Writing Romance: 5 Websites to Give you a Helping Hand in the Love Department
Written by MVWG Member Heidi Blanke
Are you longing to try your hand at writing romance? Perhaps you want to write 50,000 words of
happily-ever-after or maybe you just want to add a bit of spice to your murder mystery. It’s the month
of LOVE, so here are some websites to help you pencil in affection, infatuation, or even raw passion.
Stephismith.com has everything you need for writing romance, from her own blog to lists of agents to links to dozens of writing websites.
Romancejunkies.com reviews the latest romance novels and sorts them by sub-genre. Want to know what’s being published in paranormal romance or contemporary romance? Read the books listed here to learn what today’s publishers might be after.
Smartbitchestrashybooks.com is another site with loads of book reviews, but there’s also a blog and a place to chat with other romance readers and writers. There’s a link to the site’s podcast and a cool page called Book Finder for all kinds of book choices. Select your genre, one or two themes (fairy tale, road trip, secret baby for starters) and your archetype (alien, billionaire, cowboy) and if there’s a book with those qualifiers, it will pop up for you. If not, the site suggests you write that book!
Looking for romantic ideas and inspiration? Check out the Mills and Boon Pinterest page. (Mills and Boon is an imprint of Harlequin UK, Ltd.) Use their many boards to help you paint the picture for your reader.
Finally, check out this website to read more about how to name your romantic (and other) characters. For example, do you know to avoid names that end in “s” in order to avoid confusing possessives or not to end the first name with the same sound as the last name?
If you want more information on romance writing, or you just want to add a little charm or intrigue,
comb your library for books on writing romance novels, type “writing romance novels” into your search
engine, and check the author webpage of your favorite or popular romance novelists. Put a little love on
your pages.
For more romance writing advice, check out this past MVWG blog post!
Heidi Blanke is the author of several books and the treasurer of the Mississippi Valley Writers Guild. When she is not writing, she is volunteering her time with several local organizations who strive to make this world a better place.