Last week I was talking about diversity and sensitivity readers, Val Neil shared a couple of helpful links for sourcing sensitivity readers which you can find here and here.

Today’s episode question is a slightly selfish one. What do you guys do for a book launch? What do your favorite authors do? I’m starting to turn my thoughts to the launch of The Anatomy of Prose and the types of things I could do, so let me know what you’d like to see me do for the launch.

My book recommendation for you this week is Instructions For Falling In Love Again by Lucy Mitchell which I had the pleasure of reading before it was published.   

You can find the book here:

Amazon UK https://amzn.to/36Hk9Bm 

Amazon USA https://amzn.to/2Ucelx8 

Please note these are affiliate links.

Listener Rebel of the week is M.J. Moores

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod

***

Welcome to new patron Katherine Vickers. Thank you so much for joining me and thank you to all my current patrons, who help to ensure that this podcast continues. Katherine and all patrons have access to a sneak peek of The Anatomy of Prose for January’s bonus post. All patrons also have access to the back list of posts, essays, blooper reels and more.

If you’d like to support the show, and get access to all the bonus essays, posts and content, you can support the show by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack 

How to Write Romance with Kris Kennedy

Find more about Kris here:

romancewritinglab.com

kriskennedy.net

To watch the Romance Writers Summit, click here: https://www.romancewriterssummit.com/a/17934/LDcwJMX4

Please note, that is an affiliate link and I will earn a small commission if you choose to purchase the conference

How to Write Romance Episode Transcript

Sacha Black
Hello and welcome back to The Rebel Author podcast. Today I am joined by Kris Kennedy. Kris is a USA Today best selling author of romance. She writes historical and contemporary romance teaches classes is a developmental editor and story coach and runs romance Writing Lab. She is also the organizer and founder of The romance writers conference. Did I say that right? romance writing

Kris Kennedy
Summit. Summit, but that’s fine.

Sacha Black
Oh, it’s British. I always call it conference. I’ve been in a couple of other ones that I keep calling conference as well. Romance Writers Summit, which will you be doing another one because obviously by the time this airs, it will have been and gone. Do you think you’ll do another one?

Kris Kennedy
Yeah, I think so. I think people are really loving it. And that’s kind of the vision came together just a bunch of crafts people getting together and talking stories. So I think so.

Sacha Black
So is that is there somewhere that we can direct listeners to where they can find out more or sign up to hear?

Kris Kennedy
Yeah, this one is really easy to remember. It’s romancewriterssummit.com

Sacha Black
Perfect. Okay, let’s let’s get it good. Get him up late here. I haven’t had Gin I have obviously not had enough coffee.

Kris Kennedy
Well go get some

Sacha Black
I’ll be right back… Only joking. aaah, right.

Tell everyone a little bit about you and your writing journey and how you got to where you are.

Kris Kennedy
Well, I write romance, as you’ve said, but for a long time, I didn’t read it. It wasn’t for me whatever that meant. I think I thought it was above it. I’m even though and I’d forgotten this for many years. I read my grandmother’s old Harlequin romances when I was a kid I would just scoop them up. And, you know, because I was just reading anything, I would read the back of a tissue box. Anything I could get my hands on. So I read all those, you know, the doctor and nurse kind of romances. But as an adult, I didn’t remember and I avoided romances, the covers, and they made me uncomfortable. And I don’t know, I think they seem to be telling me something about myself that I didn’t want. And if I picked them up, like I’d be that person. Um, but one day, I was working my way through my library, I was on a mission to read any and every book that looked even remotely interesting, starting a day and going to Z. And I came across, I came across, obviously a bunch of romances as I went, but I came across this one historical, and it was set in Ireland, and I was like, all right, fine, I’ll do this one. And I finished reading it. I don’t remember in a day or two and the day I finished reading, I was up until three in the morning writing my first romance.

Sacha Black
Oh my goodness.

Kris Kennedy
I know. I know right. Sometimes those things you avoid like the plague like it’s good avoid them. There’s a reason but other times maybe there’s something there that you know, it means something a little more and check it out.

Sacha Black
That is amazing. I love that I am I did that with science fiction and I refuse to read Day of the Triffids for ever. And then I think it’s because and bless my mom, she’s probably listening. Hi mom. She gave me a copy of it. And I think, you know, it’s just the inner rebel in me, you know, anything that I’m told or asked to do, I just have to rebel. And eventually I read it and of course, she was absolutely right. I absolutely fucking loved the book and just totally fell in love with, you know, that kind of dystopian sci fi fantasy, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, that’s, that’s hilarious.

Kris Kennedy
way to go, mom.

Sacha Black
You are an editor as well. So I think we’ll talk a bit about romance and specific tangible craft things. But let’s talk about story structure. There are some things that are very, very universal to all stories. But there are also some quirks and specifics that are very unique to each genre. And I guess you can talk about those as tropes or you know, even the story arc, there are points that are specific in each genre so, talk to an author who is just coming into romance and what key aspects of a romance and a romance structure must they hit.

Kris Kennedy
In a lot of ways, I mean, the structure is the same. What I think is different is what is prompting and promoting change and The tensions and difficulty conflict in the story. But in romance, you’re juggling more than you are in a lot of other genres. I know a lot of fantasy have multiple arcs for multiple characters. But in a lot of fiction, there’s the one main character arc and the plot, you know the storyline. But in romance, you have two or possibly more full character arcs with two characters who are changing, sometimes they’re changing a different amount. So their arc is bigger or smaller, shorter or longer. But there’s two of them. There’s one for each and you have the plot. And you have the romance conflict and the romance arc. And that has to be intertwined with all those but never overtaken the romance always has to be primary.

So I guess in other ways, it’s kind of different from other genres. It’s really more complicated, the romance genre, I think it’s a bad rap and a lot of ways as being very simplistic and formulaic, but it’s a lot to juggle, um, I think related to the the story arc itself, um, some of the key differences or focus that people would want for romances at that 10% point which is like that inciting incident or catalyst moment that’s in in it any fiction when something is tossed into the characters world that they can’t ignore and they have to respond to, it upsets the balance of their life and in a romance. That is or involves the other romantic lead at 10% is when that romance conflict is launched. The romantic leads are forced together usually by some external event, and they don’t like each other or they don’t get along, or they do like each other. But the external forces are working against the romance either actively or just as a function of that external thing, you know the character who’s trying to move a bunch of condos into small town and the other character is you know, opposed to that.

But as for all genres, but kind of, especially for romance conflict is queen. Um, there has to be a really strong reason that the leads can’t just fall in love on page 25. And you’re building that all along, but you want to be establishing it at that and by that 10% Mark, and then you can build on it, but there needs to be the reason they can’t just fall in love. And then at the midpoint, that 50% point, in fiction and film, this is a big moment in the story. Um, it’s almost always some kind of reversal or a change of goal for the character and in a romance. That reversal or change is a pro romance change. In some way, they’re choosing the other lead in some big public way that they wouldn’t have done before. And that is, that’s a key thing. One of the things it can sometimes be, and I can have my cake and eat it to moment for a character, they can be like, well, I can still get my goal, but this person matters too. But they they make some choice and they do some action that is public and declares for the other person or shows their allegiance or alignment with in some way that they haven’t done before. And then you get that 75% that all is lost that moment pit of despair kind of thing. And that’s in all fiction when the character has lost everything. And they’re realizing as a result of that. All the things that they did up till now that weren’t enough and they realize they have to change. They realize what they have to change what they’ve been getting wrong and what they need to do different and in a romance. Obviously, the all is lost in The romance is lost. And then what they do after that is directly related somehow to reuniting with or proving themselves or rescuing the other person, somehow they give everything up for the other person. And again, it’s it’s a big arc a big change from what they would have done at the beginning, what they would have been willing to do at the beginning. And ideally, that act three stuff is some kind of sacrifice. They have to give something up that serves the romance or the other lead in some way. So I think those are the things that from a story structure perspective can help people really nail the romance.

Sacha Black
Yeah, I think that’s amazing. I’m like, in my head, I’m like, Oh, I need to write that down. Thank god this is recorded, I can re listen. I think one of the one of the interesting things that I picked up in there is how And obviously this is important in any genre. But for romance specifically that arc is it, there’s a lot of importance placed on the energetic it, obviously romance is emotional, but for the characters particularly, and the sacrifice is much more likely to be some kind of an inner sacrifice than it is perhaps in I don’t know, a fantasy where they might need a magical sort of villain death or something, you know. And, I think the the thing where they do overlay to the other genres, is that sacrifices always, you know, the the hero sacrificing something is always very important. And obviously, the bigger the sacrifice, the more the readers cling to it. Which leads me on to my next question. So how do you create a romance whether that’s a main plot romance or a subplot that has readers on the edge of their seat? What is it that romance writers do that makes the reader fall in love with that romance? I suppose that relationship

Kris Kennedy
Yeah. Well, um, I mean, in the end, it’s the same as for any other genre, it’s conflict. Um, but like you were saying a moment ago, it’s romance is inherently character driven. And it’s about people changing. And so that is, is super important. And then it only increases the need to have really solid conflict. I talk a lot about building remarkable characters. And I think that’s the key. You know, some stories have an awesome plot like this big plot that’s just so crazy awesome. And that that can suffice for some stories, you know, alien invasions, dinosaurs on the lose Great white shark, um, but in general, the best stories have a protagonist, two arcs. And that’s how you can have a really powerful story with really seemingly small external stakes. And yet it’s still so moving because the journey for the character inside themselves, the transformation they go through is exactly what you said a bit ago.

It’s so big, they’re so different at the end than they were at the beginning. They’ve learned some kind of lesson. And you know, for what it’s worth jaws is my favorite movie ever. And police chief Brody, he definitely has an arc and that makes that story stronger. So I think that what we really want in a romance but in any story, but especially romance is you want someone who’s different at the end than they were at the beginning. And part of that difference is you want the character to feel different about them at the end than they did at the beginning and that’s usually the result of the journey that they went through. But it’s someone who has issues and beliefs and emotions and the story just punches them in the face. And it tests every single one of those beliefs, it makes them face emotions they didn’t want to face. And it, you know, shows up their inadequacies at that kind of personal level as the story progresses. And so that in the end, when they’ve lost everything, there’s nowhere to hide anymore, and they have to face whatever they have to face, and they have to change and then do the thing that must be done, whatever that might be. But it’s the key is that it’s something they never would or could have done at the start.

And that’s why it’s so important. And you can sort of reverse engineer this to whatever you’re going to end with and you might not know this till you’re on draft three or 13. But whatever was happening at the end Go back and make sure you’ve built a character at the beginning who could never have done that thing were wouldn’t have. And in a romance in that thing is them connecting to the other person, like we were saying it usually involves some kind of sacrifice and taking some risk to choose the romance a risk emotionally, like they have to face those feelings or those beliefs about themselves. And also in the external world, they might have to give up some goal or in danger or give up on some secondary relationship that used to matter a lot, but now they realize it’s not what they thought it was or they don’t get to be who they need to be in those other relationships. Um, and, and they do that because something else matters more now, and it’s the other lead and sometimes that end part is them, wanting to be with the other person. Sometimes it’s rescuing. that other person, sometimes it’s letting that person go. But at its heart, it’s about them and then the other person comes back in romance. But it’s, you know, the end and I think that is what makes people really stay up late reading on the conflict is big enough to make them doubt it will happen, even though they know they’re reading romance or the reading of sci fi or they’re reading a mystery. They know, you know, the mystery will get solved or they’ll get their happily ever after or you know, the the world will be saved in a thriller. But, you know, the genre gives us the the destination. But we as the storytellers are writing a conflict filled story with a character who at the beginning, we could never imagine them doing what they’re going to have to do at the end. And that’s, I think, what makes people stay up late reading.

Sacha Black
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I honestly, I genuinely I’m gonna have to go back and re listen to this because I’ve just all of the things I want to write all of them down and I can’t because I’ve been listening to you. And the thing I want to expand on there was the doubt aspect. And I think that is, it’s that tease. So you know, readers of romance know damn well that it’s going to have a HEA at the end, which is happily ever after for people who don’t know what HEA is. And, but despite that, you still have to create enough doubt that they doubt it, even though they’ve read 100 romances before.

