Romance short fiction is defined as romance stories under 50.000 words, such as micro fiction, flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, and novellas. (Any romance story that is over 50.000 words is considered a full-length novel.)

Romance short fiction follows the romance conventions that novels follow. However, in shorter stories, the plot is simpler with a smaller number of characters and the central conflict is typically satisfactorily resolved within the allocated page time.

Writers often find it difficult to write a satisfactory romance short fiction, and they often make mistakes when they edit short romance fiction manuscript.

Romance plot missing from the manuscript
The main characters’ goals and motivations are not clear
Lack of balance between “show” and “tell”
Lack of pacing

Romance plot missing from the manuscript
One of the most common issues that writers face when they edit romance short fiction is that the romance plot is missing from the manuscript. In these cases, the writer has written only the external plot of the story, or the romance (internal) plot is not adequately developed and integrated with the external plot.

How to edit:
Read your manuscript and determine whether you have included the romance plot in your story. While reading, answer the following questions:

• Does your story focus on the development of the romance relationship between the main characters? 
• Are the external plot and the romance plot adequately developed and integrated throughout the story?
• Is the central conflict satisfactorily resolved and the main characters get together at the end of the story?

If your answers to the above questions are no, then you probably haven’t written the romance plot of your story. At this point, you need to decide if you are satisfied with your story and want to keep it as it is without making any plot or character changes.

If you want to keep your manuscript as it is, then you need to recategorise it in its actual genre so that the right readers find it and enjoy it. You probably need to make some edits to better fit your story within its actual genre.

If you want to write a romance story, then you need to edit your manuscript to fit within the conventions of the romance genre.

All romance stories need to focus on the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters. The external plot and the romance (internal) plot should affect each other throughout the story because the growing feelings that the main characters develop for each other affect their decisions and actions.

The main characters need to overcome various obstacles and challenges and get happily together at the end of the story. 

The main characters’ goals and motivations are not clear
Another common issue that romance writers encounter when they edit romance short fiction is that the main characters’ goals and motivations are not clear. The main characters might not have a goal or a motivation at all, or they are not adequately developed throughout the story.

How to edit:
Read your manuscript and identify the main characters’ goals and motivations.
While reading your story, answer the following questions:

• Do the main characters have important, tangible, and opposing goals that keep them apart throughout the story?
• Are the main characters’ goals and motivations present and adequately developed in the story? 

The main characters’ goals and motivations are typically simpler in romance short fiction, and they can be satisfactorily resolved within the limited page time of a short story or novella. Read the blog article to learn how to effectively edit the main characters of your romance story.

Lack of balance between “show” and “tell”
Another common issue that romance writers deal with when editing romance short fiction is the overuse of “tell” and the lack of balance between “show” and “tell”.

Romance writers usually prefer to “tell” some events of their story since it is a quick way to narrate specific events in as few words as possible because they are more conscious about the word count (versus writers who are writing full-length novels).

While “telling” some scenes is generally fine, writers writing romance short fiction should be careful not to overuse this method, as they might end up with a shorter manuscript with pacing issues.

How to edit: 
Read your manuscript and identify passages where you “tell” and where you “show” the story to the readers. While most people giving advice will probably tell you to “show, don’t tell”, meaning that it’s best to “show” the events that happen to the main characters to your readers, in reality that is not completely true.

On the contrary, it’s all about balance. Both “showing” and “telling” events in a story are needed. “Show” the most important events of your story and “tell” the events that the readers can pass more quickly.

Lack of pacing
Another common issue that romance writers face when editing romance short fiction is the lack of pacing. Writers usually attempt to go through the plot events as quickly as possible without adequately developing the main characters or letting the events of the story develop organically because of the limited word count goal they have in mind or imposed on them ( e.g if they are submitting their story to an anthology or a contest).

How to edit:
Read your romance manuscript and identify instances where the romance relationship between the main characters is not organically developed or certain plot events are rushed.

​The pacing of your story can be as slow or as fast as you want. Make sure to maintain the same level of pacing throughout the whole manuscript.

Edit your romance story so that the romance relationship between the main characters is organically developed, and the ending is emotionally satisfying for the readers.

Next steps
After you have self-edited your romance short fiction to the best of your abilities, the next step is to get help from a professional developmental editor who provides helpful, thoughtful, and honest feedback about the big-picture issues (plot, characters, pacing, point of view, setting, romance genre conventions, show vs tell, dialogue) of your manuscript.

Check out my editing services and fill in this form to discuss how I can help you improve the big-picture issues of your romance manuscript.

Additional resources
What is romance short fiction and 5 reasons to write one
What is a romance story and how to write one
How to edit the big-picture issues of your romance story
How to self-edit your romance story from start to finish
How to effectively edit the main characters of your romance story

Do you prefer writing short stories or do you like writing full-length novels? Some writers prefer to write full-length romance novels so that they have the page space to develop the romantic relationship between their main characters.
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Other writers prefer writing shorter stories (e.g short stories, novellas) to focus on the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters without including minor characters or subplots. 

While romance writers usually write full-length novels, they also consider and experiment with shorter pieces of writing.

What is a romance short fiction
Length of short fiction
5 reasons to write shorter romance stories

What is a romance short fiction
Shorter romance stories follow the rules that full-length romance stories have:

• The romance story focuses on the development of the romance relationship between the main characters
• The main characters have  a conflict that is keeping them from being together until the end of the story
• The main characters get together at the end of the story (happy ending)

However, shorter romance stories have some significant differences from full-length romance stories (novels). Shorter romance stories usually consist of a small number of characters, and they typically focus on the main characters of the story without exploring other minor characters. 

