Different publishing houses have different rules on what needs to happen by the end of your romance novel.
But here are two universal expectations for category romance.
1. The couple needs to overcome all their difficulties and either get married, or be together as a couple by the end of the book. Romance, after all, is a happily ever after genre. Most people who read romance read it for the happy ending.
I’ve heard of authors who’ve lost readers because they didn’t follow this rule. So if you want to hang onto your readers there needs to be a happy ending.
Also of note: If throughout your book the heroine has been debating between two guys, there needs to be a front runner in the minds of your readers and, to fulfill this point, he is the man she needs to get together with in the end.
2. Point number two is pretty obvious, but you need to tie up any loose ends. Unless you are going on to write a sequel you need to carefully read over your manuscript to make sure you’ve neatly solved all the conflict and problems you introduced in the story.
Don’t belabor this process. There is nothing more frustrating to a reader than for a story to be over and still have 3 chapters of resolution.
I read one not too long ago that belabored the ending. I kept flipping through the remaining pages thinking, “The story is over already, what more is there to say?” I did push on to read through to the end, but it was frustrating. You want to leave your reader wanting more, not frustrated that the story is dragging on forever.
Did you read any romances recently that broke one of these rules? How did that make you feel as a reader?
Tomorrow is an interview with my friend K.M. Weiland about her novel Behold the Dawn. The next regular post we’ll talk about a couple ways to build tension between the hero and heroine.
Okay, let me just confess right up front. I’ve struggled with getting this blog going. With so many things pulling at my time, I’ve just flopped with making it a priority. Not because I didn’t feel it should be a priority, but because I haven’t known where to focus the blog.
There are so many writing blogs out there - and I know that I still have so much to learn about writing, so who am I to offer writing advice? Thus I didn’t feel confident enough to jump into a writer’s advice blog. Also, a writer’s blog is, bluntly, supposed to be geared towards an audience that will hopefully buy your books later on down the road. And since I write romances, not every writer is going to be in my target market.
I toyed with going with a devotional type blog. But again, there are so many out there. And again, I didn’t feel that was the correct angle to go.
I could have blogged about our everyday lives - let’s face it, with three boys and a 6 year old girl in our house, there are plenty of things to blog about - but I didn’t feel that would be fair to my kids. They have enough pressures on them without knowing that I’m writing about them for all the Internet to read.
One area where I do have plenty of experience and a little expertise is the area of Christian Romance. With my first romance just released and a second one contracted and about a zillion romance-book-readings under my belt, I feel this is an area where I can offer people some help.
So I hope you will stay tuned. Tell your romance writer and reader friends about the blog and invite them to drop by. I’ll look forward to getting to know you all a little better in the days to come.
The first romance focused post will go up Monday Nov. 2. And we’ll be talking about the essential elements of the first pages of a romance. See you then! 
Christian Romance Novels posted a nice review of my book Rocky Mountain Oasis today.
In part, they say: “I really thought Bonner did a great job in writing this novel. It was romance with just enough suspense to keep you captivated. Her development of the characters leaves you wanting to see how their lives turn out beyond this novel. A great read!”
You can read the whole review HERE.
Head over to AuthorCulture today to see my post and enter the contest to win a free copy of Rocky Mountain Oasis.
I recently learned from my publisher, OakTara, that my novel, Rocky Mountain Oasis, is to be released in the spring of 2009. I was pretty excited to get that news! I immediately began trying to remember what the first day of summer was. LOL.
Okay, so you have your pictures and have a pretty good idea of where you are headed.
Now, I suggest that you sit down and write out the short synopsis of your book that you will use in making the trailer. Remember to keep it short! Your trailer should not exceed 3 minutes in length.
What is the tone of your novel? If it is humorous, try to highlight that in your synopsis. If it is literary then stay in that genre. In other words, no comedic trailers for a book with a serious tone and vsv.
You will need music to match the tone you want to set. Music, again, is many times copyrighted. However, here are a few sites that offer free music and/or sound bites. Also check out Stonewashed and Incompetech which both have some great music. If you come across any other sites that offer free music, please feel free to post a comment.
