The Best Writing Craft Books for Romance Authors
/Whether you’re wrestling with crafting the romantic couple, designing the plot, or drafting scenes to make readers blush, these books can help you turn your current work-in-progress into a romance novel readers will love.
Many general writing craft books skip topics romance writers need. They don’t cover how to craft a story with dual protagonists or provide details on creating meaningful romantic conflict. Few include story structures that work when the development of a relationship *is* the story. While you can always work with an editor to help you shape your novel, not everyone is ready or able to take that step.
Luckily, there are some great romance-specific resources that cover what general writing books leave out. Whether you’re new to romance, considering writing it, or looking to polish up your romance-writing skills, the following books and digital resources can help you write romance novels your readers will love.
Each recommendation below says why the book is on this list, what topics the book includes, when the book is likely to be helpful, and when you’d be better off skipping it.
Read on or click a link below to jump to that section.
The Books to Help You Master Romance Fundamentals
The Online Group to Help You Upgrade Your Romance Skills
The Books to Help You Structure a Romance Novel
The Book to Help You Understand Romance Tropes
The Books to Help You Master Romance Fundamentals
Writing the Romance Novel: Crafting a Love Story that Sells by Leigh Michaels
Why it’s on the list: Michaels provides a comprehensive exploration of topics of interest to romance authors. The exercises help you deepen your understanding of the genre, through analysis of other novels you admire.
What it covers:
What differentiates a romance from a story with romantic elements and definitions of romance subgenres
Four crucial basics a romance novel needs
How to create romantic heroes who appeal to readers as individuals and who have a believable, once-in-a-lifetime connection to each other
What conflict means in romance and how to balance the conflict with the force that keeps the characters from escaping their situation
How and where to start and end your romance, prevent common problems in opening and closing scenes, and avoid clichés when your lovers meet and when they reach their resolution
Writing satisfying love scenes and what love scenes look like in different subgenres
A detailed breakdown of the different POVs used in romance and which ones are most widely used
Creating dialogue and introspection, including how to differentiate male and female characters
Two methods for developing your plot: What if? and Backwards plotting
Overview of how to sell your romance to traditional publishers or self-publish it
Read when: You’re new to romance, looking for a place to start, and are the type of writer who works best when you get ALL the information up front. Or when you just want to know everything about romance.
Skip when: You’re looking for a new way to think about romance fundamentals. Or you feel overwhelmed by too much information and are an experiential learner.
Why it’s on the list: Contains a succinct discussion of crafting the characters, conflict, and plot of a romance novel that focuses on how to turn a story that uses common tropes and elements into something new.
What it covers:
What romantic conflict is
Exercises to use character and plot tropes to plan a 40-60k word novel (a typical length for a category romance*) and still create something unique
How to avoid the common plot problems that stem from a mismatch between the romantic heroes
Recommendations on how to scale your conflict so it fits in the desired word count
Read when: You’re new to romance, looking for a place to start, and you’re a learn by doing kind of writer. Or you’re looking for a unique perspective on romance fundamentals.
Skip when: You want a single book that covers every topic romance novelists need to know.
Take the romance quiz
See how much progress you’ve made in creating a once-in-a-lifetime love story for your characters–and figure out what comes next.
The Online Group to Help You Upgrade Your Romance Skills
Writers Who Love Romance on Scribophile (online writing critique community)
Why it’s on the list: Writers Who Love Romance (WWLR) has a book’s worth of romance knowledge within its discussion threads, including a catalog of resources to help you craft characters, design conflict, plot your romance, and write scenes. Plus, it’s an active community of writers who will answer questions and cheer you on in the weekly and long-term goals threads. There are two resource threads in WWLR you shouldn’t miss.
Recommended threads and what they cover:
Sherry Thomas notes. Thomas is an award-winning author who led a workshop on writing romance at the 2016 Nimrod Writer’s Conference. This thread contains her notes from teaching that workshop which covered romantic chemistry, romantic conflict, and the role of love (a.k.a. sex) scenes in your romance novel.
Read this thread when: You’re completely new to romance and looking for a place to start. Or you want a quick review of romance fundamentals.
Resources for Noobie Romance writers. This thread contains a decade’s worth of links to blog posts, books, cheat sheets, generators, etc. that will be helpful to new romance writers. On page 15, you’ll find a link to a spreadsheet that contains a sortable, searchable list of over 200 resources including: Harlequin editor Flo Nicoll’s webinar “Conflict Is Key”, blog posts on writing from a male vs. female POV, writing sex scenes, and hints on portraying body language.
Read this thread when: You’re looking for info on a specific topic and Google has let you down.
Skip these threads when: You’re looking for direct feedback on your fiction. Then, you can post to the group (and Scribophile at large) for critique.
The Books to Help You Structure a Romance Novel
Romance authors need to think about story structure differently from other fiction writers. Many popular story structure frameworks (e.g. Larry Brooks’s Story Engineering, Shawn Coyne’s Story Grid method, Hero’s journey) don’t work that well for romance. Here are three romance-specific frameworks to help you plot your novel.
How to Outline a Romance Novel by Julie L. Spencer
Why it’s on the list: Spencer explains how romances differ from other fiction structurally and presents a romance-specific outline method. She gives detailed explanations of each component of the outline and works through an extended example to show how the outline works in practice.
What it covers:
The two ingredients that differentiate a romance novel from other fiction
How to tell if you’ve got a “romance novel” or a novel with a romantic subplot
*Why* popular story structure frameworks don’t work well for romance novels
A romance-specific outline split into three acts: The Beginning, The Middle, and The End.
