing! I was also lucky enough to enjoy some wonderful books, and...
