​November marks the month of the year when many writers sit down in front of their computers and attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

​Although this tradition started with NaNoWriMo, many writers have participated in a similar writing challenge this year. They either created their own writing challenge with writer friends or participated in a writing challenge by other writers, and found themselves a welcoming and supportive writing community.

November is over, and now you have the first draft of your novel completed or the 50,000 words of it. The next step you need to take after writing the first draft is to self-edit the big-picture elements of your story.

Take a break
Read your manuscript and take notes
Main characters
Plot and structure
Setting and worldbuilding
Follow through with your plan
Next steps

Take a break
The first step of self-editing your novel is to leave it rest for at least one month. Taking a break from your story is necessary to put distance between yourself and your story and be able to see your manuscript from a reader’s perspective during the editing process.

Read your manuscript and take notes
The second step in self-editing your story is to read through your manuscript. Schedule 2-3 days of uninterrupted time to read your manuscript from start to finish and take notes about the big-picture elements of your story.

As you are reading your story, take notes in the margins of the manuscript document or in a separate notebook and write down any ideas you have on how to improve the main characters, plot and structure, and setting and worldbuilding of your story.

Main characters
One of the most important big-picture elements of your story is your main characters. The main characters in romance stories are the love interests of the story.

​The most important things you have to establish about your main characters are their goal, motivation, and internal and external conflicts. Create a character profile about each main character (if you haven’t already), and identify the following elements:

•  Goal: a clear, tangible goal that can sustain the whole story. Note if/how the goal changes throughout the story and why.
•  Motivation: the reason the main character wants to achieve this goal, what will happen if they do achieve it, and what the consequences will be if they don’t achieve it
• Internal conflict: an internal flaw that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them, and prevents them from achieving their goal
• External conflict: an antagonist or villain that puts obstacles and challenges to the main characters and actively prevents them from achieving their goal

Plot and structure
Another important big-picture element of your story is your plot and structure. If you are a plotter, then you probably already have an outline of your story or even a chapter-by-chapter summary. If you haven’t updated your outline while writing your story, this is a good time to do it.

While you are reading your story, open an Excel spreadsheet and write down important information about each chapter of your story to help you see the “forest”, the overall plot of your story. The Excel spreadsheet can include the:

• word count of each chapter
•  pov character
• characters present
• location
• main story events
• notes/reactions/things to improve

You can also write down margin comments in your manuscript document about specific issues that you want to improve in a particular scene. Check if your plot follows the 3-act structure and if each chapter moves forward the plot of the story.

Setting and worldbuilding
Another important big-picture element (often neglected by writers) is the setting and worldbuilding of the story. While reading your manuscript, write down the following information about the setting of your story:

• The macro setting of your story. Note down the planet, country and the city your story takes place in.
• The micro setting of your story. Note down the particular locations your story takes place, such as a house, a cafe, an apartment, a school, or an office. Write down a clear description of each location in your notes. Note any discrepancies in descriptions in the manuscript to fix them later.
• The period your story takes place in. Does it take place in the present or a particular historical period? Do any necessary research about the language, customs, culture and habits of the people in that particular historical period.

If you are writing a paranormal romance or fantasy romance story that takes place in a fictional setting,  you might also want to pay attention to the worldbuilding of your story.  Some worldbuilding elements might greatly influence the plot and the characters of your story, so you might need to note down:

• the government, political figures, and laws that appear in your story
• the different species (humans, werewolves, vampires, fae, witches) and how they interact with  each other
• the magic system with its rules, limitations and risks
• the history of the world and any important historical events that shape the civilisation and culture of the species today
• the types of professions and the opportunities for employment that each species has based on their race, powers and social status
• the levels of education and how accessible education is for all citizens of your world

Follow through with your plan
Congratulations. You have finished reading through your manuscript, and now you have made various notes about the characters, plot and structure and setting and worldbuilding of your story. You have made notes in character profiles, Excel spreadsheets and in the manuscript document, and you have plenty of ideas on what aspects of your manuscript to improve. 

Now, it’s time to make a plan on how to implement these changes. Don’t try to fix all the big-picture elements of your story at the same time, since it will be overwhelming and you will soon feel lost trying to juggle multiple tasks at the same time.

