I am having a bunch of trouble coming up with ideas. I really want something exciting, but most of my previous works have been romance based . Do you guys think that I should trash the whole romance thing altogether? I also need a plot. I was thinking that I could do a spy/ James Bond thing, but I'm not sure how to. Please help!!!
Well, the romance could provide a plot. I'm currently writing a story about two people who work at the same place and need to keep their relationship a secret. You could write a story about someone who falls in love with the wrong person. Or someone who commits crimes for their love.
My fantasy has a romance in it - in fact due to the tarty nature of my MC in this book I have a love quadrangle or square lol The story has a very dark gritty element - the two elements are about equal in their importance to the story.
Well like I always say the first thing you need to do is write any of your ideas down. This frees up your head for new ideas and will stop you getting stuck certain points. As for whether you should do a romance or not well... If you like doing them go for It. personally I'm not very romantic so I could never dream of it, but I do enjoy reading adventure novels with a romance element sometimes. maybe instead of focusing just on the romance for a change focus on the adventure then the romance. Hope that helped
Ditto Tork. If romance is one of your strengths and you feel comfortable writing it, then mixing genres may be a fine way for you to broaden your horizons. Actually, if you're talking about seductive romance, James Bond certainly has that in spades from a male perspective. I'm also thinking of the movies "Mr & Mrs Smith" and "True Lies", where the MCs had settled into a middle-age ennui that was resolved through the film. Many swashbuckling stories are set into action by the MC needing to rescue a lover. But even if you want to take a break from romance, then go for it. Good luck, Frank
I have an idea! What about making the MC a rookie spy, semi-realistic but with more intrigue, who gets deployed from a giant country into their only rival; their other half. It can be a civil war, and the MC could be impersonating a citizen of the rival faction. He/she starts to steal information, but in spite of himself/herself, he/she falls in love with a counterspy on the other side. That's an idea anyway, I don't really care if you use it or not.
I think a story with strong elements of both romance and adventure would work great. I like the sexual tension and steaminess of romance novels, but also the adrenaline of adventure novels. Stories like LOTR, POTC etc have both and it adds to the epicness of them. If you have just romance without the adventure, it becomes too sappy and happy-go-lovey for me. On the other hand, if it's just adventure with no romance, it can start to feel like you're just describing one battle scene after the other (depending on adventure type, of course) and this can get boring fast. Here's what I'd recommend you be careful NOT to do: 1. The delicate, helpless woman who is in a bad spot and has to be rescued. First of all, it's cliche, and second of all, I always put down any book where the woman is dependent on her man and cannot stand on her own. 2. The overly predictable. Two explorers, one man and one woman, and of course they'll fall in love. I mean come on. Make sure there's some plot twists or something. I can't help too much by way of idea-feeding, but if you can give me a rough/general idea of what type of storyline you have in mind, I can help iron out the details and logistics as much as you want.
I'm not experienced at this stuff, but make sure the romance develops slowly and subtly. Firstly, it's realistic. Secondly, there's suspense. (And don't put vampires in the story Not saying they're bad, but half of your readers will mark it as a "Twilight Ripoff".)
Seconded for the most part. You can pull off vampires if they're appropriately gross and bloodthirsty -- but please, PLEASE no sparkly vampires, for the sake of all you deem sacred.
LOL I am hyper pleased with the start of my book - the romance doesn't develop subtly, the fire elemental gets him drunk in the first chapter If apples hadn't exploded they would have had sex by end of third The story itself is deep and dark, the humour works etc. Just make your characters realistic to their situation, if that is vampures sparkling away then great, if it is something more devilish then do that.
