Customer Reviews

How to Write Romances (Genre Writing Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A must for anyone who wants to write a romance book. Mrs.Pianka does an superb job in her step by step process of how to begin your novel. And the character description sheets are ideal for sketching out your characters. This book is exactly what the aspiring romance novelist needs.

Very, very valuable as both a guide to writing romances and a guide to getting them published. Gives concrete, useful tips and techniques on all aspects of the process, and manages to make it all sound fun and achievable. Especially excellent were the sections on dialogue, planning, plot pacing, and writing for specific lines and genres (historical, fantasy, Christian, etc). Also much fun to read if you think romances are silly, because there are frequent references to how popular "secret babies, cowboys and arranged marriages" are.

This book has really calmed a lot of fears that I had when I began writing. Pianka is very thorough but not overbearing in her explanations on how to create compelling romance. She includes great advice from well known romance writers such as Nora Roberts and Jo Beverley. I have the highest regards for many of the people who she interviewed.

She makes learning fun and enjoyable. There are many humorous antecedotes that made me laugh. And I enjoyed reading some of the things editors had to say as well. She also kept me grounded with her advice that the process can be hard and there is a lot of competition. But she's very encouraging and uplifting with her advice that there's lots of unexplored plots, characters and ground to be discovered in romance fiction.

Fast Flowing... this book really helps to get you focused and serious about writing.

I'm not a romance writer, but decided, on the recommendation of a friend, to read this book. Before I knew it I had my highlighter out and was highlighting key things that I knew I wanted to refer back to.

This book is not just a book about how to write romances. It is far more than that. It also gives key information on writing romance vs mainstream fiction, tremendously useful key information, and a lot of encouragement (enough that I actually outlined the plot of my next novel).

I have read a lot of books regarding writing. This is one of the most useful ones I've read to date. I believe any beginning writer could benefit from much of the information held in this particular book. It now stands as a keeper on my shelf - one I'm sure I'll refer back to as my writing progresses.

In American fiction, 40% of the marketplace is in the romance category. Novelist Phyllis Pianka takes writers through the paces to learn about the genre and discover their niche in the marketplace. In particular I love the realism built into the section called Fifty-Three Reasons Why a Book May Be Rejected.

Because I am an acquisitions editor and I've rejected more than 200 fiction submissions since January, I can quickly agree with these various reasons and the validity of them in many writer's submissions.

If you are interested in learning how to write romance novels, I recommend you consider this book.

Great outlined format on how to establish a clean plot with the proper elements for creating a romance novel. This is an older version but the information is still current. Highly recommend for simplifying storylines and staying focused. I love this book.

This book is a great investment for anyone who wants to pursue writing romance stories. I found it worth every penny and then some.

This is a good book, but if you have never published a book before, you will need something more to go with it. I do like the part where she tells you exactly how to write each scene though. It tells quite a bit of information, but to me it's not enough!

This book is very helpful. It gives step by step descriptions in writing your own book. It's flow makes it easy to follow. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in writing their own book that has no background in writing.