​Instead, do multiple rounds of editing for the big-picture elements of your story:

• Decide which big-picture elements of your story you will focus on in which round. For example, you might want to make one round of editing to fix the structure of your novel.
• Write down the particular tasks you need to go through for each round of editing. For example, you might want to rewrite the meet-cute of your main characters (the first time your characters meet on the page).
• Write down the available time you have each week for editing your novel, your estimated weekly progress and the estimated deadline of each round of editing. You can go back at the end of each week and note down the actual time you sat down to edit your novel, the progress you made and if you are on track to meet your deadline. You can repeat this process for every round of editing until you finish editing the big-picture elements of your story.

Next steps
After self-editing the big-picture elements of your story, it’s time to hire a professional developmental editor. A developmental editor is the first editor writers look for after self-editing their novel. 

The developmental editor addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides honest and constructive feedback about the story’s plot and structure, character development, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions, scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell) and dialogue. The developmental editor provides margin comments in the manuscript document and an editorial report to further guide the author.

If you are looking for a reliable and supportive developmental editor or beta reader for your romance story, then I might be a great fit for your manuscript!

​I can provide honest and constructive feedback to help you improve the big-picture elements of your story and achieve your writing goals.  Check out my editing services: developmental editing, manuscript critique, discovery draft evaluation, beta reading and contact me to discuss your story.

Additional resources
Why you need to create character profiles for your story
How to write a romance story using the 3 structure
How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story
What are the different types of editing services
How to find the right editor for your fiction book

Writing a romance novel is hard. It takes a lot of time, energy, determination, discipline and patience. Sometimes writers (especially new writers) get overwhelmed by the number of tasks that they need to do, or get lost in their story without knowing how to approach their story idea or what steps to take to finish their story.

This blog article is intended to help all romance writers develop a straightforward process to successfully outline and write their romance novel in 5 simple steps.

Step 1: Subgenre and tropes
Step 2: Main character(s) and create character profiles
Step 3: Story structure and chapter outlines
Step 4: Setting and main locations
Step 5:  Start writing

Step 1: Subgenre and tropes
Before you decide your romance subgenre and tropes, it’s important to define what a romance story is.

Romance is a very broad category and one of the most popular genres in fiction.  A story is considered to belong to the romance genre when the romantic relationship between the main characters takes the centre of the story, and the story has a happy ending. If the story doesn’t have these 2 requirements, then it is not a romance story.

The romance genre can be divided into many subgenres. Some of the most popular genres are contemporary romance, YA romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantasy, romantic suspense, LGBTQ+ romance, romantic comedy, and regency romance.

If you are not sure which subgenre your story is or how to write a book in a specific subgenre, read books in that subgenre. The best way to learn more about how to write romance books is to read romance books.

When you decide your romance sungenre, it’s time to choose the tropes of your romance story. A trope is a plot device that is used to create stories familiar to readers. Combine 2-3 main tropes in fresh ways to create an engaging story with compelling characters.

 Some of the most popular tropes for romance stories are:

• sports romance
• workplace romance
•  billionaires
• enemies to lovers
• friends to lovers
•  marriage of convenience
• pretend relationship/marriage
• forced proximity
• second chance romance
• fated mates
• shapeshifter romance
• grumpy vs sunshine
• forbidden romance
• love triangle
• small town romance

Now, it’s time to decide the theme of your story. The theme is the message of your story. It is the lesson that the main character(s) learns at the end of the story that changes their perspective about themselves or the world around them. The theme must be universal, so that people regardless of age, gender, location and culture can relate to it. 

​The main theme of romance stories is “love conquers all”, where the main characters must overcome their internal flaws and external obstacles to be happily together by the end of the story. 

​What does “love conquer” in your story? Romance stories usually have specific themes related to the specific flaw the main character needs to overcome and learn by the end of the story. For example, does the main character need to forgive themselves for a traumatic past event, trust that others won’t betray them or fight against an injustice? The possibilities are endless, and it’s up to you to decide the specific theme of your story.

Step 2: Main character(s) and create character profiles
How many main characters does your story have? How many pov characters does your story have? The pov characters in romance stories are usually one or both of the main characters (love interests) of the story. Make sure to decide your main characters and pov characters before starting to write your story.