Also, shorter romance stories (ranging from 100 words to 40.000 words) follow the 3-act structure with a beginning, middle and end, but they do not have a complex plot or subplots.They usually describe major events in the main character’s life that can be resolved within the allotted page space.

​The plot events drive the story forward and show the progress of the romantic relationship of the main characters.

The main characters in shorter romance stories have a conflict that keeps them apart until the end of the story. The conflict is not complex and can be believably resolved within the allotted page space.

In shorter romance stories, there is no room for large descriptions of the backstories of main characters or detailed descriptions of setting that are usually found in full-length novels. Depending on the length of the story, shorter romance stories take place in 1-2 main locations.

Length of short fiction
There are many different forms of short fiction, such as micro fiction, flash fiction, short stories, novelettes and novellas.

Although there is not a definitive guide about the length of these shorter fiction stories,  I present to you the average length of  different forms of short fiction:

• Micro fiction: under 500 words
• Flash fiction: 500-1000 words
• Short story: 1000-7500 words
• Novelette: 7500-17.500 words
• Novella: 17.500-40.000 words

Anything longer than 40.000-50.000 words is typically considered a novel, although a 50.000 novel is considered to be short.

Romance novels are typically around 70.000 words -100.000 words, depending on the romance subgenre. Read the blog article How long should a romance novel be to learn more information about the word count of romance novels and why it matters.

5 reasons to write shorter romance stories
1) Test out new ideas 
Writing shorter romance stories helps writers safely try new things and sharpen their storytelling skills. Writers can try writing a few scenes to try out new plot or character ideas and experiment with new romance subgenres and tropes to see if the story works before committing to writing a full-length novel. 

2) Write shorter fiction as a prequel to a series
Writers often write novellas as prequels to a series to introduce the main characters and the world to the readers. Writers often want to establish the main character’s backstory, introduce the world or the story problem that the main characters will have to solve in the series.

Writers might offer the novella for free or for a discounted price as a way to introduce a new series to the readers and to convince them to buy the next books (full-length novels) in the series.

3) Newsletter magnets
Writers write shorter stories intended for newsletter magnets to show readers a sample of their writing skills and their writing style and to convince them to buy their full-length novels.

This can be a great way for readers to learn about new writers and stories before deciding to buy one (or more) of the writer’s full-length novels.

4) Writing for anthologies 
Writers are often invited to write short stories for anthologies. Anthologies usually follow a specific theme (e.g Christmas) or setting (e.g small town). The writer needs to read carefully and follow the specific guidelines to be considered for submission to particular magazines or publishers.

Publishers also invite different writers to participate in anthologies with specific themes (anthologies with a Christmas theme are a great example), and it is a great way for writers to reach a wider audience. Writers can also create and publish their own anthology. 

5) Participate in a short story contest
Participating in a short story contest can help you exercise your creative muscles, sharpen your writing skills, take a break from your current writing project and have fun while writing a flash fiction or short story.

​Some contests offer a significant cash prize for winners and/or offer to publish the winners’ stories in particular magazines. Make sure to check the credibility of the contest and its rules and guidelines for submission before joining the contest.

Conclusion
Writing romance short fiction is a great way for writers to sharpen their writing skills, experiment with new plot or character ideas in new genres or tropes and introduce their stories to new readers.

Have you tried writing short fiction? Do you prefer writing shorter romance stories or do you like writing full-length novels? Comment below!

Additional resources
How long should a romance novel be
What is a romance story and how to write one
How to choose a story idea for your romance story
8 romance subgenres to explore this year
8 popular tropes to explore this year

One of the most important aspects is self-editing the big-picture elements of your romance series. After finishing writing all the books, you need to self-edit the big-picture elements that cover the whole series to make sure you have written a compelling romance story with engaging characters.

Read your series and take notes
Story structure
Characters
Theme
Setting and worldbuilding
Romance genre conventions
Next steps

Read your series and take notes
Read your entire romance series from start to finish. While reading, take notes in the margins of the manuscript documents and/or in a separate notebook about the big-picture elements you want to revise, such as the story structure, main characters, theme, setting and romance genre conventions. 

If it’s helpful, create a series outline in an Excel spreadsheet to write down your notes and ideas in a more organised way. Your series outline can include the chapter number, pov character, timeline, location, on-scene characters, and any other notes or thoughts about a particular scene. Your series outline can be as detailed as you want. 

You can also create or update your series bible to include updated information about your characters and create or update your master timeline to include updated information about the story’s events, and maintain consistency throughout the series.

Story structure
One of the most important elements that you need to self-edit is the story structure of your romance series. Identify the major romance beats of your series and the major romance beats for each book of the series.

If you have trouble identifying the major romance beats for the whole series or individual books, then you need to revise your series to make your romance beats clearer and stronger.

Look at your notes and write down which scenes you need to revise to make your romance story structure clearer, stronger and more compelling to the readers. If you want to learn more information, read how to outline the major plot points of your romance story.

Also, make sure that your major romance beats move the plot forward and that your story includes only the necessary plot events.

A lot of beginner writers make the mistake of including unnecessary plot events in the first book of their series to force important plot events in later books of the series.

Look at your notes and/or manuscript and note down which scenes you need to revise to include only the necessary plot events that move the plot forward.

Characters
Another important element of your romance series that you need to self-edit is your main characters. Make sure that your main characters have a clear and compelling goal, believable motivation, and (internal and external) conflict throughout the series and that their actions are driven by their GMC (goal, motivation, conflict).

Another person (romance interest or antagonist) who has an equal and opposite goal creates the central conflict of the story, prevents the main character from easily achieving their goal, and creates tension that moves the plot forward. 

