Romantic Elements Make the Story by Kim Smith

Romantic Elements Make the Story
by Kim Smith

Every romance has to have certain elements that classify it as a romance. Some aspiring authors might be interested in knowing what they are, so here is what I know:

1. Characters that have emotional baggage, but who are in the story for love, and the focus is that love through the whole book.
2. Some event occurs that creates a chasm and bubbling conflict (conflict is a good thing!)
3. Happy endings. Everyone wants life to be good in the end.

When writing a romance, you do not have to plan on writing a long work. There are plenty of publishers out there who will accept shorter versions. A Will to Love is just over 16,000 words, which makes it a short novelette and can be read in one sitting. Most people like that in electronically published works.

All books must have a beginning, middle, and end, but not all books have romance as the main thrust of the story. In romance, if the love story can be taken out and the story survives without it, you really don’t have a true romance.

Sex is nice if you use it as a means of exhibiting real emotion and connection between the characters and not as some phony way to put them in bed. Believe me, readers know the difference!

Kim Smith is the hostess for the popular radio show, Introducing WRITERS! Radio show on Blog Talk Radio. She is also the author of the zany, Shannon Wallace mystery series available now from Red Rose Publishing and also the new romance novel, A Will to Love. You can visit Kim’s website at www.mkimsmith.com.