Once you decide on your main characters, write down some important information about your characters.  Create character profiles and include all the necessary information about all the characters of the story.

Include your characters’ 3 most important elements:

• goal, motivation and flaw. The main character(s) needs to have an important and tangible goal that they want to achieve by the end of the story. Think about why this goal is important for them, what will happen if they don’t achieve their goal(motivation) and what are the internal flaws and external obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goal.

In your character profiles, you can also include their:

• name and age
• occupation
• nationality
• location
• personality
• physical appearance
• important past events
• relationship with other characters

 Character profiles are a great way to help you write consistent, meaningful and fleshed-out characters. If you want to learn more about them, read why authors need character profiles.  

Step 3: Story structure and chapter outlines
Once you find who your main characters are, create a separate document and start brainstorming the structure of your romance story.

I highly recommend using Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes while you are outlining your romance story.  Romancing the Beat is a popular story-structure guide that shows writers how to structure their romance story in 15 beats using the three-act structure.

If you want to learn more about how to outline your romance story using Romancing the Beat, read the blog article on how to write a romance novel using the three-act structure.

After you write down the story structure of your story, you can further outline your story by creating chapter outlines. Your chapter outlines can be as short or long as you want. For example, your chapter outlines can include only the main events of each chapter in bullet points, or each chapter can include long paragraphs with detailed descriptions and story events. Do what is more comfortable and helpful to you.

Step 4: Setting and main locations
Decide on the general setting of your story and write as many details as possible. Does your story take place in a big city, a small town or another planet? Is it a real or a fictional place? The choice of your setting depends on the subgenre of your story. 

After you decide the general setting of your story, you also need to decide specific locations. For example, some story events may happen in the main characters’ houses and their workplaces, or in cafes, restaurants and shops, depending on what kind of romance story you are writing. Make sure to note down any important elements of your setting and locations so that you can consistently describe them throughout your story.

Step 5:  Start writing
Once you have decided your genre and tropes, main characters, story structure and setting of your writing project, it’s time to start writing your story. 

Find the best time of day for you to sit down and write your story. Note down on a calendar your work hours, obligations and appointments and look at the available time you have left each day. Note the available time in your calendar as your writing time.  

Try to write for at least 1 hour a day, but don’t discourage yourself if unexpected obligations keep you away from your allotted writing time. 

You can also create a timeline by writing down all the writing, editing and publishing tasks of your writing project and estimating how much time each task will take.

​Schedule monthly and weekly tasks and regularly check your writing progress to stay on track. If you want to learn more information, read how to create a consistent writing routine and finish writing your story. 

Conclusion
Finishing writing and publishing a book can take months or even years. Don’t discourage yourself and don’t give up. Writing is a skill that takes practice and time to improve. Experiment and find your writing style. Be flexible and build habits that work for you. Write every day. Keep the momentum going and make your writing goals come true! Happy writing!

Additional resources
Why authors need character profiles
How to write a romance novel using the 3-act structure
How to create a consistent writing routine
Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

You want to write a romance story. You might already have an idea, a character description or a plot point in your mind. Before you start writing the first chapter of your story, you need to brainstorm and decide on some of the most important elements of your story: genre and main character(s).

​In this blog article, you will learn how to brainstorm and decide your story’s genre (and tropes) and the 3 most important elements of your main character(s).
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This blog article includes:
Definition of genre 
Questions to ask yourself about genre
Definition of tropes
Main characters 
Conclusion

Definition of genre
Genre is the category that your story belongs to and it defines the tone, content, length and conventions of your story. One of the most popular genres is romance. All you need to remember about romance is that the romantic relationship between the main characters should be the centrer of the story and that romance stories have a happy ending. If your story, doesn’t have a happy ending, then it is not a romance.

Romance is a very broad category and can be divided into many genres. Some of the most popular genres are contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense and YA (Young Adult) romance.

Contemporary romance is set from the 1950s to the present.

Historical romance stories are set before the 1950s and highlight the issues of the culture and society of the story’s historical period. 

Paranormal romance contains supernatural elements such as vampires, wolves, witches, dragons etc.

Romantic suspense contains thriller, mystery and suspense elements.

YA (Young Adult) romance focuses on teenage characters and it can be combined with any of the genres mentioned above.

