How I Became a Romance Writer

How I became a romance writer.

The reason we at Novella Live talk about writing as a journey is because it's just that. Finding your niche, the little part of the writing world that you can make your home, can take years.

Despite writing for well over a decade and working on 55 books, I didn't find out I was a romance writer until three years ago - and yes, I said "find out" because my journey to becoming a romance writer was one of discovery for sure.

The worst advice I ever got was "write what you love to read." While that's great advice in theory, because why would you write something you hate reading, it also puts unrealistic goals and expectations into your head.

Take me for example, I absolutely adore high-fantasy. Give me epic heroes on a quest to save the world any day! However, even though I love reading those types of stories, I would get burnt out from writing them. I'd create these elaborate worlds with religion, culture, flora, and fauna, just to get to the first page and be completely creatively burnt out or even worse - completely uninterested.

When it came to high-fantasy, I'd used up all my creative energy in the plotting stage that when it actually came time to write the story I never actually felt like writing.

This pattern of disinterest went on for most of my writing career unfortunately. I'd get an idea, jot it down, world build, and then start to write to only stop half way through the novel; my love for writing that story was completely depleted before I even hit the halfway mark.

Three years ago I joined NaNoWriMo for the first time. I'd known about it forever, but that year I had really struggled as a writer and thought that maybe this was the kick in the butt that I needed to stay motivated since competitions and hard deadlines are the way I focus best.

And I don't know why, but that year I decided instead of just writing any old high-fantasy, I wanted to write one focused around a love story...

I wrote 50k that month. That was more than I had written of all of my novels from the previous year combined. The story just came naturally to me. I didn't need excessive planning, I didn't need to rack my brain to make everything perfect. I just sat down and wrote 50k words in a single month.

That's when the door had finally opened - but not necessarily when I decided to walk through it.

The next couple books I drafted over the next two years all focused around a love story of some type or another and with each one I slowly found my passion for writing again. Deadlines were no longer dreaded, writing sessions weren't a chore. I was actually excited to write.

Writing quickly became my life again. When I wasn't writing I was thinking about writing, or talking about writing, or dreaming about writing.

But what I didn't realize was the fact that I wasn't getting excited to write the fantasy aspects of these novels, but I was getting excited to write the romance scenes. I wasn't excited to just be writing any story, I was excited to be writing romance.

It wasn't until I started reading more romance novels and romance webcomics that it finally clicked and I finally walked through that door.

"Write what you love to read."

And so I did. I threw out all the high-fantasy garbage and focused purely on romance...

I've never been happier.

So my advice to you is don't write what you love to read, just write what you love.

I've always loved love. It's my favorite part of any story. So that's what I focus on. I want my readers to get butterflies, swoon, and fall in love with love - just as I have.

It took me a decade to realize this. It took me 55 books to realize this. Writing is a journey.

I'm a romance writer, I'll always be a romance writer, and this is when my actual writing journey begins.

Love always,

Plotbunny