When editing your series, note down what (internal conflict) or who (external conflict) is preventing the main character from achieving their goal (e.g what or who is preventing the main couple from being together?).

Look at your notes and determine which scenes need to be revised for a clearer GMC and a stronger central conflict.

Theme
Another important element of your romance series that you need to self-edit is the theme. Generally, the theme for romance stories is that love wins over all obstacles. Romance readers expect that the main characters overcome all their flaws (internal conflict) and obstacles (external conflict)  thrown at them throughout the series and live happily together.

Do the main characters overcome the internal and external challenges, emotionally change throughout the series (learn the theme by the end of the story) and live happily together? Look at your notes and revise your series accordingly. 

Setting and worldbuilding
Another important element of your romance series that you need to self-edit is the setting and the worldbuilding. Look at your notes and make sure that the setting of your story is clear, fleshed out, believable, and consistent throughout the series.

Make sure that the setting is linked to the story action and the main characters. Show how the pov character notices, experiences, or describes a particular setting and what information it reveals about their personality. 

Look at your notes and revise any scenes with inconsistencies regarding the setting and worldbuilding of your series. 

Also, a common mistake writers make regarding setting is to spend too much page time describing unnecessary or irrelevant information, such as the politics and society of the world or specific locations (info dumping).

Note down the scenes where info-dumping happens and revise them to include only the most relevant and important information in each scene.

Romance genre conventions
Another important element that you need to self-edit is the romance genre conventions. To make sure you are writing a romance series, the development of the romance relationship between the main characters needs to be at the centre of your story, and the story needs to have a happy ending where the main couple ends up together. If your series doesn’t follow these 2 romance rules, then you need to revise your romance series accordingly to include them.

Also, make sure that the romance tropes used in the romance series are combined in fresh and unexpected ways to create an engaging story and contribute to the emotional and physical intimacy of the main characters. 

The physical attraction between the main characters needs to be apparent throughout the story, and the intimacy scenes need to serve the development of their romantic relationship and move the plot forward.

Also, a common mistake writers make regarding genre conventions is the lack of romantic tension and pacing. It usually happens because the main characters fall in love too quickly without sufficient emotional development, or the romantic tension is dragged out by subplots that overshadow the central story.

Look at your notes to determine if the development of the romantic relationship progresses too quickly or too slowly and revise accordingly.

Next steps
After you have self-edited the big-picture elements of your romance series, such as the romance story structure, characters, theme, setting, and romance genre conventions, it’s time to get feedback from a professional editor.

Give your manuscript to a reliable and supportive beta reader and/or developmental editor to provide thoughtful and honest feedback about the big-picture elements of your series. If you want to learn more information, read how to find the right editor for your story.

Additional resources
How to self-edit the big-picture elements of your romance story
How to plan and write a romance series part 1
How to edit the most common mistakes in a romance series
How to avoid editing scams and find a trusted editor

You are a romance writer who wants to plan and write a romance series, but you don’t know how to start. This blog article will help you plan and write the main characters of your romance series, the setting and worldbuilding and the romance genre conventions, brainstorm possible planning steps and create a writing schedule. 
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Main characters 
Setting and worldbuilding
Romance genre conventions
Planning steps
Writing schedule

Main characters 
An important element of a romance series is the main characters’ overall goal, motivation and internal and external conflict (GMC) across the series. The main characters need to have an important and tangible goal they want to achieve by the end of the series. Think about why this goal is important for them, and what will happen if they don’t achieve their goal (motivation).

Also, brainstorm the internal challenges (internal conflict) and external obstacles (external conflict) that prevent them from achieving their goal. The main characters usually make emotional progress and achieve smaller goals at the end of each book, but they also achieve a larger goal at the end of the series.

Romance series usually feature a large cast of secondary characters such as coworkers, friends or family members, who help the main characters achieve their large goal and emotionally change by the end of the series.

Each book in the series shows the gradual emotional development of the main characters who overcome their internal challenges and external obstacles, achieve their large goal, and live happily together at the end of the series. 

Setting and worldbuilding
Another important element of a romance series is setting and worldbuilding. There are many different kinds of settings that you need to decide on before starting to write your romance series.

For example, you need to consider if your series includes real or fictional settings. If it includes real locations or famous landmarks, do research to get your facts right. If your series is based on fictional or lesser-known locations, you can create a map to note down the locations and the distances between the main places. Write down the main locations of the series and any important rooms or objects that play an important role.

You also need to brainstorm and decide the following kinds of settings:

• Macro and micro setting: Where does your series take place (planet, country, city, apartment)?
• Temporal setting: When does your series take place (time period)?
• Seasonal setting: What seasons does your series take place in?

Once you write down the answers to the above questions, you might want to flesh out the worldbuilding elements of your series.Depending on the kind of story you are writing (contemporary, historical, paranormal or fantasy romance), you will want to focus on specific worldbuilding elements.

Make sure to flesh out the most important and relevant aspects of your worldbuilding, such as the government and politics, supernatural species and people, the history of the world, the education of the people or different species, magic, climate, and arts and entertainment.  

Romance genre conventions
A story is considered to belong in the romance genre when it adheres to the 2 following rules:
1) The development of the romantic relationship between the main characters comprises the central focus of the story. 
2) The romance story has an emotionally satisfying happy ending where the main characters get together at the end of the story.

The romance genre is divided into many romance subgenres. Some examples consist of contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantasy, fantasy romance and science fiction romance. If you want to learn more information, please read this blog post about popular romance subgenres.

Romance tropes
A trope is a plot, character or theme that is often used in romance stories. Tropes provide familiarity, satisfaction and anticipation to the readers about how a specific plot or character progresses throughout the story.