And, and, you know, even in other genres, the way that you do that is you toture your protagonist, you know, you make everything an obstacle, everything difficult. Everything goes against their own values and their morals. And yeah, I just I love that and I’m excited about this, tease of a romance story that doesn’t even exist!

Kris Kennedy
I think about it as I sometimes talk about it as calibrating fear and hope or doubt, and hope and fear, it will never happen and hope that it can. And every scene, you’re tipping that balance, you’re making them a little more fearful or a little more hopeful. And just back and forth. Yeah.

Sacha Black
Yeah. I love it. I love it. And I do love love that you say that is? I very, ever write a story without some kind of element? Yeah.

Kris Kennedy
It’s in so many stories like yeah, said even as a subplot or, you know, in save the cat story method was screenwriting, you know, story structure approach, which is really powerful. They talk about that whole idea and it’s, yeah, I mean, I think it’s central to story.

Sacha Black
Absolutely. So let’s get really nitty gritty. Are there any specific craft techniques that listeners should be aware of that helped to fully immerse the reader into the relationship? And by that, I mean, should writers be focusing or trying to think of essential word choices? Is it more about metaphors? Is it about describing the physicalities of touches or creating pictures around emotion? What should a romance writer do at the sentence level?

Kris Kennedy
Mm hmm. I think the writing techniques will definitely vary based on your voice and the tone of your story. So you can have slam BAM in your face, raw senusal tension or you can have a slow build and a graceful dance of passion and desire, and they both work or they both can work. The key I think is whatever you’re going to do to build to it. So if your voice is one that is very lyrical and metaphoric, then do that, if it’s more straight up bare bones then do that. But however you do it, do the build. Generally we think about sexual physical connection building with like, first glance, and then a longer, more direct look. And then physical cues, interest of smiling each other touching the hair or, you know, those kinds of things. It’s sort of you could do it from across the room while you caught someone’s eye. And then there’s the non sexual touches and then there’s the sexual touches and they can move through sort of a progression of you know, mouth and then the upper body, the lower body, clothed, unclothed you know, first base, second base, all that stuff, and you can get a lot of power with that development of how they’re physically close. And it’s great that can be great for intertwining character arcs with romance, because each one of those things will affect them and be pushing them to change a little or trying to resist it. But you can also get serious passion power from skipping a few of those steps along the way or a lot of them um, it really again, it depends on the story and the voice.

But another key in addition to building to it somehow and that’s that longing, peace you know, however you however many of the build up steps you go through there’s, you want to have some longing before you have some satisfaction. Um, and then but another key is to make it forbidden somehow. Somehow being with this person is forbidden. It can be internally in their own mind or heart they can’t or shouldn’t be with this other person. For some reason, or it can be the external kinds of no go zones. You know, it’ll mess up secondary relationships or some external story goal or plot, work that kind of thing. But for whatever reason, they can’t ever do the thing. That means making a choice to be with the other is a risk sexually to be with them is a risk and then they do it anyhow. And then what you need. Another key is to make the sexual however much there’s over active sex or sexuality in your book, to make it have consequences. So every time there is some escalation of the physicality or the romance, something gets tested and changed every time there’s some kind of consequence, every ramp up of their physicality or their inner thoughts and longing about the other person maybe changing their opinion about that person. Everything that drives them closer to the other has some consequence and it can be a personal one like interior stuff. They can, you know, can be emotional or psychological they can feel emotions, they don’t usually feel with the person and and then you ask, well how to how do they respond to that? Does that make them pull back and run away? Or are they like, hey, actually, I love feeling this, this is great, and it helps bring them out. You can play with it any way you want. It just needs to have some consequence. Um, and, you know, it can also be then the external consequences, um, you know, maybe they, they’re loving this so much they get distracted from their external world pursuits, and that will have consequences. Or maybe other things in the external world get more difficult because of the closeness and intimacy that they’re having with the other person. So, and that those consequences, when we talk about consequences, it’s always a bad thing, but it’s, it’s not consequences can be great, um, for a while. Um, so I always I think of it kind of like a movie. When does that happy, upbeat inspirational music start playing? When does you know have an ominous boom Oh, something’s happening. It’s playing in your book too. It’s just quiet. So you want to work with those energies.

Sacha Black
I think I’ve just had about 8000 epiphany number one, you fix something in my current novel, so thank you. That’s awesome. Just the the, the whole escalation and consequence has just made about 8000 Penny drops. So thank you for that. And I wanted to the other major epiphany that I had which is very crass, but I’m gonna say it anyway because it’s my podcast. So basically every romance plotline ever is one big orgasm with a lot of foreplay. That is literally how you write a romance. You do a whole heap of foreplay, and then a big ol’ climax at the end.

But the other thing, victory, I never going to be able to think of romance in any other way other than that. The other thing I wanted to say goes back to something you mentioned right at the start, which is about however, somebody’s voice is in terms of the sentence level of craft creation. And I think it’s also very genre specific. So as a young adult writer, and I can’t really well, I mean, Sarah J mass has written quite a explicit books. But broadly speaking young adult sexual experiences in fiction are typically focusing more on the emotion and how they feel in that situation. Whereas when you move into an adult, obviously romance bit or bit fantasy or plot, you can obviously then have a lot more description on the physicality of things. But my point here is that you should read your genre to know what’s acceptable, know what the limits are, you know, it might be that the upper end of middle grade you’re allowed to hold hands and maybe a kiss on the cheek but nothing I don’t know. I don’t write middle grade. My point is you do need to check and also it might be different in in the sub genres even of romance. So yeah my words have gone…

Kris Kennedy
I know exactly what you’re saying. And I think it’s a really good point. I mean, the the kiss on the cheek. can be the climax the orgasm. I mean that can be you don’t. Again it’s all that it’s the longing and the forbiddenness and the consequences and the build up to it that can that will make a thing powerful so the smallest act romance or otherwise can be infused with such significance if you build to it properly. I’m to the holding of hands I can’t think right now but I feel like I’ve seen a movie where that like two characters decided to hold hands was just like, like wonderful it was you didn’t need anymore. You didn’t need to see or hear anymore. You knew that that thing happened. And as you were talking to I was thinking one of the things that often happens is that 50% Mark, when we were talking about story structure, that is often when if it’s going to sex happens for the first time in a romance or whatever the most furthest along sexual behavior, so clinical, that often happens at midpoint, because that’s that reversal big change claim the other moment. Now the character hasn’t has not finished their journey. They think they’re done but you know, they still have a long way to go. But um, yeah, because it’s such a powerful thing, but it doesn’t have to be like you’re saying it know your genre. And, and but anything can be the orgasm so to speak. Yeah.

