How to edit the 4 most common issues in romance short fiction

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

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About the author

​​Maria Georgiou is a reliable and supportive developmental editor and beta reader for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, fantasy romance and romantasy stories. She is a member of the EFA and ClubEdFreelancers.
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