Where readers, writers, and stories meet.
Write a scene that puts your hero and heroine in close proximity with one another where they get to touch each other. How much is up to you, but maybe hold off on actually letting them “do the deed” for the time being. Use this as an opportunity to build the tension.
Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Act 2 Scene Assignment 2”
Do your hero and heroine now hate each other on the surface while secretly wanting to jump into bed with each other? If so, great work! Now you’re ready to begin writing Act Two of your trashy romance novel. For the next few days, I will give you brief scene ideas to keep you moving and hopefully keep your middle from sagging. Here’s the first:
Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Week 2/Act 2”
The opening scene of my trashy romance novel is hilarious. Anyway, I think it is. I could be wrong.
I’m putting my heroine – who, by the way, is terrified of water – on a boat. She comments to her sister, “It’s only a three-hour tour.” Hmmm… what do you think I have planned for my heroine?
If you’re not giggling whilst writing your trashy romance novel, then you’re not doing it right. You’re more likely to finish it if it’s fun! Continue reading “Are you laughing yet?”
Okay, so I’m not going to post assignments every single day this month. I don’t have time for that. What I will do is set you up with a three-act story structure and give you some ideas for what types of scenes you should be writing at various stages of your novel. Hopefully you wrote chapter one yesterday, and now you are ready to develop your first act in more detail.
Act One is all about writing scenes that will further expound on the notion that your hero and heroine, while wildly attracted to one another, are simply not “right” for one another. Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Day 2”
Well, here it is. November 1st. Day One of NaNoWriMo, and Day One of our Trashy Romance Novel Writing Challenge. I know you have a lot of writing to do, so I will get right to the day’s writing assignment: Continue reading “2014 NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Challenge: Day 1”
It’s amazing how often logistical issues can get in the way of our writing. I, like many writers, have tried a variety of techniques in an attempt to make writing – wherever I may be – as easy as possible. Because we all know, the easier it is, the more likely we are to do it. If it seems like too much trouble to haul your ancient, seven-pound laptop along when running errands, then you probably will end up just not doing it.
Yeah, I said seven pounds. I am a starving artist, after all. Of course I don’t have an iPad!
If you were writing a novel a century ago, your choices of communication modes were probably quite limited. You basically either wrote your novel out longhand, or you tapped it out on a bulky typewriter. Did they even have portable typewriters yet a century ago? Continue reading “NaNoWriMo logistics: How are you planning ahead?”
What do you do if you want to participate in NaNoWriMo this year but you don’t know what to write and trashy romance novels just aren’t your thing? Why not try a writing prompt? I came up with one this morning that is completely different than the romance novel prompt I gave you a few days ago. If you like zombies, this one might be right up your alley! Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Writing Prompt: Rock ‘n Roll Zombie”
Yesterday we had some fun with our trashy romance novel characters. Today we will get to know them on a somewhat deeper level (okay, maybe not too deep. Just one level deeper than yesterday.)
So, you have figured out what your two main characters don’t like about each other on first impression. Now let’s think about how you can develop these two opposing characters into people who might believably come to like one another later in the novel. Maybe the slick lawyer secretly loves dogs and has a pregnant pooch back home in NYC that she’s worried sick about. Perhaps the grumpy cowboy is secretly writing a business plan that will turn his failing family ranch into an organic vegetable farm that will supply several high-brow restaurants in the nearest big city. Continue reading “Get to know your characters a little better”
Yesterday, we spent a few minutes thinking up dreamy names for our characters. Today, let’s take a few minutes to get to know them better, shall we? Romance hero/heroines are typically exact opposites. Maybe he’s a rugged cowboy, and she’s the slick lawyer whose company wants to buy out his ranch and develop it into a tacky tourist trap.
Or, she could be the tough country girl, while he is a smooth-talking geologist for an oil company that is drooling over the rich natural resources hidden beneath her family’s centuries-old hog farm. If you’re into paranormal romance, he could be a vampire, while she is a werewolf. Or, like the trashy romance novel I read most recently, she could be the boring county supervisor, while he’s a daring stunt pilot. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo pre-writing assignment #2: Get to know your characters”
Can it be mid-October already? NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, and I am just now getting around to thinking about it. As usual, my original plan for this year was to just skip it. But as November draws near, I find myself once again itching to see if I can knock out a novel in thirty days.
Last year, I did not. While I did manage to conquer the quest for 50,000 words, my NaNoWriMo project was not, in any way, a novel. Last year, I proved to myself that I am capable of writing 50,000 words in one month. This year, I think it’s time to step it up and write 50,000 words of an actual novel. Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Trashy Romance Novel Challenge”
Write on the World 