Sacha Black
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. variety in your romance life. This is definitely going to have a have explicit lyrics on it. Okay, what rookie mistakes Do you often see in romance stories?

Kris Kennedy
I would say and it’s not just rookie, um, I would say it’s all related to conflict, um, either, you know, too much or not enough. And when I say too much, I mean, we see all the reasons why these romantic leads can or shouldn’t be together. But we never see what I call the promise of them. You have to show the conflict of them and the promise of them, why they should be together, why we’re rooting for them. And you need to start doing that right after you throw them together. It may be generally you’re doing it in the scene where you put them together to you know, that 10% and then certainly the scenes afterwards, you have to show also why they want to be together why they should be they, you know, there’s some affinity between them. There’s some way they click and they’re right for each other, but then there’s all this other conflict. You can’t just overload on conflict and tied to that is weak conflict. I’m We’ll see this generally happy couple having happy times, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be together, or a weak reason that they shouldn’t, you know, something that like reasonable people would figure out pretty quickly what they need to do because this person’s great and I want to spend, you know, the rest of my life with them. Or a lot of romances, um, can be just a bunch of arguments and hating on without any real driving motivation for them to be opposed to the to the other person and to being with them, which ties to, you know, these are all intertwined, but a third conflict related. rookie mistake is that recycled conflict, characters keep having the same argument or problem over and over again. You want to build in enough reasons for them to not be with the other person, whether its internal or external, ideally, both. I’m mostly so that you have something to tap on later. And and, you know, basically let their argument about who’s the biggest ass die after the first one, because it should change things a little, even if they don’t admit it. Um, it has consequences, like we were talking about that argument shouldn’t keep happening because it should have had consequences, internal and external, um, they’re changing a little each time, and therefore the next argument should be different.

Sacha Black
Yeah, and I think I think the thing that’s really important here is to remember that fiction is not reality. It is it is merely a representation of reality. We all know we’re all going to have this same argument every evening about what’s for fucking dinner. No reader ever needs to read that. We all have very, very repetitive arguments with our spouses because at the end of the day, we’ve all been together forever there is nothing else to argue about. But that is that is reality and not fiction. And it would be very boring if that was the conflict in the story. But I think that yeah, I think it’s really important. This escalation, each argument or point of conflict is an escalation on the previous one, which means there has to be a consequence in order for it to be escalated.

Kris Kennedy
And push the story forward. Things are different now.

Sacha Black
Yeah. Oh, I’ve got so much editing to do. I’m weeping with both 50% joy and 50% absolute horror right now.

Kris Kennedy
I’ve been there too.

Sacha Black
Okay, so I’m going to flip the order of the questions slightly. Just Because I think it makes sense to do the one I was going to ask last question from a patron now. Does romance always have to have a happily ever after? Can happiness be the result of the protagonist discovering a deeper level of self love and or contentment?

Kris Kennedy
Yes and yes.

There has to be a happily ever after we’re all about that. Although I will give a caveat you could be happily for now, you may see HFN. And that means happily for now that works too. But the key is for romance is that it’s emotionally optimistic in the end, and that the leads choose each other in the end in some way. So certainly you can have a protagonist who discovers a deeper level of self love and contentment and they they should hopefully That’s going to be part of their inner journey is I haven’t been being true to myself in all but before romance, it’s, I haven’t been being true to myself in all these other crappy ass romance relationships in my life, but I am real with this person. So that is where the romance ties in. Yes, you never want someone being untrue to themselves, or desperately craving a relationship. So they don’t have to deal with whatever they really have to deal with. Your protagonist has to deal with whatever they have to deal with at a personal level, but the romance is the best place for them to be and to get that self contentment to be that person who they need to be. So yeah, and you know, I think we need that emotionally optimistic, kind of ending more than ever these days. I mean, honestly, the way I see it, we are saving people here people and not just our characters, but sometimes Our readers to I people are struggling silently with so much. And they need a respite and a recharge and a reason to keep on and they need hope. And romance gives them that. Yeah,

Sacha Black
yeah, definitely. And I think this does come down to knowing your genre as well. Yeah. Happily ever after is basically the, the biggest trope in romance. It’s the it’s the unquestionable, I think. I can think of a couple of examples where I’ve read. So Jane Green, this was corr, probably 15 years ago. Now, Jane green, back then was quite a big romance writer. But the book The couple of examples, I think it was Jemima J and possibly Straight Talking, where the the women would have sort of a love triangle type situation. But actually, the story was really all about the women in finding themselves and being comfortable with themselves. But where that happened It then brings the genre into sort of this halfway between women’s lit and romance. So it’s about knowing where you’re positioning, you could write whatever the bloody hell you like. But just make sure you know how you’re going to market it. Because if it is cross genre, is there a cost of genre market for you? And yes, and if there isn’t, maybe it’s just a story you’re writing for you and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you are going to go against tropes that are so popular in genre, you know, just make sure you that you know that there is an audience out there.

Kris Kennedy
I think that is really great input and you’re right, you can straddle these genres and then it may be difficult to sell it, it just may it might also break out. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s just sort of knowing what you’re doing reading in the genres thinking about how you’re going to market it because if, if the romance isn’t primary, and it doesn’t end on that romance optimistic note, um, romance readers are not going to like it but others might love it. So yeah

Sacha Black
Okay, so let’s let’s change the subject now what is working for marketing romance right now?