Some examples of the most popular romance tropes are:

• age gap
• alpha hero
• arranged marriage
• best friend’s brother/sister
• billionaire/millionaire trope
• childhood sweethearts
• college romance
• enemies/rivals to lovers
• fake relationship/marriage
• fated mates or rejected mates
• forbidden love
• forced proximity
• friends to lovers
• grumpy vs sunshine
• high school romance
• holiday romance
• insta love/ love at first sight
• marriage of convenience
• mistaken identity
• opposites attract
• second chance romance
• shapeshifters
• single parent
• small town romance
• sports romance
• supernatural romance: fae, vampires, werewolves, witches etc
• surprise/accidental pregnancy
• unrequited love
• vacation romance
• workplace romance, boss/employee

Theme in romance stories
Generally, the theme in romance fiction is that “love conquers all”. The main characters in romance stories overcome their internal challenges (internal conflict) and external obstacles (external conflict) and live happily ever after at the end of the story.

Ask yourself what the  “ all” (internal conflict)  is that the main characters need to overcome in their story. The internal conflict usually comes from the main character’s traumatic childhood or a past traumatic event that defined their personality, such as a manipulative, cheating ex or an abusive/alcoholic family member.

Popular themes in romance stories include forgiveness (forgive themselves or others), responsibility  (take responsibility and fight for justice), duty vs desire (sense of obligation vs want) and love (accept and love themselves and others around them).

Planning steps
Now, it’s time to brainstorm what kind of romance series you want to write and the possible planning steps you need to take.

Possible steps may include:

1. Decide what kind of series you want to write.
2. Write down the major romance beats of your series, and for each book of your series.
3. Write down important information about your main characters (goal, motivation, conflict, emotional development).
4. Write down important elements about the setting of your world (macro, micro, temporal, seasonal) and relevant aspects of worldbuilding.
5. Narrow down the romance subgenres and tropes that you want to include in your series.
6. Create a series bible that includes all the information about your series, such as character profiles, romance story structure beats, locations, rules about your world, research, etc.
7. Create a master timeline that includes all the events across the series.

Writing schedule
Now, it’s time to look at your schedule and find the time of day that suits you best to start writing the first book in your romance series. Look at your various obligations and determine when you have free time to write.

Don’t discourage yourself if you think you don’t have enough time for writing. Even 30 minutes a day is fine. The most important thing is to write every day (or almost every day) to keep the momentum going and create a consistent writing routine.

Write down a word count goal for the first book of your series and decide how much time you will dedicate to writing every day. For example, you want to write 80,000 words for your first book, and you can write 30 minutes a day. Beginner writers can usually write about 1,000 words in one hour, so that leaves us 500 words a day for a 30-minute session.

Divide the expected total word count of your story by the amount of your daily word count to get the number of days it will take you to finish writing the first draft of your first book: 80,000/500= 160 days. 

Please note that this is just an initial estimate, and it can change at any time since you can write more words on a specific day or have an unexpected emergency that keeps you from writing on another day.

​Just keep writing as often as you can (preferably every day), and you will have the finished manuscript in your hands very soon!

Conclusion
This blog article explains how to plan and write the main characters of your romance series, the setting and worldbuilding and the romance genre conventions, brainstorm possible planning steps and create a writing schedule. Good luck writing your romance series!

Additional resources
How to plan and write a romance series (part 1)
How to choose a story idea for your romance novel
What is a romance story, and how to write one
How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story
How to create a consistent writing routine

You are a romance writer wishing to plan and write a romance series. You have a great idea with a compelling main character and some major plot events figured out, but you don’t know how to plan and outline your romance series.

This blog article identifies the three types of fiction series, and it analyses the story structure in a romance (dynamic) series to effectively help you plan the romance story structure of your series.
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Types of fiction series
Romance story structure in a dynamic series
Possible romance beat sheet for a trilogy series

Types of fiction series
Static Series
The first type of fiction series is called a static series or a standalone series. The books of a static series often share a common feature, such as taking place in the same location (e.g small town) or the same group of people ( e.g family members, coworkers).

Each book focuses on the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters, and each story ends with a happy ending. While characters from previous books in the series may appear in minor roles, the series can be read in any order without the reader missing important information about the characters and plot.

This type of series is very popular in contemporary romance stories (workplace romance, sports romance, small town).

Anthology series
The second type of fiction series is called an anthology series. An anthology series typically consists of a collection of short stories or novellas by multiple writers, which are connected by a common theme ( e.g holiday romance) or setting (e.g same school, same town), but they don’t share the same storyline.

Each story focuses on the development of the romantic relationship of new characters and has a happy ending. The stories can be read in any order.

Dynamic series
The third type of series is called a dynamic series.  A dynamic series follows the same group of main characters through an overarching storyline that connects all books of the series. 

The focus of the series is the development of the romantic relationship of the main characters while they work together to achieve a major goal throughout the series.

The books of this series need to be read in sequential order. This type of series is very popular in YA (Young Adult) romance, romantasy and fantasy romance books.

Please note that the books that belong in the static or anthology series can be planned and written in a similar manner as standalone books. Please visit my resources library if you are looking for useful blog articles that will help you plan, write and edit a standalone romance book.

This blog article will focus on explaining how to plan and write a dynamic romance series (connecting books in a series).
 
Romance story structure in a dynamic series
You have decided to write a storyline that spans multiple books and want to write a well-structured series with a solid beginning, middle, and end.

The best way to do that is to plan the structure of your romance series and track your story’s romance beats. Start by planning the 5 major romance beats of your romance series’ structure, the emotional arc of your main characters and any significant changes in your world.

