harlotrous doings with vampires — Seasoned Romance: A Great NaNoWriMo Project

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Seasoned Romance: A Great NaNoWriMo Project

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Years ago, I read an article by a Romance author in her fifties advising her sister Romance writers that if they wanted to be published, they should create characters in their twenties. Shades of the Bronte sisters, forced to take male pen names! Fortunately, times have changed. With so many Romance readers past midlife, publishers have caught on and created a category called “Seasoned Romance.”

The Personal is Political
Ageism is not exactly news to anyone over fifty. And studies have shown that a positive attitude about aging helps us live longer and healthier. Telling stories about the vivid lives of people our age is essential. If we want to change the cultural narrative, we are the ones to do it.

Why Seasoned Romance?
By now, we have lived the role of romance character several times. We have known all kinds of people and witnessed their romantic fortunes. Autofiction was made for us: Mixing people, situations, and settings can lead to fascinating Romance.
Plus, you get to write about sex. And Romance novels tend to be on the short side—perfect for NaNoWriMo. Not to mention, Romance sells a lot—more than Mystery and Science Fiction combined.
Sex, money, and dishing your exes: what’s not to like?

How to Write Romance?
Not every story that includes romance is a “Romance.” The genre expectations look like this:

  • Plot: The main plot in a genre Romance is the romance itself. There is an external plot—which would be the main plot in any other novel. But in a Romance, the back-and-forth in the relationship drives the story.
  • Characters: Each of the two main characters has a character flaw that makes them ambivalent about getting involved. They may have conflicts in goals and values (like the bookstore owner and the chain bookstore developer in “You’ve Got Mail”). And each main character has a sidekick—a confidante to share hopes and fears about the relationship.


Three Act Structure: Here’s a typical setup for a Romance novel.

  • Act One: Establish the lives of each main character before they meet. Engineer the meeting (the “meet cute”). Show the attraction and the conflict between the characters. Create an external situation that keeps them in each other’s lives throughout the story.
  • Act Two: Lots of ambivalence. The characters take turns chasing and running away. The external plot adds complexity. The sidekicks weigh in, to encourage or discourage the liaison. What looks like a final breakup occurs at the end of this act.
  • Act Three: Much soul-searching, resulting in each main character owning and resolving their character flaws. They bridge differences in goals and values, enjoy their mutual attraction (at mild, moderate, or spicy levels of heat), and begin a committed relationship.
  • Happy-Ever-After (or Happy-for-Now): For decades, Romance novels were expected to end with a big wedding. A Romance novel still must end with the main characters happily together. Often there is an epilogue, where we see the happy characters years after the dénouement.

But wait—I hear you say: Isn’t that awfully formulaic? Sure, but so is a sonnet. Structure can be liberating.

Victorians were scandalized by early Romance novels because they highlighted female passion. Yet the genre became the stereotyped province of thin, young, white, able-bodied heroines. More recently, it’s broadened to include stories about LGBTQ+ characters, polyamorous characters, and characters of color (Stacey Abrams writes Romance under the pen name Selena Montgomery). And with the advent of Seasoned Romance, we Writers of a Certain Age can tell vivid stories about characters like us.

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Stella Fosse writes stories of vibrant women and teaches about writing boldly after midlife. Her books include:

  • Aphrodite’s Pen: The Power of Writing Erotica after Midlife (North Atlantic Books)
  • A story collection, The Erotic Pandemic Ball: Tales of Love in Lockdown
  • And her debut novel at age 68, Brilliant Charming Bastard

She has taught romance writing through Secure Senior Connections.
Stella blogs at www.stellafosse.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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Ultimate Writing Resource List
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a massively extended version of ruthlesscalculus’ post

General Tips

Character Development

Female Characters

Male Characters

Tips for Specific Characters

Dialogue

Point of View

Plot, Conflict, Structure and Outline

Setting & Worldbuilding

Creativity Boosters* denotes prompts

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Tools & Software

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Six Pro Tips for Year-Round Noveling

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NaNoWriMo might only happen in November, but that shouldn’t stop you from working on your novel throughout the year. Today, writer, editor, and Municipal Liaison for the Europe :: England :: Cornwall region Anne Rainbow shares her tips for writing and editing your novel with precision: 

1. Plan ahead.

I’m an ML for Cornwall, UK, and take part in NaNo every year. If you are a NaNo addict like me, it’s important that you plan how you will spend the months between one NaNo and the next.

My year is split into four phases. In November, I write a new NaNo novel. It’s an indulgence, allowing myself thirty days of writing to create something completely new. In December and January, I relax! I reacquaint myself with family and friends, and catch up on the day job. This creates distance between me and the passion I felt while writing during November, which is very important for the stages ahead.

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Three-Act Structure in 30 Days

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A Cog Special for NaNoWriMo

Hey friends! I’m unable to participate in NaNo this year, but! I thought I could share with you a “prompt list” I developed for myself. One prompt a day, this list might just help you achieve a complete book in 30 days! (Maybe.)

ACT ONE

  • 11/01 - Develop what most inspires you. Let your world blossom, your character present themself, or your conflict begin.
  • 11/02  - Introduce your protagonist’s day-to-day routine. Show who they are in their own element before their life spirals out of control.
  • 11/03 - Show readers a conflict that’s been occupying your protagonist’s mind–use this as an opportunity to reveal another dimension of your world and the characters that inhabit it.
  • 11/04 - Delve deeper into the side characters. Explore their superficial relationships with your protagonist.
  • 11/05 - Bring in a new face. This face might belong to a new friend, a love interest, or even the villain.
  • 11/06 - Take a moment to breathe, then destroy your protagonist’s world. Break it in such a way there’s no taping it back together. (And remember! This doesn’t have to be a bad change! Just an irreversible one.)
  • 11/07 - Let your readers wallow in the fallout. Show how your protagonist initially responds and who they reach out to (if anyone).