Kris Kennedy
I have no idea. Seriously. Honestly, I you know, scammers have overrun Amazon. They’re spending huge amounts of money advertising, you know, five, six figures a month in ads. And I’m just not sure how people can compete. Aside from writing a fabulous insanely romantic book or insanely mysterious book or thriller book with great characters who arc and transform. I mean, the good news is the best advertising that you’ll ever get is to write a great story, and then another, another, you build your backlist and you’ll find your readers. But, um, but it’s hard to do from a marketing standpoint. And that, unfortunately is not my strength at all. Yeah.

Sacha Black
Okay, this is The Rebel Author podcast. So tell me about the time you unleash your inner rebel?

Kris Kennedy
Well, you know, I mean, I would say, it’s the summit that I did, um, you know, the romance writer summit that’s going on now, but by the time this airs, it will be over, although people will still be able to purchase the videos. Um, and that was it was insanely hard for me, not just the technical end of things, but emotionally I had to do so many things that were hard for me personally, that, you know, sort of stepping out of the shadows. I mean, literally, I’m in every video. Oh, and then yeah, then there’s the technical end.

Um, but it’s also been, I think, because it was so difficult. It was also so fabulous, I guess kind of like an arc for a character in our book, to, you know, you do the hard thing. And, you know, sometimes it pays off in real life. My vision was to get a bunch of crafts people together and do nothing but talk about story craft. And that’s what we did. And I today, although again, sorry, guys, it will be nice. You can cut this out if you need to. But we have a video game writer who worked on writing on the Game of Thrones and walking dead video games. And we just talked about storytelling in games. Um, it’s just is just awesome. And then to be able to share all that with a bunch of other writers who are serious about their craft. And that’s just that’s what they’re thinking about. How do I become better, a better storyteller. It just is really incredibly awesome.

Sacha Black
And I think the wonderful thing about that I always think that if you if you aren’t… No… Yes, if you aren’t out of your comfort zone, then you aren’t growing, you aren’t learning or developing. And if you aren’t changing as a person, then then you’re stagnating. So you know, I think it’s so important to to put you know, to push yourself and to can you get with us to continue to learn and and even doing this podcast? There were tears before I started this podcast, I wanted to do it for so so bloody long. And it was it was the technical side I didn’t want to do and I threw it out of the pram and then I pulled up my big girl panties and I sucked it up Princess, you know? You just have to push yourself out of that comfort zone. Because I am so proud and I am so glad because I get to talk to amazing people and learn so many amazing things. Even though I have to editing now.

Kris Kennedy
Really though, what you’re saying is true. It’s like we are our characters, right? I mean, really, because at any moment, we’re all facing tasks or challenges things. We’re avoiding beliefs or emotions that maybe aren’t serving us. And then the question is, and what am I going to do about it? If I want this thing, this story goal, what am I going to do about?

Sacha Black
So for anybody listening, if you’ve been putting off that thing. Go do it. You’ve been told. I know you have a thing. Go do that thing.

Kris Kennedy
Yes.

Sacha Black
Okay, so tell readers where they can find out more about you your books. I will obviously include a link to the summit. Not conference call this summit.

Kris Kennedy
Okay, you can call it a conference.

Sacha Black
Why can everybody find out more about you?

Kris Kennedy
Well, my author website is kriskennedy.net, not calm, it’s a net. And it’s Kris K R I S, and the romancewriterssummit.com. And my writing course website which is still under construction, um, it’s a work in progress, but that is romancewritinglab.com. So but even though the website is honestly, it’s just a placeholder page that I made and guys really design is just not my thing. Um, you can still access the sign up for the newsletter through that and it’s just a free writing tips newsletter that I sent out at extremely random times because I am a terribly organized person, I just, it’s terrible, but I send out writing tips. So sometimes it’s, you know, just like a paragraph of hey, give this a try. And other times I’m, you know, breaking something down in more depth, but it’s all craft. So you can sign up for that. At the romance writing lab website

Sacha Black
Amazing. Thank you so thank you to all of the patrons supporting the show. If you would like to get early access to all of the episodes, you can do so by going to www.patreon.com/SachaBlack and that is Sacha with a C. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you to Kris for your time today and your amazing tips that I have to do so much editing on Sacha Black. You’re listening to Kris Kennedy and this was The Rebel Author Podcast.

The post 014 How to Write Romance with Kris Kennedy appeared first on Sacha Black.

N.B. The summit is FREE for the first 24 hours after each speaker session goes live and the conference and registration is now OPEN.

More About the Romance Writing Craft Conference

Before you scream you’re not a romance author at me, fear not, you don’t have to be a romance author to benefit from the conference.

 There are over 20 expert interviews and presentations on a variety of writing topics like:

• Building Worlds & Characters (Award-Winning Author Rebecca Roanhorse)
• How to Add More Suspense & Thrills to Your Story (International Bestseller Brad Parks)
• Six Myths About Plotting that Keep Writers Stuck
• How To Grab Your Reader on Page One
• Crafting Memorable Characters
• Story by the Beats AND Adapting Your Novel to a Screenplay
• And many more!

And as a bonus they’ve got a free ebook download for writers called THREE KEYS TO WRITING POWERFUL ROMANCE.

As well as my presentation, I’m giving a huge bonus away to every single conference attendee, my entire villains workbook for FREE.

Click here to register for the summit and get my session — as well as all the other ones — free each day. For the first 24-hours each session goes live, it’s 100% free to watch. But hurry because today is day one.

You can view the full line-up of speakers & topics here.

I think this summit offers fantastic value, I’m personally going to hunker down, grab a pen and watch some of the sessions. Who’s joining me?

Here’s that registration link one more time.

CALLING ALL WRITERS: Romance #Writing Craft Summit Hosted by the amazing @KrisKennedy LIVE today! #selfpublishing #IARTG #ASMRG #amwriting #writingcommunity #writetip
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If you enjoyed this post, you might like this:

Create Killer Villains: Lessons From Villainelle

The post FREE Romance Writing Craft Conference LIVE Today appeared first on Sacha Black.