These are the 5 major romance beats of a romance series:
1) Meet Cute (10%)
This is the first major romance beat. It is the inciting incident that happens to the main character and introduces them to a new world. It is often called the “meet cute” because the main characters meet for the first time, or they appear on the page for the first time together.

2) No Way 2 (20%)
The second major romance beat occurs at the beginning of Act 2, when the main character decides to leave the status quo and enter a new world.  

In this beat, the main characters repeat their belief (internally or externally) that they will not fall in love with each other. They are reluctant to spend time together and to fall in love because of their internal conflict, but they are thrown into situations where they are stuck together, and they gradually become emotionally and physically closer.

Midpoint of Love (50%)
The third major romance beat occurs in the middle, and it changes the direction of the story.

In this beat, the main characters are no longer denying their feelings for each other. They are willing to internally change and (falsely) believe that they will be able to overcome the internal challenges (internal conflict) and external obstacles (external conflict) that are keeping them apart and have their happily ever after.

Retreat (75%)
The fourth major romance beat occurs at the lowest point of the romance story.

In this romance beat, the main characters choose fear instead of love, and they break up or separate because they believe they will emotionally hurt themselves or the other person. Their doubts and fears make them retreat from what they really want, and they believe that their internal conflict is becoming true.

Catharsis (80%)
The fifth major romance beat occurs at the beginning of Act 3, where the main character chooses love and happiness this time.

​The main character learns the theme of the story and successfully overcomes their internal conflict. They come up with a plan, often with the help of friends and family,  and they are willing to fix things the right way and get back together with their loved one.

Possible romance beat sheet for a trilogy series
Most romance writers who choose to write a dynamic series write a trilogy (three books in a series).

This is a romance beat sheet for a trilogy series:
Book 1 = Series Act 1, Romance beats: Meet Cute
Book 2 = Series Act 2, Romance beats: No Way 2, Midpoint of Love, Retreat
Book 3 = Series Act 3, Romance beats: Catharsis

Feel free to experiment with the five major romance beats and adjust them to fit your series. Use the series structure outlined above as a guideline to help you plan and track the major events of your romance series. Don’t follow rigid guidelines or exact percentages. Do what you see best to create a compelling story. 

Figure out the major romance beats your romance series first, and then plan and outline the 15 romance beats for each book in the series to create a complete and compelling story with a beginning, middle and end.

If you want to learn more information about outlining the romance beats of your story, read How to write a novel using Romancing the Beat. 

Conclusion
This blog article analyses the three types of fiction series: static series, anthology series, and dynamic series and explains the major romance beats for a romance series.

Read How to Plan and Write a Romance Series, Part 2 (coming soon) to learn more information about planning the main characters, the setting and worldbuilding and the romance genre conventions of a romance series and making a writing plan that will successfully help you write your books.

Additional resources
How to write a novel using the 3-act structure
How to write a novel using Romancing the Beat
How to outline the 5 major plot points of your romance story
How to edit the most common big-picture issues in a romance series

Many romance writers prefer writing romance series where they can expand their plot and characters within several books. Planning, writing and editing a romance series is hard work, and romance writers often need to improve a lot of big-picture storytelling issues during the editing stage.

This blog article will help you identify the 4 most common developmental editing issues that romance writers need to edit in their romance series (and you probably need too!) with tips on how to edit them.

Lack of GMC (goal, motivation, conflict)
Lack of romantic tension and pacing
Info-dumping
Unnecessary plot events

Lack of GMC (goal, motivation, conflict)
A common developmental editing issue that romance writers face when editing their romance series is that the main characters often lack a clear and compelling goal, motivation, and (internal and external) conflict.

The writer often has a clear picture of the main characters’ GMC in their mind, but the writer’s intentions are not clearly presented in the manuscript. As a result, the motivation (reasons) the goal is important to the main characters is not clear to the readers, or the conflict might not be important or big enough to sustain the whole story.

Editing tip: After writing the first draft of the manuscript, read the entire story and note down the main characters’ GMC as it actually appears in the story.

Compare your notes with your intentions about the main characters’ GMC during the planning stage (outlines, character profiles).

Write down the updated GMC of the main characters in your notebook or your writing software, and make a plan on how you will strengthen the GMC of your main characters.

Make sure that your revisions reflect a clear and compelling GMC, and the main characters’ actions are driven by their GMC.

Lack of romantic tension and pacing
Another common developmental editing issue is the lack of romantic tension and pacing. The lack of romantic tension happens for two reasons.

The first reason is that the main characters fall in love too quickly without sufficient emotional development.

The second reason is that the romantic tension is dragged out (especially in the second act) by subplots that overshadow the central story (the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters).

Both reasons affect the pacing of the story, where the plot events happen too quickly or too slowly.

Editing tip: After writing the first draft of the manuscript, read the entire story and note down scenes where the development of the romantic relationship progresses too quickly or too slowly, and the emphasis is given on the subplots or the minor characters of the story.

Make a plan and revise the necessary scenes to improve development of the romantic relationship, the emotional development of the main characters and the pacing of the story.

Info-dumping
Another common developmental editing issue is info-dumping. Info-dumping occurs when the writer spends too much page time describing unnecessary or irrelevant information to the readers.

For example, the writer spends too much page time describing every little detail about the character’s personality, appearance and backstory events or spends too much page time describing the politics and society of the world, specific locations, and how magic works (especially in fantasy romance and paranormal manuscripts).

Editing tip: After writing the first draft of the manuscript, read the entire story and note down the instances where a specific scene includes unnecessary or irrelevant information.

Have in mind that specific information might be generally important for the readers to know, but it isn’t relevant or important in a specific scene.

