Editing the Romance

Description

$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit romance novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate

In this class, you’ll learn the basics of the developmental editing of romance.

The class covers:

• basic conventions of the genre (reader expectations)—what to do when authors violate these and how to tell when they have
• differences among various subgenres (paranormal, suspense, contemporary, etc.)—how to provide guidance for authors who are letting, say, the suspense element overshadow the romance
• bringing classic tropes into the twenty-first century
• helping authors develop strong central conflicts that aren’t about outside dramas or that could be easily cleared up in a couple of sentences
• spotting problems in goal-motivation—characters acting implausibly because that’s how the author has seen it done in other romances or because the plot demands it (versus it being the logical thing for this character to do)
• showing the author how to turn types (alpha hero, soldier, friend-turned-lover) into realistic characters
• helping the author learn to write in the deep third common to romance, including how to effectively alternate POVs
• addressing common pitfalls in romance: MCs falling in love too soon, MCs declaring their love too soon, central conflict resolving too quickly/easily, and more
• dealing with problem romance premises—what to do when the author has a thirteen-year-old “fall in love” with a thirty-year-old, etc.
• addressing sexy time—how to edit sex scenes (note that this will be fairly explicit but any ms samples shared will be consensual)
• making sure that love scenes (not necessarily sex scenes) are emotionally effective
• and more!

Each lesson includes an assignment for you to do to practice your skills, plus an answer key to help you understand the principles involved.

Intermediate classes are intended for those with some developmental editing experience or who have taken the Beginning + Intermediate DE for Fiction classes or the self-paced DE 1 through 6 classes.

The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate).