I firmly believe that the best way to learn how to write in a certain genre is to read a lot of that genre. So if you want to write romance, read lots of romance! However, there is also a lot of technical knowledge to be gained from craft books. Below are 5 craft books that can help romance writers hone their crafts.
I have ordered the following books in what I believe is the most logical reading order, moving from how to create a strong story arc to how to provoke the greatest emotional response in your readers. Of course, they can be read in any order, but the one below will pack the most punch!
I also want to point out that all of these books are fabulous for writers of all genres – Romancing The Beat is the only book that pertains specifically to romance.
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5 Craft Books For Romance Writers
1. Save The Cat! Writes A Novel – Jessica Brody
Right on the cover, Save The Cat claims to be “the last book on novel writing you’ll ever need,” and honestly, it’s not necessarily wrong! Adapted from the original Save The Cat book about screenwriting, this book shows you how to create dynamic characters who go through a full story arc throughout a novel.
The “Save The Cat!” method involves creating a “beat sheet” and plotting out what will happen at each “beat.” The beat sheet contains three acts that are divided into fifteen beats. The book very helpfully shows you at about what percentage of your novel each beat should be occurring, and gives a full explanation of what each beat should contain.
What I especially love in this book is the plethora of examples it gives using popular fiction and media to show how the method words. Reading it felt like pulling back a curtain, and I had so many revelations the first time I read it! There are also exercises and checklists throughout that you can utilize at your pleasure to see if your characters, plot, etc. are robust enough. This is a great first book to pull out when drafting a novel.
2. Romancing The Beat – Gwen Hayes
Romancing The Beat is a short and sweet guide to applying the “beat sheet” method specifically to romance novels. It is a great follow-up to read after Save The Cat! if you are a romance writer! Hayes breaks up the three acts into four “phases” with five beats each (equalling the same number of total beats that Save The Cat! promotes). Hayes also has her own romance-themed names for the beats (such as “meet cute” and “midpoint of LOVE plot thrust”).
My biggest takeaway from this book: “everything in your book is seen through the lens of the wounds of your characters.”
3. Story Genius – Lisa Cron
This book teaches an alternative method of outlining with a strong focus on backstory. It also includes some interesting brain science about story and why we humans are so hardwired to seek and enjoy stories!
Story Genius proposes a “prewriting” practice in which you write out important scenes that occur before your novel even starts. Once you understand your protagonist’s backstory, what their main issue is, and how that issue will evolve throughout your story arc, Story Genius moves on to teach how to create a “blueprint” (their version of an outline) using story cards.
I enjoyed how this book takes one story idea and uses it as the example for every exercise it recommends so we can really see from start to finish how the process works!
My biggest takeaway from this book: story is less about plot and more about how the plot affects the protagonist (and their thoughts, beliefs, wounds, struggles, etc.).
4. The Emotional Craft Of Fiction – Donald Maass
This book is intended to teach you “how to write the story beneath the surface.” It is a great one to pull out after creating an initial outline to then dive deeper into what the characters are going through emotionally at different plot points. It is also a super useful book to pull out when revising a draft and you get to a point that feels dull, one dimensional, or when you get stuck!
Like Save The Cat!, it gives plenty of examples and tips from various other works, and it provides useful exercises throughout to help you improve your own story.
My biggest takeaway from this book: don’t just focus on your characters’ emotions. Focus on how to elicit an emotional response from the reader. BOOM!
5. On Writing – Stephen King
I put this one last because it is not strictly a craft book. Rather, it is Stephen King’s “memoir of the craft,” so it talks about his life experience prior to becoming a writer, as well as his tips for writing better! I probably never would have picked it up if it hadn’t been assigned for a college writing course I took, but I’m so glad I did. I definitely recommend this one even if you’re not necessarily a Stephen King fan!
The first 100-ish pages of On Writing is the memoir portion, but it contains so many nuggets of writing wisdom as well. Then King gives us an almost 200 page “toolbox” full of his wisdom about the craft and how to improve yours.
As with all advice, from my blog posts to these craft books, take what you like and leave what you don’t! There’s no need to religiously follow one process (unless that actually turns out to be the best way for you). I’m a big fan of taking the nuggets of wisdom that speak to me from each book and conglomerating them into my own personal process!
Have you read and learned from any of the craft books above? Or do you have any others you always recommend? Let me know in the comments!
