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Creative Writing: What should I consider when deciding to write a romance novel?
CA
CA
C.J. Anaya, USA Today bestselling, multi-award winning author. answered:

That is a loaded question and one I would answer by asking this: have you done your market research to determine the type of romance audience you would actually like to write to?

Romance is a broad category that covers many romance sub-niches. For example: paranormal romance, fantasy romance, small-town romance, mafia romance, LGBTQ+ romance, mystery romance, billionaire romance, angel romance, vampire romance...I think you get the idea here.

Within these romances you have certain expectations from your readers based on the following:

1.) The types of characters they like
2.) The types of themes
3.) The types of tropes (fake boyfriend, slow burn, enemies to lovers)
4.) Steam levels: clean, sweet, steamy, erotic
5.) Happily ever after endings (because it ain't romance if there is no HEA)

So you need to know which romance sub-niche you want to write within. Then you need to study your competitors, read their reviews, look at their book descriptions, titles, subtitles, and book covers to get a feel for that niche market, and then you need to read some of those books.

Once you have a solid idea of the sub-niche and who your target audience is, you can start planning a series of romance books that will knock their socks off.

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