They got away. Left. Broke you in a way no time or superglue can ever fix. They are the ones that changed you. Forever. And they’re never coming back. That’s why no matter how much time lapses, no matter how many wrinkles you gather, it will still hurt. It failed and tore everything you knew to pieces.

Maybe it wasn’t a lover, maybe it was a job you lost, or a friend that parted ways, perhaps a parent, or aunt or maybe your first home. Whatever it was, we all have that one thing.

But isn’t there a kind of sick satisfaction in thinking about it? Like picking a scab, it hurts a bit, but its satisfying when you take the head off.

So here’s this weeks challenge:

Write about a nostalgia that hurts in less than 200 words.

This is dedicated to my friend, who hurt, but is now I’m pleased to say, smashing life again.

If you liked these posts, why not subscribe here to get writing tips, tools and inspiration as well as information on the release of my books.

Now to last weeks entries and stories about judgement.

First in Geoff with a true story

First time I see her I’m standing at the till. She sails past on her bike – pink wheels, not that I notice then. It’s her blond hair. An absolute mass.
Next I’m loading the car with paint and the same blond mountain walks past me. A back view only but the micro skirt and elongated legs are unmissable. Heels too which seem unnecessary given her height.
After that she’s unmissable. Or is that ubiquitous? Getting off the train. By the bar in the Goose and Gumption, seen through the smoke-tinged glass.
I suppose I’ve noticed her at least half a dozen times – a dazzling, statospheric presence – before I see her face. Really see the chiselled features, beak of a nose, grizzled chin. Not even a parody of masculinity.
What surprises me most? The flamboyancy? The in-your-face-ness? The courage?
It takes me too long to make up my mind because I must be gawping. He. She. I’m not sure where on the gender spectrum to place the person approaching me. But the expression on that face is unmistakable. Contempt. At the biases and prejudices my face cannot, in that moment, hide.
‘Go fuck yourself.’

Quite right.

Jane in next with this awesome little story with a twist (even if she’s cheating on her WIP, naughty!)

The bus is late. Warily, I watch the lad in the hoodie leaning in a doorway at the other side of the road. He takes a drag of his cigarette then spits on the ground. A little old lady with a stick and a big dog has to push past him to get out of her front door. She struggles with stick, key and dog to lock up.

The lad in the hoodie tosses away his cigarette. His voice raps out sharp words. The old lady quavers something and yanks on the dog’s lead. The dog reacts slowly. It’s fat. She yanks again. The dog limps, dragging a lame leg. She shouts, shrill and imperious. The stick whips up and down, and the dog screams.

The lad leaps after her and grabs the stick. The old lady shrieks abuse and people start to drift over. The lad throws the stick into the road and storms over to my bus stop.

He is young, fragile, eyes full of hurt. He stuffs his trembling hands into his pockets and watches as the old woman, still vociferating, moves off down the street. The dog turns, his eyes, like the boy’s full of misery.

Next, Hugh with this lovely little twist – jump over to his post to see the photo that inspired his story.

Juliet had watched all day as each woman went through the door that only unlocked itself on Leap Day.

Some came back smiling while others would come back through the door crying.

Now it was her turn and waiting on the other side was Glenn.

“Yes” was the word she heard when she proposed, but Juliet never came back through the door.

People waited for her and four years later there was still no sign of her.

The two women married each other. Juliet had stayed so she could rest in peace with her beloved Glenn.

Next Judy, with this CRACKING and hilarious poem with a proper lesson in it.

Tonight he’s feeling lucky

As he chats to the blonde at the bar

She really is a stunner

The best looking girl by far

Her boobs are pert and rounded

Her teeth so pearly white

With hair so long and lustrous

And a bum so firm and tight.

They leave the bar together

And end up at her place

He knows what’s about to happen

And his heart begins to race

He starts to kiss her deeply

And his hands begin to roam

It was not what he expected

When he encounters silicone!

He moves on swiftly upwards

And runs his hands all through her hair

But it feels all hard and bumpy

With the extensions that are there!

His ardour is now waning

As he gropes her peachy bum

And encounters control knickers

That hide a wobbly tum!

This is not what he signed up for

There must be some mistake

This perfect looking woman

Was really just all fake!

Lori Carlson in next, you can find her here and she’s written a fab story with a scary kick to it.

An Unexpected Night by Lori Carlson

Marlow wasn’t used to walking home alone. And definitely not at night. Her secretary usually accompanied her, but she had an unexpected dinner date that night. Marlow envied her secretary. She remembered when her calendar was filled with dates, but these days, she was lucky to even get a drink with a handsome stranger.

She left the office and headed down 5th Street. The City was still bustling with people even though it was after seven. She turned the corner and headed up Butte Avenue. She only lived a few blocks away and hate to spend money on a taxi if she could help it. Her mind drifted to the day’s business accounts. They’d just acquired a new account and Marlow had spent half the day reviewing the records. This account, if handled correctly, could put her on the map.

She heard the footsteps. Leather on pavement. Clip clap. Clip clap. It wasn’t that unusual for someone to be headed in her direction. If she wasn’t alone, she’d probably never even paid attention. She kept walking.

The footsteps got louder. Closer. Clip clap. Clip clap. Marlow increased her steps. Her heart skipped a few beats. She laughed at herself for feeling frightened.

Faster and faster, the sound of footsteps even closer. Marlow turned the corner and quickened her steps. She thought about taking a short cut through the park and then decided against it. She would be completely isolated in there. What if whoever was following her entered the park too?

The steps behind her turned into a slow jog. She could hear the heavy pounding on the pavement. Apprehension turned into real fear. Dare she look back? The sound intensified. Whoever was behind her was now running. Marlow heart raced. Her mouth went dry. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She sprinted across the street to head up her block to her apartment building.

Clip clap clip clap clip clap.

The person behind her was running across the street too. She could almost feel his breath on her neck. Had she taken one too many chances in a City this big? Don’t let me die this way, she prayed. She kept running. Just a half of a block more and she would be home.

“Angie! Angie!” a voice behind her screamed.

Marlow looked ahead of her and saw a blond standing at the end of the block. She stopped, turned around and was nearly knocked down by a man running behind her.

