Cool!  But just FYI--to make the links live to click on...it needs a specific format.

But no worries, it's why we have copy and paste.

I know you said Romantic Suspense but that covers a LOT of territory.

Is it killer/romance, spy/romance, chase/romance?   

Contemporary I assume.

Without supernatural aspects? 

Are you shooting for something like 180 page quick romance or more along the lines of Kresley Cole Or Nora Roberts with a full or oversize book with reoccurring characters?



It's just romance can mean so many things.

T

Last edited by TirzahLaughs (06-25-2012 15:05:22)

Cool!!!

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/59628


Just make sure the link isn't run into text and it'll work.

Images require IMG tags.

Last edited by TirzahLaughs (06-25-2012 18:31:31)

Jonny breaks the romance bad guy rules.   He's having sex on screen with a trashy woman while cheating on his girlfriend AFTER he's met the book's love interest.
This takes him beyond bad boy to skeevy ick guy.  This is usually a big no-no in a contemporary short romance.

If you were writing it as literary or even contemporary fiction, I think it'd be okay (if not my favorite) but for a straight up romance, to me, this will NOT work.   

If you look at a lot of the 80,000 words quick romances with a bad guy---normally the bad guy can only do skeevy things if A) he has not yet met with the love interest B)he does these things 'off screen' and not in front of the reader or C) it is in appearance only or D) he does it for the greater good (save the family, revenge, family curse).

He breaks the general rules of thumb for the romance bad guy and I think it makes the story a non-starter for the general romance crowd (not including literary romance, drama romance). 

He's skeevy, in other words.     He gets a blow job from a stripper ON SCREEN in front of the reader after we just met his girlfriend for no other reason but he's a scumbag--and this is after meeting the love interest (if it is a love interest--they don't seem attracted or repulsed--they ignore each other).    I don't know if you'll keep the reader long enough to watch him become a better person.   Have the blow job off screen where the reader knows but doesn't see it.  Have him show some interest in the main girl (maybe he thinks about love interest when his girlfriend is stalking him or when watching the stripper).

You need to build some connection between the two at the start whether it be hate, anger, loathing, love or lust.  They don't have any sparks so why read?  You need sparks even if they are of loathing.
   
Oh--you know you can reply to reviews, right?  Most reviewers will expect a reply back even if it is only 'Thank you for reviewing me, I appreciate it."
  Just FYI.

Have a great day!

T

Last edited by TirzahLaughs (06-26-2012 11:04:18)

I work in academic publishing/sales. Blah---which is as boring as it sounds.

I just read a lot of romance.  Your actual writing is quite good but the characters don't work for me.  I think it depends on your audience. 

I guess it really matters where you plan on selling the book.

There is a huge difference between a suspense novel that has romance and a romance novel with suspense.   

But maybe you'll break new ground.

With a suspense novel--with romance...you have more leeway on the characters because the HEA isn't guaranteed.  Therefore you don't have to like couple or the guy because the main point of the story isn't the romance.  The suspense is main part, the romance is the icing or the turd (depending on the people).   

  In a romance with suspense, the HEA is guaranteed so those characters having more sparks right away is required. In an HEA romance, the characters relationship takes center stage during the entire book and the suspense is just the icing.   In an HEA, that first meeting sets the tone for the whole book...and you better have invested the reader and hooked them in the relationship working--or they'll stop reading.

A non-HEA romance and a HEA romance are different in reader expectations.


Oh---HEA---Happily Ever After.

If I'm reading an HEA, I'm going to expect to want them together.  HEA---Kresley Cole,  Nora Roberts, even JR WARD...the HEA is guaranteed.

If i'm reading a non-HEA romance, nothing is guarenteed.  Most tragic or literary romance is non-HEA.   Non-HEA--Jane Eyre, A Walk to Remember, Wuthering Heights, Atonement

T

Last edited by TirzahLaughs (06-26-2012 20:02:57)