My RWA Chapter Meeting

I don't usually blog twice in the same day, but of course I had to give credit to Caz for this gorgeous website. She's very talented and patient. Someone stole the design I wanted. (That's me, whining. Sorry, Kate.) No problem, she replies. What do you think of this one?

It's great. It's perfect. Except, um, it's a little too small. (whine. Two guesses who this is.) No problem, she says. Try this one set at higher resolution. A gem. That's what Caz is. An absolute gem. Takes a complete crybaby stranger under her wing and makes her blog look incredible. Thank you again, Caz. You're beautiful.


Today's blog is about yesterday's RWA chapter meeting. I wanted to jot down my thoughts while it was still fresh in my mind. Christie Ridgway was so incredibly informative I'm still trying to take it all in. She talked about having a killer first chapter. Begin where the trouble begins. By the end of chapter one, the reader should know what the character's goal is, should see that the character is driven to restore balance, and have a very good idea of what obstacle(s) lie in the character's way. She talked about conflict: inner conflict that the hero and heroine each feel; external conflict (obstacles) that come their way; and conflict between the two. The conflict between the two is how they look at problems differently, i.e., the fireman and the arsonist, or the cop and the thief.

The conflict is not about them falling in love. After all, in a romance, that's pretty much a given. No, the conflict between the two is about why they can't fall in love... why they're afraid to act on the love they feel. And, of course, the hero and heroine must have a chemistry that pushes them through the conflicts. Readers will see there's something special between these two characters.

You must make the reader care about the characters, or they won't keep turning the pages. Romance is, for the most part, character-driven more than plot-driven. Not to say you can forego a plot. But the characters are why the reader has picked up the book to begin with.

It's up to you to make sure you write something that isn't a frustrating wall-slammer.