Sally Quilford's Blog

  Thanks, Sally, for giving me the letter ‘B’ (and a sleepless night!) with which to contribute to your A-Z of romance writing.   These, then, are my 5 ‘B’s, and I’ll start with what is probably the most obvious, and finish with the one I tend to think one of the most important, of any letter in fact.   ‘B’ is for beauty . By which I don’t mean every character involved in a romantic situation must be artistically/classically beautiful, but I do believe we must see beauty in one person through eyes of the other. It might be a physical thing, or a natural grace of movement, it might simply be that they possess a beauty of spirit that draws our MC to them. Beauty can also be a factor in the surroundings about which you’re writing; it’s easy to fall into a different state of mind, a susceptible one perhaps, when you’re in lovely place. By contrast, there is something appealing about two people being somewhere so awful, so ugly, so stark and devoid of beauty, that their attent...

B is for Beta Male The beta male in any romance is a little less … shall we say thrusting … than the alpha male. He is the boy next door, or the best friend you’ve known all your life but hadn’t noticed till now; the single dad you see at the school, or the nice guy who works as a vet.   He’s gentler and more apologetic than the alpha male. Think of any Hugh Grant character, before he played Daniel Cleaver, and there you have your beta male. Another example of the beta male is Edward Ferrars in Sense & Sensibility (coincidentally played by Hugh Grant in the Emma Thomson version).   He’s the guy who loves unrequitedly and it’s unlikely he’d whisk the heroine off to a desert island. He’s more likely to take her for tea at The Ritz or ice skating in the park. That does not mean that the beta male is weak. He is honest, noble and sticks to his principles, even if it causes him pain. But like the alpha he will protect the woman he loves and all his family. Occasionally he will...

One of the things I want to do with this blog is invite other writers to tell me their own A-Z writing tips. With that in mind, today I am delighted to welcome Sue Barnard onto the blog. Sue's first novel, The Ghostly Father, is due out in February, from Crooked Cat Publishing, and she went above and beyond the call of duty and has shared 7 things beginning with A. Seven  things beginning with A by Sue Barnard AUTHOR © Antony Rufus | Dreamstime Stock Photos That's you. Sorry to state the obvious, but every novel needs at least one author. You might find that your characters can start to take over (I once had one who completely surprised me by saying something which went on to change the entire course of the sub-plot!), but they still need you to get them on to the page! ANTAGONIST This is the person you love to hate. One of the principal sources of conflict throughout the novel, the antagonist is the person who seems hell-bent on spoiling everything for the her...

Here it is! The first official post in The A-Z of Writing Romance. Over the coming months I will be working my way through the alphabet, and then go around again, ably abetted by some of my fellow romance writers. Conventions of Romance A is for … Alpha Male Since Mr Darcy and Mr Rochester, the alpha male hero has enthralled romance readers, and writers, for many years. He is drop dead gorgeous and can be very charming. He is a man at the top of his game and is usually very rich and very powerful (but not always). He is the head of a great company or a high-ranking member of the nobility. Maybe he’s even a prince or an Arab Sheik. He knows what he wants and he’s not afraid to go out and get it. And when he wants the heroine, nothing and nobody stands in his way. The alpha male has the heady scent of testosterone that leaves a lot of heroines (and readers!) panting. The alpha male is also flawed, with his very alpha-ness sometimes being his biggest fault. His pride often gets the be...

Welcome to The A-Z of Writing Romance. This blog will be pretty much what it says on the tin. It will be a lexicon of lurve. Starting from A-Z and then all the way back around again, until the subject is exhausted, the blog will tell you all you need to know about writing romance. I hope to also bring you author interviews and guest posts from time to time!