Acts are split into three sections: The Beginning of the Act, The Middle of the Act, and The End of the Act. (There are 9 total sections across an entire book.)
Each section is split into individual elements of a romance. There’s variation in how many elements go with each section, but there are 44 total. Only some elements are required, others are optional.
Read when: You’re looking for an in-depth structure for outlining your romance.
Skip when: You get overwhelmed by too much information or feel boxed in by detailed outlines.
Why it’s on the list: Every romance writer needs to find a plotting strategy that works for them. Harrington proposes a flexible planning method that starts with the romantic heroes. The writer identifies one limiting belief in one of the romantic heroes and develops the story from there. (If you’d like to see examples of developing character arcs based on beliefs in a work-in-progress, check out Two Vital Ingredients in a Romance and Designing a Multi-Book Character Arc.)
What it covers:
A six-step process for developing a romance novel with worked examples from published books
A four stage character arc: Start, Resistance, Growth, Transformation
How to expand each stage of the character arc into a sequence of scenes
Read when: You want a more character-focused approach to plotting your novel.
Skip when: You’re a plot-first writer or you’ve got your plot figured out.
Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes
Why it’s on the list: This is a minimalist version of how to structure a romance. In a very short book, Hayes presents a beat-based method for structuring a romance and shares a sample breakdown of the beats from a previously published 15k word short romance story.
What it covers:
The four phases of a romance novel: The Setup, Falling in Love, Retreating from Love, Fighting for Love
Explanations of each of the twenty individual beats that occur across those four phases
Read when: You want a Cliff Notes version of how to structure a romance.
Skip when: You thrive on maximum information.
See how much progress you’ve made in creating a once-in-a-lifetime love story for your characters–and figure out what comes next.
The Book to Help You Understand Romance Tropes
Why it’s on the list: Romance authors use tropes and hooks to both design and sell their novels. Understanding tropes can help you write the kind of romances that readers are searching for and help you signal to readers that your book is one they’d enjoy.
What it covers:
What tropes and hooks are and how they relate to plot, character, and setting
Breakdown of the subgenres of romance
A to Z list of tropes and hooks with definitions for each one
Reference when: You want to check the definition of a specific trope or hook. You’re searching for ideas on tropes or hooks to add to your romance.
Skip when: You already know tropes inside and out.
The Books to Help You Write Kissing Scenes
Why it’s on the list: Julie Lessman has been called the “Kissing Queen” of inspirational romance. Her novels contain more kisses than the average book in her subgenre. In this how-to book, she shares tips and tricks alongside helpful examples. Several standout chapters also include counterexamples of what NOT to do.
What it covers:
Why sharing the POV of the male hero (in hetero romances) or love interest (in queer romances) is the key to romantic tension
Tips on how to enhance the drama in scenes with only two speakers using action beats, pauses, and good dialogue. With examples showcasing the tips discussed.
How to use word choice to maximize romantic tension. Example excerpts highlight the emotional power words used.
A list of mild insults and derogatory expressions appropriate for inspirational romance (or young adult fiction)
A catalog of types of kisses differentiated by circumstances and character intention. Includes examples of each from the author’s novels.
Read when: You’re looking for ideas on how to spice up your scenes while your heroes keep their clothes on.
Skip when: You’re a master of restrained steaminess already, or you’re looking for help writing scenes with a higher heat level.
Why it’s on the list: Romance readers expect your heroes to kiss and they want it to be tantalizing. Karen Winter provides the theory behind a good first kiss scene. Then analyzes excerpts of first kisses from 10 bestselling romances.
What it covers:
Why the first kiss between your romantic heroes is so important
How to write a first kiss scene - setting the stage, getting characters into position, the kiss, and the aftermath.
Excerpts from 10 bestselling romances, including contemporary, historical, romantic suspense, paranormal, fantasy and science fiction romances. The excerpts range in sensuality from sweet to erotic, and use a couple different strategies to manage the viewpoint.
A list of types of kisses differentiated by the body parts involved.
Read when: You want to learn a little of first kiss theory. Or you’re looking for a breakdown of a first kiss scene in your subgenre so you can write or revise the one in your romance.
Skip when: You’re acing the first kiss and are looking for examples of what happens when the kiss becomes something more intimate. (If that’s the case, you can also check out Winter’s book Writing the Love Scene: An analysis of how to write romantic love scenes like the experts. )
See how much progress you’ve made in creating a once-in-a-lifetime love story for your characters–and figure out what comes next.
The Book to Help You Write Love Scenes (a.k.a. Sex Scenes)
Be a Sex Writing Strumpet by Stacia Kane
Why it’s on the list: A practical hands-on 😉 guide to writing steamy scenes. It covers a breadth of topics to help you write scenes that make readers blush. Plus, exercises to help you put this new knowledge into practice.
What it covers:
When your story needs a sex scene and when it doesn’t
How to show your romantic heroes have a deep connection
The two key ingredients to a hot sex scene
A catalog of nouns for specific body parts and evocative “trigger words” to describe your characters’ desires and actions.
Illustrating the status of the relationship between your characters using their thoughts during sex
Increasing the heat level with foreplay
How to write about sex without embarrassment
Read when: You want to know the secrets of creating smoking hot physical chemistry between your characters.
Skip when: You’re already a beast with writing love scenes, or you’re writing a kissing-only novel.
Your Turn
Did any of these books help you write a romance novel? Are there books or other resources about romance that I missed? Do you have burning questions that you wish you had an answer to? I’d love to hear in the comments!
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