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