Make a plan and revise each scene to include only the most important and relevant information. Let your readers discover the characters and world of your story organically as they read it.

Unnecessary plot events
Another common developmental editing issue is unnecessary plot events. The writer includes unnecessary scenes in the first book to force important plot events (or plot twists) to subsequent books in the series.

The writer believes that this is the best way to keep the readers’ interest, but they often forget that if the readers don’t find the first book in the series interesting, they won’t bother reading the second one.

Editing tip: After writing the first draft of the manuscript, read the entire manuscript and create an outline by writing down the major plot events of the story. Then, create a rough outline for each book of the series by writing down its major plot events.

Make sure to include interesting plot events in each book of your series. Revise the manuscript accordingly and follow your outline to write the next books.

Conlcusion
The four most common storytelling issues that romance writers make when writing and editing a romance series are lack of GMC (goal, motivation, conflict), a lack of romantic tension and pacing, info-dumping and unnecessary plot events.

After finishing writing the first draft of your manuscript, read the whole story again from start to finish and make a plan to identify and improve these common big-picture issues. Happy writing!

Additional resources
How to self-edit the big-picture elements of your romance story
How to self-edit your romance novel from start to finish
How to effectively edit the main characters of your romance novel
How to outline the 5 major plot points of your romance story

Do you find the process of planning a whole novel overwhelming? Do you find it difficult to establish an outlining routine, or are you not sure how to outline the structure of your romance manuscript? 

Instead of outlining all the plot points of your romance story at once, which can be tiring and overwhelming, I recommend outlining first the 5 major plot points of a romance manuscript’s structure: the Catalyst, Break Into 2, Midpoint, All is Lost and Break Into 3.

Catalyst
Break Into 2
Midpoint
All is Lost
Break Into 3
How should I outline my romance story if I have multiple main characters?

Catalyst (10%)
The first major plot point of a romance story is the inciting incident that happens to the main character and introduces them to a new world. In romance stories, it is often called the “meet cute” because the main characters meet for the first time, or they appear on the page for the first time together.

The pov character is physically attracted to the other person and vividly describes their physical appearance. The pov character internally thinks the reasons (internal conflict) they cannot fall in love, and they emotionally reject them.

Break Into 2 (20%)
The second major plot point occurs at the beginning of Act 2, when the main character decides to leave the status quo and enter into a new world. The main character leaves their comfort zone and enters an unknown world or a new way of thinking.

At the beginning of Act 2, the main characters are reluctant to spend time together and to fall in love because of their internal conflict, but they are thrown into situations where they are stuck together, and they come emotionally and physically closer.

Midpoint (50%)
The third major plot point takes place in the middle of the story, and it is the plot point where the main character realises their romantic feelings. The main character is willing to change and falsely believes they will be able to overcome the internal conflict that is keeping them back from emotionally opening themselves and having their happily ever after.

This is the plot point where you raise the stakes and put more obstacles and challenges to the main character to emotionally change.

All is Lost (75%)
The fourth major plot is the lowest point of the romance story. It is the scene where the main character chooses fear instead of love, and they break up because they believe they will emotionally hurt each other because of their internal conflict.

*There are many romance novels that don’t include an actual breakup scene since some romance readers don’t like it. It’s up to you whether you want to include one in your story. You can choose instead to temporarily separate the main characters so that they can see how miserable their life is without each other.     

Break Into 3 (80%)
The fifth major plot point occurs at the beginning of Act 3, where the main character chooses love this time and wants to be happy.

They come up with a plan on the steps they need to take (with the help of family and friends) to reconcile with the other character and to fix the problems they have created the right way. 

How should I outline my romance story if I have multiple main characters?
The first step to outlining your romance story is to decide the number of main characters. In romance novels, the main characters (the main couple) are the pov characters of the story.

Some romance writers choose to have only one main character, while others choose to have two main characters. If the second character has equal page time and character development with the main character, then you probably have two main characters in your story.

If your romance story has one main character, you need to create one outline sheet, starting by writing down the five major plot points of your story.

If your romance story has 2 main characters that experience the majority of the story together, then create one outline sheet for both of them.

If your romance story has 2 main characters that don’t experience the majority of the story together, but still have some shared chapters, create a separate outline sheet for each main character.

Conclusion
The five major plot points will help you outline the basic structure of your romance manuscript in an easy and simple way. Brainstorm and write down the five major plot points first before outlining the rest of them in your outline sheet.

​Take as much time as you need to plan your romance story and write down as many details as you want. Your outline sheet can include brief bullet points or long paragraphs. Have fun and enjoy writing!

Additional resources
How to write a novel using the 3-act structure
How to write a novel using Romancing the Beat
What is a romance story and how to write one
How to write a romance novel in 5 steps

One of the most common issues that romance writers face is writing compelling main characters. The main characters in a romance story are the main couple, and the development of their romantic relationship is the central point of the story.
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The main characters often lack interesting goals and motivations, internal and external conflict, a complete character arc and/or character depth. This blog article will help you to effectively edit the main characters of your romance story and create compelling and active main characters that your readers will love to read.
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Lack of character goal and motivation
Lack of internal and external conflict
Lack of a complete character arc (character development)
Lack of character depth

Lack of character goal and motivation
One of the most common issues that fiction writers encounter when editing their romance stories is the lack of a compelling goal and motivation for their main characters.

When you are editing your romance story, make sure to strengthen the main characters’ goal and motivation. Your main characters’ goal must be important and unique for them and big enough to sustain the whole story. 

The main characters should have a personal or professional goal beyond wanting to get together. (The main couple may not even want to be in the same room at the beginning of the story, but they might be forced to work together to achieve a common outcome.)

