Anita Bunkley | Writing Romance

Last month, as I began writing my fifth romance for Harlequin's Kimani Press, I was just as excited about starting this romantic journey as I had been the first time I brought a gutsy, intelligent, and of course --beautiful heroine to life as she fell in love with a hero who would make any woman's heart beat a little faster.

Writing genre romance has been a big change for me because nearly twenty years ago, I started my literary career writing sprawling historical novels. Soon after, I shifted to writing mainstream women's fiction, followed by a foray into non-fiction and several novellas in anthologies. Both the contemporary and historical novels demanded lots of research, which I loved to do, but they took the better part of a year to complete, with their intricate storylines and vivid secondary characters that made for intriguing, multi-plotted novels that often spanned several generations.

But now that I am writing pure romance, I have fallen in love with streamlined aspects of the genre while enjoying the luxury of paring down my stories to their most important core: The love between a man and a woman.

However, I admit that I still struggle to control my impulse to veer off into some interesting sub-plot with a sideline character who threatens to complicate my writing schedule, increase the word count, and dilute the focus on my romantic couple.

It's hard to do sometimes, but I force myself to toss tempting story threads like that aside to keep them from winding up on the pages and distract from the passionate encounters and heated arguments that entangle my romantic couple.

Since each scene goal must be achieved in far fewer words than in a mainstream novel, I have learned to cut, cut, cut -- forcing my characters to grow more rapidly into their relationships as the romance strengthens, blossoms and captivates the reader at a much faster pace. And along the way, I am sure to incorporate the overriding the theme of the romantic narrative into the book, tying the title to the story in subtle, yet evident ways -- Yes, I know a lot of readers eagerly search the pages of a book to locate the spot where the title makes its appearance.

In many aspects, mainstream novels and romances have a lot in common, so my approach to writing in both genres is not so different after all: Before writing any story, I always start with an outline that sets up the characters, presents the problem and details how the solution or goal will be reached. I still spend probably too much time picking just the right names for my characters as I struggle to coordinate names with personalities that fit the setting and time period of the story.

One thing I do know: There is no difference at all between mainstreams and romances when it comes to bringing characters to life on the page, and -- if they cooperate -- ensuring that they create an unforgettable impression. Making fictional people seem real within a fantasy world is what, hopefully, draws the reader in and keeps those pages flying. The most important ingredient of any good story is an intriguing main character who challenges the reader to stick around to discover how she will solve her problems and get what she wants.

Writing contemporary romance is certainly a challenge, pushing writers to take the shifting tastes of readers into consideration while paying attention to the influences that dictate what people read. Romances today are hotter, spicier, and edgier than ever.

With each romance I write, I am thrilled once again to take on the challenge of telling a fresh story with tenderness, emotion, lots of sexy moves, and surprising twists that will hook my readers and deliver on my promise to never disappoint.

Anita Bunkley's latest romance is SPOTLIGHT ON DESIRE (Kimani, June 2009)