Can I write a romance novel if I've never dated?
Why not? I was writing fantasy romance in high school before I ever was even interested in having a boyfriend. Sure, actually experiencing dating can help you get a better idea of the dynamic of a relationship, but the experience is also different for everyone depending on who they are dating. There are so many factors to explore in literature that will create a whole different situation that you yourself might never encounter anyway, even if you dated a hundred people. So, I say have fun with it. Haha
Writing romance without experience?
I'm writing my first novel, and I'm 16. See, I've experienced kissing a girl, so I'm good with that part (lol) but the part I'm struggling with is the actual romance. This is because kids my age don't actully have that deep of bonds, their just horny. The characters in my book are my age, but they've fought for each other, saved each other's life and a lot of stuff like that, so it seems that they would have a deep bond. I figured that I could research (GRRM wasn't alive in the medieval ages, but he wrote ASOIAF just fine, so why can't I write romance by researching it) The romance is an integral part of the book, because the girl betrays the guy, and they become mortal enemies, while still having feelings for each other. Anyway, my romance doesn't feel that good, so how should I write better romance?
I can't write romance because I have no experience. How can I write good romance?
Quick and dirty version:Start by deconstructing as much existing romance as you can read. Chart out each character, what do they think about, how well do they express these thoughts to other characters in the dialogue? How does all of this change from one situation to next. Now practice with a little fan fic. Write stories with these existing characters. Use the character analyses you made to determine how they will behave in your story. Now make new characters by breaking up existing ones and rearanging their personality traits and then write some with these new characters. Do the same thing with existing plots and settings. Start with someone else's to get practice then change them to make them yours.If the issue is a lack of sexual experience ... I applaude your commitment to technical honesty here. Okay, sure you could watch videos, but real people don't have sex like that. If it's really important to you, invest in youself and take a trip so where prostitution is legal. I recommend Curacao.
What are your romance novel pet peeves?
I'm not really a romance novel reader. My main reasons for not reading them are: 1. The romances usually aren't convincing. 2. The sex scenes are ridiculous and set unexperienced women up for disappointment when real life experience isn't like the books say, with "fireworks" and all that foolishness, especially the first time. What annoys you most about romance novels?
How do you write believable romantic relationships in your novels when you haven't dated anyone?
By the noble art of ‘pastiching’.It is often used in music.An example: The Beatles adored The Beach Boys. So, they decided to make a “Beach Boy-like Song”. It is not the same as imitating. It is using a few typical Beach Boy song characteristics to start with and then ending with a song where only in a few lines you can hear an echo of what could have been a real Beach Boy song.Compare both songsback in the ussr lyricsThe 1st is from the Beach Boys, the second (in blue letters) from the BeatlesThat’s exactly what you should do with the scenes you need but know nothing about: start by reading a couple of them (you can find them in Danielle Steele books, Jackie Collins, and serials ‘Doctor Novels’, ‘Castle novels’, love literature for women. You’ll see they’re often written according to a same literary scheme.Start by copying them literally, mix them, rewrite them in your own words, make the result better and before you know it you’ll be able to write them yourself. IT’S NOT IMITATION, of course, your result can’t be related to the originals, but they won’t.SUCCESSLet me know if you think it’s a good idea. Pls
Why do many Indian authors stick to romantic novels?
I am a huge fan of Dan Brown, and whenever I read that I always wonder why Indian authors don't have any such story, I guess may be if someone tried to depict Da Vinci code in Indian reference, we can see the riots and slogans saying anti national everywhere…Apart from this, in reference to the question, I want to say that we do have many good authors in India, Anuja Chauhan (Battle for Bittora) (it had some romance but whole of the story was not just about love, frankly speaking some indian love stories have made love a highly rated commodity, if you have love, you have everything, but life doesn't simply goes like this, is it?), Gurucharan Das (I loved India Unbound), we have Kiran Desai and Anita Desai (mostly women related social issues)We had Premchand, we had many great authors and we still have got many of them, I had recently read Ten kings by Ashok banker, historical story, it was good..I had read weed by Paro Anand, chef by Jaspreet Singh (not so far related to the latest movie, it's story of a chef posted in army in Kashmir), sari shop and many more..There are many good writers but you can't say who will be standing on the top catching the fish called fame.. and you just can't always read the books that are famous, in my own experience, promotional tactics can do a lot of harm to some unknown writers who don't have huge funds, resources..But in this age of Chetan Bhagat, a teenager knows about love and just love only that's what his demands are I guess, no political issues, no social issues, teenagers like 2 states, everyone has a story (), I have also heard a lot about some semi porn triology and all, I have read one too called something like Black Suits You (semi porn), and I hate these books, but my cousin sisters love these books, that's how these wastage of paper and ink enters into my house…I would like to conclude by saying that there are many great Indian authors apart from.the famous ones, just enter a good bookshop and you'll find a lot of them..
How do I get over writer’s block, especially in a romance novel?
How do I get over writer’s block, especially in a romance novel?Create a misunderstanding. Hopefully, they’re in love, everything is going along beautifully. Your reader is enjoying their relationship and is happy for your characters. It’s all too smooth.Enter the deal breaker. It might be an old lover who turns up. It might be problems with one of the families. It might be a manipulative parent. It might be a malicious acquaintance who really wants either Romeo or Juliet for him/herself. It might be work related with a move to another city involved.Now you’ve got a whole lot of ground for them to snap and snarl at each other for a chapter or so before they reconcile and live happily ever after.
How would a work of romance fiction written by an author who's never been in a relationship differs from those written by experienced ones?
I bellieve that an author who have never experienced a romanic relationship, or even any kind of intimate saxual relationship can write a much better romantic novel than the experienced one. The reason is, because the hollywood blockbaster type of romance does not exist. It is only in the needy mind. There is love of course, there is attraction, but the traditional ‘Arlekin-style’ candles, shampaign, roses and stars is a fantasy that exists only in the minds of the people who have never been anywhare near a true intimate sexual relationship. They are still in a fantasy world of childish hope. In their mind they make everything ideal, when perfectionism does not exist in real life. And this is why they will describe it so brilliantly. Their yearning to experiece such romantic situations will make their descriptions so realistic that anyone who will read it, even the most cinic ones will feel excited. And this excitement is what makes a romantic novel a success.
Is romance a hard genre to write for if you've never truly been in love?
Humans are funny. We tend to be confused by anything we haven't actually experienced. Worse, we lack empathy for people who have experiences we haven't. As a result many, but not all people who have not experienced a thing write that thing poorly. Good writers can empathize with situations they haven't experienced or lives they haven't lived. The trick is to read a lot of experiences by people who have lived them, until they make sense and you can imagine having experienced it.