Writing Romances: A Handbook by the Romance Writers of America

by Susan Wiggs and Romance Writers of America (Organization)

From Janet Dailey, Jude Deveraux, and 23 other romance authors whose works consistently hit the bestseller lists comes a book filled with the instruction and advice that writers need to create their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089879756X
• ISBN13: 9780898797565
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A good starting point.

This book is a good starting point for anyone interested in writing romance, romantica and erotica. It gives good advice and examples on how to create believable characters/relationships and how to incorporate them into an interesting story that someone will want to read to the very end. However, since the book deals strictly with writing romance, this book serves the romantica/erotica author more as a basic outline for the more earthy story they want to tell. It IS worth reading since it can help establish a solid set of writing tools to "build" your stories with.

Useful and Enjoyable

I was honestly surprised by how much I liked this book. Of all the different "how to" books I've read about writing genre fiction, this one was the most helpful and informative on issues of marketing, publicity, and self presentation as an author.No, this book does not take you by the hand and explain how to plot a story, how to develop a character, or how to format your manuscript. There are, however, many others that do, as a quick search for "writing reference" will show you. This book credits the reader with a certain amount of experience and know how. You do not need to be a succesful writer to enjoy this, simply an observant reader.Not to give anyone the wrong idea, the book also contains a lovely chapter by Jude Deveraux about the common mistakes new writers make - complete with advice on how to avoid them. There are chapters that discuss the structure of a romance, what the audience expects from heroine and hero, how to do (and then incorporate) research for historical romances, writing the regency romance, long vs. short form, including the paranormal (time travel, magic, etc), and the evolution romance writing has gone through over the years.I highly recommend this book, not only to romance writers, but to all aspiring writers. After all, many mysteries, westerns, and science fiction stories do have a touch of romance in them, and vice versa.

Wise, well written, thorough. Well worth buying!

This book is a wonderful collection of works by experts in the Romance genre. As a first-time published Romance author, I can hardly claim to be an expert in the field...I have a long way to go before I become proficient. This book is ideal for me. It provides me with support from women who have fought battles long before I dreamed of writing. I am grateful for their wisdom.It also assumes a certain amount of writing ability and knowledge of the genre; again, ideal for me in that it is not so much a beginner's how-to as it is a forum for romance lovers to share their opinions and pointers about the wonderful genre.It's a delight to read. A great source of encouragement!