So, write your synopsis and download your music (to the same folder as you downloaded your pictures earlier) and next time we’ll put it all together.
Okay, so hopefully you’ve had time to view a few book trailers and now have an idea of what you would like yours to look like. To see what mine looks like you can go here.
It will be helpful to you if you have a specific idea of what you are looking for. So take a few minutes to plan out your trailer.
The next step in creating your book trailer is to find the pictures. When looking for pictures keep in mind that many of the pictures on the Internet are copyrighted. There are several sites where you can sign up for an account and buy pictures for a fairly reasonable fee. There are also several sites where you can get free pictures - but many of them you have to sign up for an account. Just do a google search for ‘free pictures’ or something along that line and you will get plenty of returns.
The site I like to use is Flickr. You’ll notice that the link takes you to the ‘Creative Commons’ section of that site. Many of the photos on Flickr are copyrighted, however the ones in the Creative Commons area have user-friendly licenses associated with them. I only used the ‘Attribution License’ photos. These photos are denoted with the word ‘By:’ in a circle. You can use these pictures freely, and even make changes to them, as long as you give the author credit.
Click the ‘See More’ link under the Attribution License section. Then you will be able to search for specific types of pictures. Here I should put a caveat - you may run into some offensive pictures.
When you find a picture that you think you may use, click into it and you will be given the option of different sizes that are available for download. Select the size you want (I went for larger sizes, though not always the largest) and click download. (It will help you later if you have all your pictures in the same folder, so I suggest that you make a specific folder on your computer to put all your pictures into. Mine was called, “Book Trailer Images”.) Don’t forget to keep a log of the photostream names for the pictures you want to use - later you will need these in order to credit the authors.
Alright, you are ready to go! Have fun downloading your pictures. I recommend that you download more than you think you will use.
If any of you have links to royalty-and-copyright-free picture sites, please comment with the url.
Next time we will talk about finding music.
What is a book trailer you may ask? Well, you’ve all watched a bazillion (yes, that is a highly technical term) movie trailers - intriguing ads intended to pique your interest so you will watch the film. A book trailer has the same purpose - basically, it is an ad for your novel, with the goal of making everyone who watches it run right out to buy your book.
Creating a book trailer will be one of the most enjoyable aspects of your marketing experience. I had a lot of fun creating mine.
There are several aspects to consider when creating a book trailer. There are two basic styles that I have seen. There is the documentary approach, where the author parks themself in front of a picturesque (or not-so-picturesque) scene and talks about what a great book they’ve written and why you should read it. The style I prefer is more of a movie style. These show the story happening in pictures or video-clips with either readable words or a voice-over of a short, intriguing synopsis. I’ve also seen a combination of these two styles where the author speaks the synopsis.
First, go to YouTube and search for the term ‘book trailer’. Watch a few and get a feel for the type that intrigue you. You can also find several Christian ones on Copestone Fiction’s website. I personally find an author yammering on in front of his bookcase about what a great book he’s written pretty boring. But, that may be just the kind that get your attention and make you want to pick up the book.
Keep costs in mind as you peruse the trailers - cost in time as well as money. When I started to create the book trailer for my first book, Rocky Mountain Oasis, I wanted to use video clips. This book is a historical romance so I was looking for clips of cowboys and western themes. I found some and was very excited until I saw the cost! One short 20-30 second clip ranged from $1000.00 to $5000.00! That’s quite a lot of mulla when you consider that you will need several clips to make a movie. Now, if you have your own video camera you can create your own clips. But consider the time it will take, not to mention finding ‘actors’ to model for you etc. For this reason I chose to use still pictures. We’ll talk more about where to find them later. Once you’ve decided what style of book trailer you want to create you are ready for the next steps.
I am going to talk specifically about how to create the movie-type book trailer using still pictures. But even if you want to create a different style, I’m sure you will be able to glean some tips from the next several posts. So I hope you will tune in next time to learn more.
