• Not sure where to get ideas? Draw on your life experience. Don't try to write about the world of international finance if you know nothing about it, unless you're ready to spend hours in research.
• Tap into your own fantasies. Many of my best plots come from my fantasies.
• Read current romances to see what's in vogue. Don't rely on your memories of romances from five or ten years ago. The genre changes greatly from year to year.
• If you're not sure what you like, read in a variety of areas, noting the differences between various publishers, sub-genres, lines, or imprints—for example, Harlequin Superromance vs. Silhouette Desire or historical romances vs. traditional regencies. That will help you decide what you'd most like to write.
• Once you've determined your favorite area, find your own fresh perspective. Don't be afraid to let your own personality give your writing that unique flavor (we call it "voice"). Just don't make your story so outlandish that no one would recognize it as a romance.
• Avoid clichés. Don't assume that all romance heroes and heroines are alike. If you write generic characters, then publishers will give your book a generic response—a form rejection letter.
• Write in your comfort zone. Don't try to write a real macho hero if you want a sensitive artist, or a timid heroine if you want a wise-cracking feminist. Choose characters you like. Look at the heroes and heroines in popular movies whom you most admire. Is it the adventuresome but polite police officer from Speed or the irreverent flyboy in Top Gun? Do you like the neurotic, sassy heroines often portrayed by Meg Ryan or the sweet, snappy women portrayed by Sandra Bullock?
• Be a creative plotter. Your plot must have a happy ending and plenty of character conflict, but within that parameter you can plot a thriller or homey relationship story or a costume drama…whatever you want.
• Give your characters opposing motives or put them on opposite sides of an important situation. You don't achieve conflict simply by having them argue endlessly over minor personality traits. If your hero is tearing down a building, your heroine better be a tenant! If you give your characters a well-motivated conflict, when you throw them together the sparks will fly!
• Have fun! If you're not, then you might as well be an accountant. Writing is hard work, and enjoying it is the only thing that makes it worth it.

© 2005 Sabrina Jeffries