There really is a Romance "formula"....

After reading many a "how to write" a Romance book I have had it drummed into me that there is no magical "formula" for writing a romance, whether a category romance, historical, or chic lit.

But I'm going to rebel (courtesy of Deborah Hale - romance author) and suggest that there is a "formula". And here it is....... (H + h x A) ÷ C + HEA = R

Now many of you hardy romance writers will spot what the formula is right away. For those who don't here's the breakdown:

H = Hero. h = heroine. Put them together and there has to be A = attraction. Without the A there can't be a romance. Fine, but to sustain any romance novel then C must kick in somewhere - usually at the beginning of the book - preferably on the first page. C = conflict which will do it's utmost to break up (divide) the H/h. "C"'s are those internal (and sometimes external) issues/conflicts that torment, tease and down right confound our H/h right up until the end of the book - which is obviously the HEA - the Happy Ever After. So all those variables will finally result in the R - the Romance (book) that we aspiring authors all aim to produce, and hopefully one day, God willing, will get published.

Easy ehh? No not really! Downright hard work in reality getting the "formula" right. (This probably explains why I was so rubbish at maths at school!) Again thanks to Deborah Hale for this post. I hope she didn't mind me pinching her formula. Take care. Caroline x

The WIP is finished but.........

but.....I'm 13k words short!!!

OMG I kid you not. As I write HM&B Historicals (or try to!) the word count needs to be 70 - 75k. I've just typed "The End" at 54,879.

I know, I know. SERIOUS problem. There are some bit'n'pieces where I can fill in - such as an epilogue - but seriously I still need to find at least another 12k. (I'm breaking off here to have a major panic attack. Pass me a paper bag someone please.)

Right. Calm. Deep breaths. I need to solve this problem. So... here's what I'm going to do:

1. Read ms again. Fill in major gaps. Layer like it's never been layered before.
2. Add extra scenes where I can. Perhaps another love scene - although I don't want to just do a "filler" exercise! This is dangerous and potentially not good.
3. Read Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Romance Writing - again - for some much needed tips!
4. Ask you lovely, lovely, lovely people in blog land what to do. Has this ever happened to you? Any wise words of wisdom to share? Pleeeeese share any tips you may have. I will be extremely grateful trust me.

Going now to have another panic attack........

Caroline x

Aw Mum - but it's cold outside!

Could two dogs get any closer to the fire if they tried?

Baby it's cold outside!

Hello all! Hope you all having a good New Year - yes I know it's only 5 days in -but I'm aiming for optimism this year!

Managed to keep to my N Y R so far! Blogging *after* I've done my daily word count has proved the hardest. Is it only me or do others out there love blogging as much as I do?!

Like most of the UK it's blinkin' cold out there at the moment! But (fingers crossed) where I live has so far escaped any major blanketing of snow! This is because we are an island, and as such the salt air does help in keeping away the white stuff. Ten miles up the road is a different story of course as the Snowdonia mountain range is awash with the stuff. Lovely to look at but treacherous none the less! The mountain rescue team have been busy over the holiday period. Apparently they had to rescue 2 men who decided to climb Snowdonia in jeans, thin anorak and trainers! I tell you! How stupid can you get. Unsurprisingly they fell foul of the cold weather and had to be rescued. Both are suffering from hypothermia and are still in hospital!

Ah well. Enough whinging! Back to the wip - which I am managing to plod on with, albeit at a tortoise pace! Take care. Caroline x

Happy New Year Everyone!

All my favorite blog sites are choc ablock with N Y R and Goal Settings which all makes interesting reading as well as giving me much needed motivation!

So call me a lemming I'm going to hang myself here and list mine. It will be interesting to see if I keep any of them! So - deep breath - here goes!

1. Write more. Rather obvious I suppose. But this needs to be done at the expense of the internet. I love blogging and get side tracked way too much. So N Y R number 1 is to write 1000 words a day - and then - and only then - do I switch on the internet! (People let me tell you this is going to be the hardest one to keep!)

2. Lose weight. Way too heavy. I need to lose weight because at the grand old age of 47 I'm getting married again - March 16th 2010. I need to lose weight so I don't look like a total lump of lard when I try to find something half decent to wear on my *big* day.

3. Try not to get too stressed at work - which is quite hard since my boss is a TOTAL stress puppy - who when stressed infects all of us his stress!

4. Exercise more! I do walk the dogs most days but I need to up the ante. See 2 above!

5. Try to get published - I aim to send out more partials to various publishers - rather than finishing off whole books first. I know some authors say you should write the whole book 1st - but I'm going to give the "partials" a go for a while - say the 1st 6 months of 2010. However I do have to finish off one whole ms as I intend to submit this to the NWS this year.

Well there you go! Like I said it will be interesting to see if I achieve any of these - but N Y R are there to prompt you on I say.

Happy New Year everyone! Take care. Caroline x

Flippin' 'Eck! It's ugly out there!

Have you seen the furore on the iHeart Presents blog over the competition results? If not go take a look - but I think everyone in the whole world of romantic writing has blogged on it - me included! I did try to keep out of the heated debate - merely pointing out that HM&B are out to publish books and the publishing world is a highly competitive business. 'Nuff said I think! Phew but it's ugly over there - which is quite sad really as EVERYONE I've ever had dealings with in the Romance Community has ALWAYS been lovely!

Anyway enough of the negativity. Yes I was disappointed both for myself and my two CP's whose entries were tons better than mine (waves as Suzanne and Judy) - but I am still going to be +ve about the whole thing. I've got lots of fingers in lots of pies at the moment. So here are my New Years Resolutions:

1. Polish up the 1st 3 Chapters of Historical Number 3 and send it off to HMB - whilst finishing the whole book off by end of January.

2. Re-jig Historical Number 2 and send it back to NWS (2010) - to see if it gets anywhere. (It did get a very good 2009 NWS Report.)

3. Instead of writing whole books (some would say that you should but....) I'm going to have a go at writing the first 3 Chapters and the synopsis on the one's I've got posted on the sidebar. Get them out and see where I get with them.

4. Try to be more productive. I've been really bad these past few weeks. "Life" keeps getting in the way at the moment. (Dad in hospital and my lovely M-I-L still in hospital - 16 weeks and counting - bless her!)

Anyway - Have a great Christmas everybody - just in case I don't blog before the 25th!

PLL - Peace, Love and Light - Caroline x

2/10 - Could do Better! (See me after school)

After a really productive week 2 weeks ago - lasts week effort was pathetic! Only managed to type 1.5k words. *sigh* The reason? Tired. Day job mega busy. Very sick relatives. Xmas shopping. Babysitting. That's it really - that thing called "life" that gets in the way of our publishing schedules (wow that sounds pompous!) But you know what I mean. We set ourselves targets. Sometimes we hit them, other times we don't. So my target this week is to try and do 5k words by Sunday evening. I'll let you know!