Monday, May 6, 2013

Best Writing Advice I've Received



A big part of writing is receiving feedback from others. If you're published or on a journey to be published, you're going to receive good and bad critiques of your writing from critique partners, agents, editors, contest judges, reviewers, and readers.

For the next few weeks, we're going to talk about some of the great wisdom other people have given me on my writing journey.

This week's piece of wisdom applies mostly to romance or any romance thread in a story. Instead of rejecting the submission, an editor who'd read my synopsis and first three chapters was kind enough to give me an opportunity to revise and resubmit. Her revision notes included this about my characters:

Your hero and heroine each needs to risk losing something of great value to them in order to be together.

It sounds simple but it's such a vital piece that many romance writers are missing. I had created solid goals, motivations and conflicts for both of my characters individually, but there wasn't enough keeping them apart.

When I'm critiquing or brainstorming with other romance writers, one of my first questions now is: What would the hero and heroine each be sacrificing to be with the other person?

The more concrete your answer, the better. Something abstract like "give up his fear of commitment" isn't enough. It needs to be a sacrifice -reputation, career, family, cause he or she cares about, dreams for the future, etc.

So what about your story? What would the hero and heroine each be sacrificing to be with the other person? Or what's a great piece of advice you've received?

*Also, I'd love to have some guest posts on this topic. If you have a great piece of writing wisdom you've received, email me at julie (at) julie jarnagin (dot) com. Or feel free to use the image above if you'd like to post about it on your own blog.

12 comments:

  1. That is a good question to ask yourself. It's simple and to the point too.
    I need to relook at my character sheet now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's one of those things we all know on some level, but it becomes so much clearer when it's boiled down. Editors are smart like that :)

      Delete
  2. This was the best piece of advice you've given me so far. Really made me think and deepened my stories! Thank you for sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great point! I received similar advice from an editor a long time ago, and it forced me to really think about the stakes of the romance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. It's all about the stakes of the relationship. Great way to phrase it!

      Delete
  4. This is great advice, Julie! I think so many romances I read really lack this, and in turn, the stakes just don't feel high enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, Lindsay. Now that I'm more aware of it, I've read some romances that drag and it usually has to do with the stakes in the relationship.

      Delete
  5. This is a great piece of advice. Romance isn't always the number one thread in my books now, but it's always there and always important. I need to remember to up the stakes when possible. Thanks for this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good advice, Julie! If romance is the essence of our novel, we still need practical reasons for the hero and heroine to be apart. Conflict doesn't always have to come from the romantic interest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is a good one. Shows how invested that character is and develops a strong emotional connection when done correctly.

    Might shoot you an email.
    ~ Wendy

    ReplyDelete