Destroying the Precious

[Editing time-source]

 I've been blogging about how to make writing more literary. One of the most important differences between inferior fiction and amazing fiction that kicks off a future with diehard followers is the editing process.  Your first draft can be absolute trash, but as long as the editing takes as long and as much effort (on your part and someone else's) as it needs to, you can still end up with a brilliant and meaningful final copy.  Your writing process can involve outlines, pages of background and characterization, or just a lot of pantsing.  The key is in editing, and some of that may likely involve scrapping the moments, characters, entire scenes, or long chapters into which you've poured your heart.  Sometimes, your final best work involves shooting your darlings, those bits that are just too precious, too detailed, too inessential to stay.  

[Your Draft-source]

So you have a draft.  You may love this draft or hate this draft.  It can be anything from short poetry to an autobiography to literary (non)fiction to the wildest sci-fi romp. That draft is done.  Now what?  Don't even think about looking at your commas or other fine editing at this stage.  The first step is to take a careful look at the structure and major characters, themselves.  If you can afford to have a freelance editor who does this kind of story editing, all the better. Even Stephen King needs an editor, and he's a master. If you have a publisher breathing down your neck, great.  They may have someone to pitch it.  You may also have friends or a writer's group to look over.  Or you may be doing it all yourself.  I don't recommend the last option, but sometimes, there's no choice.  

[Editing-source]

Regardless of whether you now have a pile of editors' or other readers' comments, you really need distance from the text, as much as you can afford to give yourself.  If it's a few days or even a week, fine.  If you can give yourself a whole month or more, even better.  When you've just carefully crafted that cherubic/charming/witty/scathing/etc cast of side characters, what you see as amazing dialogue, a brilliant series of scenes, and a whole book that just feels wonderful to you, you're too close.  It's like investigating the murder of your best friend.  There won't be any emotional distance, and you're not ready.  

[Taking a closer look--source]

Because when you start giving your manuscript a really close look at your story editing, you need to see it with fresh eyes.  You need to see each scene, each character, each description with a clinical eye.  What purpose does each aspect of the story serve when it comes to building up the main character's story arc, the critical subplots, the overall plot, or the 3- 7- or 12-act structure, whatever you're using?  If nothing, it can't stay. 

[When beauty achieves nothing--source]

If there's a beautifully written, breathtaking scene that you poured your heart into that doesn't contribute substantially to the symphony that is your piece, it needs to go.  If there's a clever, witty side character that draws too much attention from the protagonist's main growth, you may want to keep him/her/it/them for another story.  You don't have to simply erase.  You can always keep a running side document where you keep your best cuts.  It may inspire you later. 

 

[Achieving balance--source]

But if you've got 30 characters in a 100 page book with very little characterization or possibly a breathtakingly purple (florid, overly descriptive) background with uninteresting foreground characters, something, probably a lot of somethings, need to go. It's at this stage you're finding your balance and the voice of your narrative.  I don't care how much you love that scene/dialogue/character/set. If it doesn't perform a critical role in the overall story or distracts in any way, it's time to break up with it for the sake of keeping the narrative compelling.  If it becomes too precious, too specific, and slows down your story, it just can't stay.  

[What feedback can feel like--source]

Editing can be such a hard part of writing. You get feedback that may feel like a gut punch or leave you reeling, wondering how you'll achieve what the reader wants.  Trimming back scenes and characters you love can feel like you're parting with your best friends.  It has to be done to make your final product what it needs to be to keep the reader glued.  

                                                                   `

Structure of Romance

[Writing Romance Novels--source]

 I've been blogging about how to make a piece more literary. One piece of advice almost every writer will give you is to read what you plan to write. Since I am working on clean romances, it makes sense to read a lot of them. And I have, from Austen to Bronte to Stephenie Meyer to an ever-increasing list of modern writers. Some write period romances, some fairy tale adaptations, some fantasy, some modern, and some sci-fi. There are patterns that hold true, no matter the genre. 