Questions to ask yourself about genre
The first thing you have to decide about your story is the genre. It is important to remember that you don’t have to choose only one genre, but rather that you can combine elements from different genres to create your story.

 Ask yourself and write down the answers to the following questions:

•  Is my story set to the modern world or in a historical period?
• Does my story include supernatural or paranormal elements?
• Does my story include thriller, suspense or crime elements?
• Are the main characters of my story teenagers or adults?
• Does my story include elements from different genres?
• Is the development of the romantic relationship at the center of the story?
• Does my story have a happy ending? 

​Definition of tropes
Trope is a plot device that is used to create stories familiar to readers but authors should be able to combine familiar tropes in unexpected and fresh ways to keep the story interesting to the readers.

 Some of the most popular tropes for romance stories are:

•  the marriage of convenience, 
• sports romance,
• best friend’s older brother,
•  billionaires, 
• boss and employee, 
• enemies to lovers, 
• friends to lovers,
•  coworkers, 
• pretend relationship/marriage, 
• forbidden love, 
• forced proximity, 
• secret or mistaken identity. 

This is by no means a completed list of tropes. I am sure you can think of many more tropes that you can include in your story. The list above is intended to make you start thinking about possible tropes that you can include in your story.

If you are not sure what tropes to include in your story:

• Think of the tropes of your 3 most favourite stories. 
• Observe how the authors use the tropes in these stories. 
• Note down your favourite tropes from these romance stories and any other tropes you want to include in your story.
• Write down how you will use these tropes in your own story. 
• Combine three or more tropes in unexpected and new ways to make the story more compelling to the readers.

Main characters
The most important element of your story is your main character (s). In a romance story, you will need two main characters that will be the love interests of the story. Remember that the development of their romantic relationship will be the central part of the story.

You can brainstorm and write down as much or as little information as you want about your main characters’ in their character profiles. You can include your main character’s physical appearance, personality, backstory, home and work life. 

If you want more information about what is a character profile and why you need one to write consistent and meaningful characters (+download a free character profile template), click here to read the article. 

The 3 most important elements of your story: the main character(s) goal, the main character’s flaw and the story’s theme.

1) Think about your character’s goal (and motivation).  Your character’s goal must be tangible, important for your character and big enough to sustain the whole story. The main character (s) should have a goal beyond the romantic relationship. For example, the main character (s) might want to get a job promotion that comes with a higher salary so that they can rent a bigger apartment. Think about what will happen if your character achieves their goal. Think about the consequences if your character fails their goal.

Keep in mind that the main characters (love interests) need to have equal and opposite goals to create the central conflict of the story and to prevent them from easily achieving their respective goals.

For example, two coworkers might be competing for the same job position that comes with a significant salary raise. One might want a higher salary to pay for their student loans and the other one to financially help a sick relative. Wanting the same job position creates the central conflict of the story. The two characters might even sabotage each other or they might be forced to work together until their boss decides who will eventually get the job. Things become more complicated when they realize they start having feelings for each other.

2) Think about your character’s flaw. 
A  flaw is a  misbelief that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them and prevents them from achieving their goal. Both of your main characters need to have their own internal and external flaw that takes over all aspects of their life (home, friends, work). The external flaw is the literal bad guys that prevent the main character from achieving their goal e.g family, friends, coworkers. The internal flaw is the internal beliefs and goals that the main characters need to fight.

3) Think about the story’s theme. 
​The theme is the message of your story. It is the lesson that the main character(s) learns at the end of the story that changes their perspective about themselves or the world around them. The theme must be universal, so that people regardless of age, gender, location and culture can relate to it. 

​The main theme of romance stories is “love conquers all” where the main characters must overcome many obstacles and complications to be happily together by the end of the story but your story can have a more specific theme as well.

​The “love conquers all” theme can be combined with other themes to show the internal obstacles and flaws the main characters need to overcome. For example, the main character (s) might need to forgive themselves for the death of a relative in a car accident that wasn’t their fault (but they feel guilty about it).

Conclusion
Brainstorming your story before you start writing down your first chapter is an important step of the writing process. Brainstorming your story can help you clarify the genre and tropes, strengthen the theme and create compelling and consistent characters. Take a notebook or open your writing software and write down as much information as you need about the genre and the main character(s) of your romance story. Happy writing!

