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Writing RomanceWriting romance?There are a few things you need to know about the genre. Of course we are referring to Christian romance. Christian RomanceEveryone who has ever read romance, knows the formula: boy meets girl, falls in love, has conflict, wins girl again, lives happily ever after...sort of. Compared to other genres such as mystery, which may have us clamoring for who done it, right up to the very end...romance is fairly straight forward. We know the hero and the heroine will end up together, we just don't know the path of their journey. The journey is what we are after. What happens in that journey is a bit of what we shall attempt to address here. Sex and RomanceThough explicit sex is completely taboo to the point of forbidden in writing romance for the CR market, the blanket "no sex" statement is false as well. However, we must give extreme caution to this practice. If the act of lovemaking is in line with the story and necessary to plot, then consideration is in line. Gratuitous sex should be avoided and romantic scenes carefully considered. Practice repeating this statement: "We do not titillate or arouse our reader!" Good, now say it each time the urge comes over you to write something sexually questionable in your story. For the Christian, writing romance means a godly, true love approach. Whether it be romance between the character and the Lord or with one another, the writer must take a careful approach to how this love or romance is portrayed and worked through. Outlining and the Take-AwayDon't forget to pray, pray, pray and gain understanding and insight to what the Lord intends for others to take away from your written stories. Every...and we mean every Christian fiction story whether romance or not, should have take-away value. Fluff may be entertaining for a few hours, but when it comes down to our readers, we owe it to them to pour ourselves out onto the pages. If not, we do them an injustice. We MUST bring glory to God, else why do we write? See links below to help you on this journey of Christian romance writing.ginger r. takamiya Founder of CRM Go from Writing Romance to Writing Rules to remember
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