[Exploring characters' eyes--source]

Step one is to dive into the protagonist's character. If we're talking about a heterosexual couple, several romances give intense focus to the female lead alone. Occasional romance novels only focus on the male. Some authors, such as Stephenie Meyer, write a book from one perspective then book from the other (Twilight back to back with Midnight Sun gives you both). The other perspective is entirely a mystery or, as in Austen and Bronte, we get hints of other perspectives from an omniscient narrator. This is how we get such an intense focus on Lizzy, but we still get to hear Darcy's perspective on her "fine eyes." Later authors will often do a Midnight Sun on a classical work, or recreate Austen's original work through, say, Darcy's perspective or Bronte's through Rochester's eyes. 

[Romance on a bike--source]

Many modern romances balance the male and female leads (once again, in heterosexual romances), alternating between the two. Keep in mind that it's possible and always best to introduce the characters through show (show them losing a friend or family member; show them caring about something or someone) rather than endless data dumps. The reader needs an immediate attachment to one or the other, or the reader is gone. The way the main characters relate to each other can come as a shock to the reader: an assassin and his/her target, beings from two different (possibly alien) races or cultures, a peasant and a royal, etc. Many start as strangers like in Jane Eyre or Northanger Abbey or friends as in Mansfield Park. Several start their relationship as enemies before anything romantic begins. It's not a version of Pride and Prejudice nor of Much Ado about Nothing if sparks don't fly one way before they ever do the other. 

[Romance Begins--Source]

After that, the dance begins. The couple-to-be meets and has their first impression of each other (or we get a portrait of their existing relationship). There may be some kind of chemistry or interest associated with a description of (usually) attractive looks, but frequently, the initial meeting is one of indifference or a negative response. It appears for a time the characters will remain in separate orbits or in the status quo. This is the hero's journey's equivalent of the normal world. 

[Next Stages in the Dance-source]

Then, something happens (often danger, if it's genre, or enforced interaction if it's more literary or mainstream). Some action forces the two out of their regular orbits. This is the call to adventure, and one or the other or both protagonists often refuse at first. They reject that force that brings them together. Frequently, there will be some kind of early touch that excites an initial physical response for good or for ill. Sometimes, any kind of touch waits until the characters realize that they've started to first trust then feel something for the other. As they interact more and more, touches, accidental or otherwise, become more and more frequent until they make a realization of first an instinct to protect, then some level of trust, then romantic feelings. Sometimes, those feelings go unrecognized or misunderstood until the last few pages. 

[The dance--source]

The first touch is often just a brush, a light touch on the arm, a rescue, two bodies running into each other through force of circumstance, etc. As the characters become more and more interested then interactive, the touches start on the outside, an arm, a hand, clothing. Then, the touches tend to focus around the face, a touch of the cheek, foreheads touching, a light kiss somewhere on the head or hair. All of this may crescendo with a light then intense kiss. Some tales end with this. Some result in the two making some kind of commitment like living together, a title like boy/girlfriend, or marriage. If the romance is of the more intense (not classified as clean variety), the crescendo may be sexual in nature. This blog is not about that kind of romance novel, but they're common. The best way to get a feel for any kind of romance novel is, as with any writing, to read the masters and learn from those who know how to write the scenes you want to emulate. 

[Together in the End--source]

One way or another, your book can't be classified by publishers as a romance if the two characters don't end up together. It may take one book or two or three or several for this happily ever after. The rhythm of the dance and rate of movement from one level of touch and romance to the next will depend on your plans for plotting. Books like Twilight often have the couple together on some level by the end of book one. Everything that happens next just takes them through other adventures with the series ending only after marriage and childbirth. The reader can feel satisified if they just read book one. And sometimes, there's only a standalone, so there is no book two. Meanwhile, Vampire Diaries and several other books may carry on with a love triangle, building suspense over several books. Other books tag team, creating a series of romances all in the same world, interconnected but not the same romance, over several books. 

One way or another, if you want to write romance novels and get the feel for their rhythm, find which kind of romance novel you like and immerse yourself in them. Get a feel for how they're structured. Then, you'll be able to write them for yourself.