Further reading
Learn why authors need character profiles to write consistent and compelling characters (+ free character profile template)
Learn how to outline your novel using the 3-act structure
​How to create a consistent writing routine

Writing compelling characters that will captivate and hook your readers consists one of the main challenges that you will face while writing your story.
How can you write reliable, consistent and compelling characters? How can you include all your characters’ information in an organised and practical way where you can instantly find and modify any information you may need about them? By creating character profiles for every character!

This blog article includes:
Definition of a character profile
The reasons you need a character profile
When do you need a character profile? 
What to include in a character profile?
Questions to ask about your characters
Conclusion (+free character profile template)

Definition of a character profile
A character profile is a description of your character’s life. A character profile can help you brainstorm all the information you need to know about your character. It can be a one-page document in a bullet-point format or a twenty-page essay with detailed information about every aspect of your character’s life and pivotal backstory events.

The reasons you need a character profile
Character profiles are important because they can help you

• write consistent characters (e.g a character’s blue eye doesn’t turn brown throughout the story without any further explanation).
• write faster stories because you have all the information you need about your characters in one place instead of going back and forth through your manuscript to find details you wrote weeks ago. 
•  create meaningful characters with depth and build stronger emotional relationships between your characters. 

The main characters (protagonist and antagonist) of your story should have a detailed character profile with as much information as possible. Secondary or minor characters don’t need to be fully-fledged. Their character profiles only need to have some basic information necessary for the story.

When do you need a character profile? 
A character profile can be useful while planning, writing and revising your story.  Some authors prefer finishing their characters’ profiles before start writing their stories. Others prefer only writing down some basic information before they start writing and others dive directly into the story and complete their characters’ profiles as they go. 

There is no right or wrong way to create a character profile. I advise you to brainstorm and write down as much information as possible about your main character(s) before you start writing your story. Hoverer, the choice is yours. If you have thoroughly developed your character in your mind, you can start writing your story right away. Just make sure to include all the information about your characters (at least the main ones) in a separate document from your manuscript and in an organised way.
  
What to include in a character profile?
You can start your character profile by writing down some basic information about your character. Note down their name, age, occupation, nationality, location (country, city) and social class and write about their physical appearance, personality, important backstory events, personal relationships, home life and work life.Then, decide the 3 most important elements of your story: the main character(s) goal, the main character’s flaw and the story’s theme.
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1) Think about your character’s goal. What is your character’s desire? What does your character want?  Your character’s goal must be tangible, important for your character and big enough to sustain the whole story. Think about what will happen if your character achieves their goal. Think what will happen if your character fails their goal. Keep in mind that the main characters (protagonist and antagonist) need to have equal and opposite goals to create the central conflict of the story and to prevent them from easily achieving their respective goals.

2) Think about your character’s flaw.  A  flaw is a  misbelief that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them and prevents them from achieving their goal. It is best if your character has a lot of internal and external flaws (or one big flaw) that take over all aspects of their life (home, friends, work). 

3) Think about the story’s theme. The theme is the universal message that the story contains and the “truth” that the character discovers about themselves and/or the world around them. The theme is the opposite of the main character’s flaw/misbelief. The main character(s) learn the theme, overcome their flaws, and become better and improved people by the end of the story. The main characters usually learn the theme at the beginning of Act 3 of the story (or the Break Into 3 beat in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody).

Questions to ask about your character
Here are some questions that you can ask about your characters. Brainstorm and write possible answers in the respective character profiles.

• What is your character’s basic information (name, age, occupation, location)?
• Can you briefly describe the main character’s goal?
• What will happen if the character achieves their goal?
• What are the consequences if the character fails their goals?
• What is your character’s flaw that prevents them from achieving their goal?
• What is the theme of the story?

Conclusion (+free character profile template)
 Character profiles are an essential tool for all the stages of your story and they can help you create fully developed and consistent characters.
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​You can open a blank document and start creating your own character profile from scratch or you can download the free character profile template and start planning your character right away. The character profile template is meant to make your writing life easier and inspire you to write compelling characters. You can copy/paste the character profile template and use it as many times as you want to create character profiles for all your characters. Happy writing!