“Oh sorry!” he apologized. “My fiancée is just there,” he pointed at the blond.

Marlow laughed nervously as she smiled at the man. He went on about his business, but Marlow couldn’t help but still feel anxious. It hadn’t been what she thought at all, but she wouldn’t feel safe until she was inside her locked apartment.

The post Writespiration #82 Nostalgia That Hurts appeared first on Sacha Black.

I remember mine even less fondly than that. I was in the back of a local disco for under 18’s. I forget exactly how old I was, maybe 14. The long-awaited, compulsory slow dance came on a few songs from the end. There’s that moment of sheer panic, every boy and girl in the disco freezes, and casts furtive looks around the room. No ones sure who will grab who and who will suffer the god awful fate of being left on the side.

On this occasion, some stinky teenage boy, from the popular group at school, pounced on me. He latched on with tentacle hands and dragged me (ok, willingly) onto the dance floor. He pulled me in tight like he was cinching a waist band and planted his fat lips on my face.

It was gross. He was like a crazed hoover desperate to suck the oxygen out my lungs. But worse, he then tried to choke me with a slug; his slimy fat tongue flopped in my mouth and I swear it was worst than a pneumatic drill. I have written about slug kisses before I am still not a fan!

Anyway, that’s your challenge, write about a first kiss.

Now to last weeks Writespiration and going to your happy place. First up

Helen and her deepening vampire story, its graphic, vivid and I can’t wait for it to be written. You can read another piece in this tale here.

I’m alone in the dark. I hate it. My mother makes me do this, my eyes straining until red blooms in the darkness. As if it’s going to make any difference whatsoever.
I’m human.
No matter what she does, or how much she loves me, it’s not going to change. So when she leaves, silken wings rustling, I turn inwards. To my happy place.
But something’s different.
My happy place is full of sunshine, golden green leaves above me, shafts of light coming through the trees. The air is fresh and I laugh as I run along the trail, my lack of speed and strength and night vision no problem here, an escape from the guilt of being such a disappointment.
So why the hell am I back in the club? It’s all smoke and red leather and the scent of blood, music pounding in time with my heart.
His eyes are silver grey, his lips parting as he turns. As he comes closer I can see his fangs have dropped. I lick my lips, hoping the anti-feed spray is still working. I can feel his heat, blood-warm and ice-cold. He reaches out to touch me.
My new happy place.

Next up Sarah, with a story that I am certain has legs.

– Joint Pain –

I don’t have a happy place.

I saw someone talking about it in a dumb Disney movie. Can’t remember which one. They’re always on in the background at Sam’s house. His little sister watches those things like her life depends on it. Shit, maybe it does. What do I know? Maybe that’s her happy place. Maybe that’s her lifeline or something. Hell of a lot better than mine. Or Sam’s.

He hands me the joint he lifted from his mum’s purse. I fish matches out of my pocket and we wait for the smoke to kill the stench of neglect and the pain of our bruises to fade.

Next up, Jane, with a beautifully happy story.

She is everywhere in the house, Georgette. Not surprising since she lived here for ninety-seven years. There’s a photo of her on the wall, as well as her parents and husband. No children though. She lived here alone with the two cows until her nephew persuaded her to move to a flat where he could keep an eye on her. There’s a smell of sprightly old lady and cats. Her chair by the stove has a ball of knitting wool shoved down the side. The messages about groceries and visits stuck on the wall by the phone still shout out that life goes on.

In the garden, her bulbs are coming up. In the cowshed, the hay bales smell fresh and spring-like. There is no feeling of emptiness or sadness, but expectancy. What is the house waiting for?

Us.

She has left a trail, determined and defiant, as if she has just gone down to the shop to buy a packet of coffee.

We’ll take good care of your house, Georgette.

I make a promise to visit her in her new flat, show her how life has forged another link, and take her the first narcissi.

Next in Charli is continuing to cheat on her WIP with the ever defiant Jen, and her happy knots.

Bumping Knots by Charli Mills

Jen worked her way down the log, hacking each branch with swift strokes. Her axe sliced raw wood, leaving a bump where once a branch grew. Sap like blood pooled, scenting the air with pine. Without pausing, Jen inhaled the natural perfume. Each step in her laced-up boots was sturdy, her feet knew the way and her thighs tingled with exertion to stay balanced while moving. By the time she reached the end of one log, she’d jump to the next one the draft horses skidded to the landing.

Bumping knots was her happy place.

Breakfast had been a disaster. Schnatterly, the dandy mine owner, showed up to rally the loggers into providing more logs for his flume. Investors were anxious for return on the gold in Boulder Creek, he claimed. Jen’s uncle didn’t like Schnatterly, and this morning the odious man announced his mine now owned the logging operation. Her uncle stood like deadwood. Worse, when Jen rose to refill her coffee, Schnatterly noticed her. Noticed she was female. “You can serve coffee to the room, Hefier.” Her cheeks had burned. Now the sawyers were all calling her Heifer. Demanding coffee.

She continued to swing her axe instead.

The post Writespiration #78 Write About A First Kiss appeared first on Sacha Black.

Tears splashed onto the lily’s as I knelt to place them on mum’s grave, the last thing she’d said was to be free and live my life again, I’d spent too long caring for her instead of me. 

“I buried my mum today too. Do you need a drink as much as I do? there’s a pub round the corner.” said a smooth voice from behind me. I smiled. Mum was forcing me to live.

“Sure.” 

***

What is it with me and cheating? I can’t seem to follow my own rules. But meh, close enough. Besides you never know how inspiration strikes.

***

Now to the last writespiration entrants

Ali up first this time with a lengthy sentence for us:

I didn’t mean to hurt her; it’s just that I couldn’t imagine how anything I had to say or do would be of any help to anyone, so of course, I immediately said “No,” and, in so doing, that one small word was enough to destroy all her carefully tended hopes and dreams.

***

Geoff excelled himself with the most complex sentence I’ve ever attempted to read, I’m not sure it even makes sense! :p

Conjugating Grammar
If A is a gerundive exclamation and B is a homonymical verbosity where the root of B is a function of the indicative modal verb, then using as an example CD from the participle conjunction, can you extrapolate the subjunctive relative pronoun to prove that this sentence is complex?

