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 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 | Aug 9, 2019 | Characters, Heroines, Industry, Musings, My Books, Reading, Research, Romance Novels, Series
As a longtime reader and writer of the romance genre, one of the most common refrains I have come across goes a little like this: But it’s so formulaic. You know how the book is going to end, why bother? It’s just a fill in the blank. Onward and upward. In fact, the...
by hollandrae | Aug 1, 2019 | Editing, Industry, Inspiration, Intersectional Feminism, My Books, Reading, Research, Romance Novels, RWA, Writing
As a general rule, writing is a solitary sport. We communicate with our editors via notes in the margins and chat with our reads on social media, but most of our days are spent scribbling alone, coming up with ideas in the quiet space of an afternoon when the cat is...
by hollandrae | Jul 22, 2019 | Characters, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
There are many things that need to happen in a book in order for it to qualify as good romance. The hero and heroine must go through a series of internal and external conflicts and come out on the other side, there is often a strong female friendship, themes of sex...