Think about the reasons their goals are important for the main characters, and what the consequences are for them or the people they care about if they don’t achieve them. The main characters come up with specific steps they need to take to help them achieve their goals. 

Ask yourself:
1)What are the main characters’ goals?
2) Why do they wish to achieve this particular goal, and what are the consequences for them if they don’t succeed?
3) What steps do they need to take to achieve their goals?
4)Are the goals, motivations and the steps they need to take apparent to the readers throughout the story?

Lack of internal and external conflict
Another issue that romance writers face is the lack of compelling internal and external conflict. The internal conflict is the flaw that the main characters falsely believe about themselves and prevents them from achieving their goal and having a happy romantic relationship.

The external conflict is the antagonist who has their own goals and motivation and wishes to prevent the main characters from achieving their goals. The antagonist can be a family member, a coworker, an annoying ex or anyone else. 

The internal and external conflict covers all aspects of the main characters’ lives, such as their family, work, and friends. 

Ask yourself: 

1. What are the main characters’ internal conflicts?
2. What are the main characters’ external conflicts (antagonist) that prevent them from achieving their goal?
3. What is the antagonist’s goal, and why does he want to prevent the main characters from achieving their goal?
4. What obstacles and complications prevent the main characters (because of their internal and external conflict) from achieving their goal?

Lack of a complete character arc (character development)
Another issue that romance writers encounter is the lack of a complete character arc (character development). When you are editing your story, keep track of your main characters’ emotional changes and how their personality evolves throughout the story.

Make sure that the main characters realise that the internal conflict they falsely believed about themselves is not true by the end of the story.

The main characters successfully overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles (because of their love for each other) and live happily together at the end of the story. 

Ask yourself:

1. How do the main characters emotionally change throughout the story?
2. Do the main characters effectively overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles and live happily together at the end of the story?

Lack of character depth
Another common issue that romance writers face is the lack of character depth. While editing your romance story, make sure to clearly and consistently show important information about your main characters throughout the story, such as their name, age, physical appearance and personality.

Show how they behave with their family, friends, and coworkers. Show how their occupation, education, everyday life and hobbies shape their personalities and how traumatic past events define their way of thinking and their relationship with other characters in the story. 

When you are editing your story, make sure to include any important information about your main and minor characters in their own character profiles to keep track of important information and be consistent throughout the story. 

If you want to learn more information on how to write consistent and meaningful characters using character profiles (+download a free character profile template), click here to read the blog article. 

Ask yourself:

1. Do I describe my main characters’ appearance, personality and behaviour in all aspects of their life?
2. Are my main characters clearly and consistently described throughout the story?

​Conclusion
One of the most common issues that romance writers struggle with is writing compelling main characters. Edit your romance story carefully and consistently to ensure that your main characters have a clear goal and motivation they want to achieve, and that they are fully described in all aspects of their lives. Make sure they overcome their internal struggles and external obstacles (internal and external conflict) and emotionally change throughout the story, and have a happy ending.

Additional resources
How to write consistent and meaningful characters using character profiles
How to self-edit the big-picture elements of your romance story
How to self-edit your romance novel from start to finish

Are you a first-time writer who is unfamiliar with the editing process, and you are not sure what kind of editing services your manuscript needs? Or are you unsure if you want to work with a specific editor for the first time?

A great way to assess if a particular editor is right for you and your manuscript is through a discovery meeting (or a discovery call). 
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What is a discovery meeting?
Who is the discovery meeting for?
3 reasons you need a discovery meeting

What is a discovery meeting?
A discovery meeting is a free, no-obligation, initial meeting between you (the writer) and the editor to discuss how the editor can help you improve your manuscript and to determine if you are a good fit to work together.

The discovery meeting is a great way for you and the editor to get to know each other’s personalities, see if you communicate well and determine whether you feel comfortable working together. A discovery meeting usually lasts about 15-30 minutes.

The writer usually fills in a form (questionnaire) to answer questions about their manuscript and sends a synopsis and the completed manuscript (or the first chapters) to the editor for review before the discovery meeting.

During the discovery meeting, the editor provides comments and suggestions about the manuscript to see if their editing style of feedback aligns with what you are looking for.

The editor might also provide you with an estimated project quote (scope of work, deliverables, timeline, and fee) to determine if you are a good fit to work together.

Who is the discovery meeting for?
A discovery meeting can help new writers who don't have much experience with the editing process and are not sure what kind of service they need to improve their manuscript. Also, they are a great way for writers to meet the editor they are interested in working with for the first time.

Discovery meetings are particularly useful for writers who are interested in developmental editing services. Developmental editing addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides constructive feedback that covers the big-picture elements, such as theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions, scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell) and dialogue. 

Developmental editing requires an understanding of the plot and the main characters’ progress over the course of the entire story.

Discussing the big-picture elements that cover the entire manuscript during the discovery meeting will give the editor a better sense of your story’s needs, and they will be able to provide helpful suggestions that are representative of the type of feedback you can expect on your entire manuscript.

3 reasons you need a discovery meeting

Discuss the manuscript 
During the discovery meeting, tell the editor all the important information they need to know about your story, such as the genre, word count, your goals and intentions and the premise of your story.

If you have already provided this information to the editor, you can discuss more in-depth details about the aspects of the manuscript that you like and the aspects that you need help with and how the editor can help you improve them.

Discuss the service 
During the discovery meeting, discuss what kind of editing service you are interested in and what kind of feedback you are looking for.

The editor (who is already familiar with your manuscript) will advise you about the kind of editing service your manuscript needs next. Discuss with the editor and respectfully share your opinions until you come to an agreement. 