***

Finally I had a submission from Victoria from theicarusproject.net on twitter.

***

The post #Writespiration 63 Two Sentence Romance Stories appeared first on Sacha Black.

Like the TV advert, the wife and I decided to set up an email account for our newborn  son to open on his 18th birthday. We will spend the next 18 years sending letters, photos and videos to him in secret, so that his life with us is chronicled. I thought you may like to read my first entry.

My Dearest A,

You are currently my little sleeping beauty upstairs in your crib. I am hoping you are reading this on or around your 18th birthday, as we have now given you the password and account details for this account.

I want you to know, wherever you are, wherever we are, I am immensely proud of whoever you have become. I love you with all my heart, you are my world.

‘The Very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone.’ Jane Austen.

 

You’re 11 and a half weeks old, just shy of 3 months old. I look at you now and wonder how you came to be. It feels like you have been here my entire life, and yet, for just a moment, and already I love you with such immensity that it takes over my entire being.

I am still at home on maternity leave with you at the moment and will be for a few more weeks. I savour every moment of time I spend with you, because I will be at work soon and then every moment I spend away from you will be a moment wasted.

The best parts of my day are when you smile at me, or when I get to watch you learn something new. Your making lots of noises these days, and beginning to form a real laugh, and I can’t help but giggle every time you do; your learning to sit – although you scream in protest every time we practice, you much prefer standing up. You love your door bouncer and finally your starting to learn to roll over.

I am talking to my 18 year old son… I will be 44 by the time your 18. Oh my god, that seems like a life time away, I can’t imagine what I will be like at 44, or who I will be, let alone who you will be.

What do I hope for you? Firstly and most importantly I hope you are happy. I hope you have had a wealth of experiences, good, bad, naughty and ugly! I hope you are safe and well. I hope you have studied hard, and played harder, I hope you have loved and lost and loved again and I hope you have travelled.

Every parent wants their child to be a doctor, lawyer, pilot or some other well paid career. But I just hope that you have found something that will make you happy for the duration of your career, I don’t care if your a ballerina, a seamstress, a chef or a boxer. As long as you work hard you will be the best you can be, but enjoy whatever you choose to do in life, because life is too short to be unhappy…. but secretly I do hope you have chosen to go to university! I met your mumma at university and I am sure I speak for her too when I tell you how much fun we had at university, even during the all nighters trying to finish assignments.

I hope you enjoy the next 18 years of emails! It might take a day or two to get through!

Happy Birthday baby boy, I love you always and forever, mummy. xxx

The post A Letter To My 18 Year Old Son appeared first on Sacha Black.

In true Sacha style, not only was my proposal unique (that’s a story for another day), so was the way I met my beautiful partner.

As if fate had always intended, not only did I live on the same street as my future girlfriend, we had mutual friends, and I worked in the pub she drank in.

I must have served her a million times before we met, and for some reason we had never noticed each other.

That’s a good thing because we were both in relationships.

About three and a half years ago on exactly the same day, fate struck again. We both became single, under different circumstances but it happened on exactly the same day. Both having been in substantial relationships neither of us were particularly fussed about meeting someone.

Exactly six days later….

I was at work, had been in the kitchen of my student bar so stank of chip fat and grease, but a mutual friend of ours persuaded me to grab my spare t shirt and head to the club. So off I went with my stinky work combat pants and spare t shirt, no make up and no hair done, generally looking a state, and slide up to the bar to cue for a pint. At this point my future girlfriend apparently spotted me with our mutual friend at the bar (I was oblivious at this point) so she decided to grab my attention.

She trotted up to the bar and barged passed me shunting me to the side as she whispered in our mutual friends ear. Furious I turned round ready to scruff this random rude girl up. I looked at her, and melted instantly. She was genuinely the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I felt sick with butterflies.

She went back to wherever she came from and I grabbed our mutual friend gasping “who’s your friend? Tell me she’s gay and tell me she’s single??”

The mutual friend groaned and said she is, but only recently I wouldn’t go there if I were you.

Too late.

I was hook line and sinker for this gorgeous women.

I made our mutual friend introduce me, and we stood chatting, I was barely able to make conversation I was so hideously full of butterflies and adrenaline.

There was at this point another girl, who was obsessively chasing me and I had absolutely no interest in her. I told the future girlfriend this and she said, bold as brass in front of me “well why don’t you let me kiss you in front of her, and she might go away…?” she said grinning at me with her cute white teeth and mesmerising smile.

I about threw up there and then, and felt my legs want to give way. I giggled completely unable to utter a response, and wished beyond anything that she would just kiss me, and ravish me right there in the club. I wanted her. BAD.

We spent the rest of the night chatting and talking, she had me wrapped around her little finger instantly, and I was captivated by every syllable she said. Four of us went back to my house for a while and then we walked everyone back down our road a few houses and into her house. We chatted until the early hours of the morning. It must have been about 4 or 5am and I started to shiver  her house was not the warmest, so she went to get me a duvet. The four of us carried on chatting and I sat on the sofa next to her as she laid the duvet over us. Our mutual friend sat on the other side.

Whilst we carried on chatting she put her hands under the duvet, and edged it closer to mine. I could feel the warmth from her hand getting closer to mine and it made my stomach churn.

Our little fingers connected, and I could feel the electricity between us. We held hands under the duvet till the light came up. I said good night we her number in my phone, and walked home with a grin I couldn’t remove.

We spoke all week and met up a few days later. A week after we met, on my birthday, all our friend were out, it was a london underground party and I was dressed as ‘Angel’ a slower song was being played by the Dj and we sidled up to each other dancing slowly arms locked around her neck. She looked into my eyes and her soft lips touched mine. It was the most delicious kiss I have ever had, and all our friends cheered whilst they danced around us!

That was three and a half years ago. Now, in 5 weeks time, she will be my wife.

I will tell you how she proposed next time!

NOTE: This is not actually us!!

The post My lesbian love story… appeared first on Sacha Black.