Congratulations!! You’ve completed Act One! You’re well on your way to a book!! Remember to take a small breather and reward yourself. Look how much you’ve accomplished in as little as a week!

ACT TWO

  • 11/08 - Your protagonist is on the precipice; let them jump. Encourage them. This is where the plot truly begins.
  • 11/09 - Show your character the paths they can take. They don’t have to choose one yet, but let them know what their options are.
  • 11/10 - Introduce conflict between your protagonist and one of the characters they thought they trusted.
  • 11/11 - Explain away the conflict. Put your protagonist and that character back on somewhat firm ground–maybe there’s still suspicion, but it won’t break them. Yet.
  • 11/12 - Make your character choose a path. It’s too late in the game to be all wishy-washy about what to do and how to do it.
  • 11/13 - Show them that they’re not yet equipped to handle the primary conflict of your novel.
  • 11/14 - Let them take a step back and re-asses. Let them consult with those that they trust and try to find how to best tackle the conflict.
  • 11/15 - Give them a way to grow the skills they need or learn the information they need to best succeed in the main conflict.
  • 11/16 - Renew their confidence. Little-by-little, help them remember that they can do this.
  • 11/17 - Let your protagonist’s relationship with another character take an unexpected turn. This could be anything from them having helpful knowledge/skills to having a connection with the villain to being romantically interested in the protagonist.
  • 11/18 - After all their hard work is paying off and your protagonist thinks they might just be able to succeed in their goal.
  • 11/19 - The newfound skills/information/etc. your protagonist has gathered are put to the test, and they come out victorious. Delight all around!

Take a moment to think and reflect. Have a nice tea and prepare for everything to go utterly, terribly wrong, because that’s where we’re going with this.

  • 11/20 - Your protagonist’s worst fear is confirmed and all the bravado they’ve gathered comes crashing down around them. (Hint: This is a great place to bring back the 11/10 conflict.)
  • 11/21 - Your protagonist struggles to cope with the last blow they took, but they don’t have much time. They need to compose themself.
  • 11/22 - Time to gear up for the grand finale. There’s no going back now, and everyone knows it. Let your protagonist and their allies gather.

Look at you go!! You’ve written the majority of a book?? You’ve made it through the hardest part and you’re in the home stretch. You can do it!!

ACT THREE

  • 11/23 - Shove your protagonist into a room with the conflict that’s been haunting them from the beginning and let them have a moment with it.
  • 11/24 - Bang! Pow! Climax time!
  • 11/25 - Just when your protagonist thinks they’re winning, make it all go wrong. A fundamental piece of the puzzle is missing and we’re in disasterland now, lads.
  • 11/26 - Let a side character prompt the protagonist’s defining moment–let them do something unexpected to prompt an even more unexpected response.
  • 11/27 - Ideally, this will be victory time! Everything we’ve been hoping for since the beginning comes to fruition and all the protagonist’s hard work pays off. Alternatively, you could make this end real bad. It’s up to you.
  • 11/28 - Let the results of the final conflict settle in. These could be good or bad, depending on your story, or even better: both.
  • 11/29 - Go back to the beginning. Rewrite the first scene or develop a prologue. Now that you have a sense of the ending, you’ll have a better idea of where things should’ve started!
  • 11/30 - Show your readers where everyone ended up–did they get a happy ending? A sad ending?

You’ve finished your book!!!!!!! YOU’VE FINISHED YOUR BOOK!!! Heck yeah.

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Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Write a Clean(ish) Fast Draft

Headshot of Jesse Q. Sutanto, along with a colorful cover image of her novel, "Dial A for Aunties"ALT

NaNoWriMo can seem like a daunting task sometimes, for NaNo newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately, our NaNo Coaches are here to help guide you through November! Today, author Jesse Q. Sutanto is here to share her advice on how to set yourself up for noveling success:

Dear Nano-ers,

My first book took me three years to cobble together. During that time, I joined Absolute Write—a free writers forum which I completely love and recommend to all aspiring writers—and I made a friend who convinced me to try doing NaNoWriMo. I was completely unconvinced, but I am a people-pleaser and I can never say no, so I agreed to try it for my second novel.

My second novel took me less than a month to write. It was a complete mess, but it was also a revelation. Often, I felt myself falling into that writing Holy Grail—the hole which consumes you, makes you forget the rest of the world, and absorbs you completely in the world you are creating on paper. I loved the process deeply, and never looked back since. All of my subsequent books have since been written in a matter of months. 

And you know what? They were all a horrific mess. I did not learn how to do a clean and fast draft until my NINTH book, and I don’t think I would’ve ever learnt without the help of NaNoWriMo. So here are my tips on how to best tackle a sprint-a-thon like NaNo. 

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IT’S INCREDIBLY HELPFUL AND CAN FOR INSTANCE GENERATE TOPICS AND FIRST LINES, CONTAINS LOADS OF EXERCISES AND YOU CAN FIND PLENTY OF WRITING TIPS.

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Can a picture inspire a thousand words? NaNoWriMo investigates the power of images in our writing lives. Author Massiel Valenzuela-Castaneda writes in with tips on how to use a writing mood board.                       

Are you feeling lost? Like your story has changed? Should you be using a writing board?

“A writing board is a mood board (or inspiration board) is a physical or digital collage of ideas that’s commonly used in fields like interior design, fashion, and graphic design. It can include just about anything — photography, designs or illustrations, color palettes, textures, descriptive words — anything that helps you define the direction of your project.” Canva.com

Here are a few ways the writing mood board can help.

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