You can talk in more detail about what the service includes, such as the deliverables (edited manuscript document, editorial report, evaluation report), the estimated timeline, an estimated fee and the payment plan. 

Ask any related questions you have and make your expectations or concerns clear. The editor might request more time to provide a more accurate project quote or a contract based on your discussion.

Build a successful professional relationship
Clear and honest communication, respect and kindness are the keys to a successful professional relationship between you and the editor.

Don’t make assumptions about how the editor works. The discovery meeting is a great way to ask any questions or clarifications you have about their services,  editing process, or the project quote and get specific and clear answers.

You can also ask them how (medium), and how often they will communicate to share the progress of the editing project (especially for long projects that take weeks to complete) and be upfront about any specific arrangements you would like the editor to make.

The editor will provide you with a contract (after the discovery meeting) that will be agreed upon by you and the editor and be respected during the editorial process. 

Are you interested in working with me?
Do you wish to work with a reliable and supportive developmental editor and beta reader who can help you improve the big-picture elements of your manuscript, such as theme, plot, characters, point of view, pacing, setting and genre conventions?   

Book a free discovery meeting to discuss how I can help you improve your story and to determine if we are a good fit to work together.

Fill in this form to learn more information about your manuscript, express your interest in booking a discovery meeting and send me the synopsis and the first 15-20 pages of your manuscript (2-3 chapters). 

I will email you to arrange the date of the discovery meeting (depending on the availability of my schedule).

One of the most common questions that romance writers ask is how long their romance novel should be. Romance writers often wonder if their novel is long enough to match the expectations of the romance genre, and they are often uncertain why word count matters for their romance novels.

Word count estimate for the romance genre
Why word count matters
What should I do if my novel is too long?
What should I do if my novel is too short?
I need help to edit my book

Word count estimates for the romance genre
Romance is a very broad category and can be divided into many subgenres.  A novel is considered to be in the romance genre when the development of the romantic relationship between the main characters is at the centre of the story, and the main characters live happily together at the end. If your story doesn’t have a happy ending, then it is not a romance. 

Some of the most popular romance subgenres are contemporary romance, fantasy romance, romantasy, paranormal romance, historical romance, romantic suspense and YA (Young Adult) romance.

Generally, the word count for romance novels is between 70,000 and 100,000 words. Romance novels under 70,000 words might be considered too short, and romance novels above 100,000 words might be considered too long. 

There are exceptions to these guidelines with fantasy romance, romantasy, paranormal romance and historical romance novels, which have slightly longer word count because of worldbuilding and setting requirements.

For example, fantasy romance and romantasy novels are typically between 90,000 and 120,000 words. Fantasy romance novels with emphasis on the romance elements are typically between 90,000 and 100,000 words, whereas fantasy romance novels with emphasis on the fantasy elements are typically between 100,000 and 120,000 words. 

Paranormal romance and historical romance novels are typically between 80,000 and 100,000 words to allow writers more room to setup and expand the worldbuilding of the story. 

Why word count matters
Production costs
Longer books are typically more expensive because they cost more to print, ship and store, and publishers generally don’t want to take risks with longer novels, especially by new writers.

On the contrary, shorter novels are cheaper to produce and easier to sell because of the production cost and because readers prefer to read shorter books. Readers prefer to commit to shorter books (300 pages long) because they feel confident they have the time to finish reading them.

Publisher expectations
Publishers have expectations for how long a romance novel should be. Writing a novel that is “too short” or “too long”  makes it impossible to market and sell, no matter how great the writing might be.

Established writers might be “forgiven” and allowed more flexibility with the word count of their story, but it’s best for new writers to follow the industry standard of their genre and write a novel within the publisher’s expectations.

Reader expectations
Avid romance readers have their own expectations about how long a romance novel should be. Typically, romance readers expect that a romance novel should be around 70,000-100,000 words (depending on the subgenre), so writers need to have a really good reason for writing a shorter or longer romance novel and defying these expectations.

It is best for writers to write a book within the “expected” word count so that it’s easier for them to market and sell it to romance readers.

What should I do if my novel is too long?
If your novel is too long, I recommend editing it and cutting down unnecessary words:

• Revise or delete scenes that drag down the pacing of the story and don’t move the plot of your story forward
• Delete subplots that are not related to the main plot of the story
• Revise or delete minor characters that are not important to the story

While I understand that you might have spent weeks or months writing and editing your romance novel, deleting unnecessary parts of your story will strengthen your plot and your characters, and you will make a more compelling story for the readers.

What should I do if my novel is too short?
If your novel is too short, consider adding more words to the story. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are my main characters’ goals and motivations clear?
• Is my plot structure clear, or can it be tightened?
• What is the central conflict of the story, and how can I strengthen it?
• Can I add more subplots to make the story more interesting?
• Can I add more obstacles or challenges to the main characters to tighten the tension and make the plot more compelling?

I need help to edit my book
If you are looking for a reliable and supportive developmental editor to help you edit the big-picture elements of your romance novel to your desired word count, check out my developmental editing services and fill in this form to discuss the needs of your manuscript. 

Conclusion
Word count is an important factor to take into consideration when writing your romance novel. Before starting to write and edit your novel, it is best to check the industry standard word count for your subgenre.

​Have in mind that different agents and publishing companies have different word count requirements, so make sure to check them before submitting your manuscript to them. Good luck!

Disclaimer: The content mentioned above is only meant to serve as a guideline. Do what feels right for your story and romance subgenre, since word count guidelines and expectations are constantly changing. 

Additional resources
How to self-edit the big-picture elements of your story
How to become more productive and write your story faster
What is writer’s block, and how to overcome it