Think, Write, Edit, Romance - by KJ Charles (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A practical craft guide for romance writers from KJ Charles, former editor and author of over 30 novels--including The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen--focused on writing, revising, polishing, and publishing emotionally satisfying romance novels.

From bestselling novelist and experienced editor KJ Charles, a witty, practical romance writer's craft guide for drafting, revising, and publishing emotionally satisfying happily-ever-afters.

Written with KJ's signature mix of sharp wit and no-nonsense compassion, Think, Write, Edit, Romance respects the intelligence of romance writers and their often-dismissed genre. This is a guide for authors who take romance seriously and want to produce structurally sound and professionally polished work packed with tension and swoon-worthy scenes.

The book moves step by step through the stages of writing:

• The Blank Page helps you get started. This part tackles coming up with ideas, narrowing them down, and developing your embryonic concepts and conflicts into the shape of a book.
• The First Draft is about the hard bit: getting words down. There is an in-depth look at character building and plot arcs, along with more specific discussion of sex scenes, arguments, settings, and endings.
• Getting Unstuck discusses why writers get stuck on manuscripts and how to unstick yourself, as well as advice on when to take the hint and step away.
• Revision, Revision shows you how to clean up your manuscript at development, line, and copy-editing levels, saving you editorial time, fees, and pain. It warns you of "writing advice" you can ignore, and tells you how to negotiate your edits.

Review Quotes

"I've long known KJ Charles as a mesmerizingly fine author of historical romance; what I now know, via Think, Write, Edit, Romance, is that she possesses not only an incisive understanding of her genre (which is not perhaps unexpected) but the ability to communicate, for the benefit of other writers, clearly and incisively, how her genre works (a rare talent), from characterization to plotting to, of course, sex. As well, she offers up here the sort of expert advice on the nuts and bolts of prose, from punctuation to grammar, that makes my copyeditorial heart sing. And if that weren't enough, she does it all engagingly and wittily. I can't imagine a writer, of romance or of anything else, who won't find much that's invaluable in these pages." --Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English

"Charles is one of romance's most brilliant and consistent writers, delivering stories that adeptly blend historical intrigue, passionate yearning and flawless comedic timing." --BookPage, starred review for How to Fake It in Society

"[A] genre star." --Library Journal, starred review for How to Fake It in Society

"As always, Charles combines masterful prose, thrilling romance, fantastic wit, and gripping stakes. Her characters feel as real and relatable as a bruise. She is, in my opinion, a titan of her genre." --Talia Hibbert, New York Times bestselling author, on The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

"Think, Write, Edit, Romance is a marvellously straightforward, comprehensive guide, dripping with years of hard-earned experience. Everyone from fresh new writers to long-established authors will undoubtedly find it helpful." --Olivia Atwater, author of Half a Soul

"A fantastic resource for romance writers at any stage of their careers, Think, Write, Edit, Romance gives us KJ Charles' consistently lucid, incisive, thoughtful craft advice, gathered together in one practical guide. I'll be assigning this in my courses--and using it myself!" - --Alexandra Vasti, USA Today bestselling author of Scandal of the Summer

About the Author

KJ Charles spent twenty years as an editor in British publishing, including a long stint at Harlequin Mills & Boon, where she edited more romances than she would care to count. She published her first romance novel, The Magpie Lord, in 2013, and is now a full time writer and USA Today bestseller with more than 40 novels to her credit, both self- and traditionally published. KJ regularly blogs about romance and writing on her website, and can frequently be found having book opinions on Bluesky.