As a writer I am always in a quest to improve at my craft. I have a small reference library devoted to it, filled with books I use over and over again.
The newest addition to the reference bookshelf is “Crafting Category Romance: The Art of Fiction Haiku” by Amy Lane. The reviews I read before I bought it made it sound pretty good. Having just finished reading it, I have to say it’s now one of my favorite craft books.
The discussion of tropes in Romance, both character and plot tropes, was invaluable to me. She discussed how to use tropes to their fullest and how to use character tropes to give extra meaning to the plot tropes. Lane gave specific steps to follow to write the best, most concise romance stories you can.
In addition to the modern tropes used by writers, she included a section on outdated tropes (‘No Means Yes’) and tropes that need to be handled very carefully (‘Bully’).
One unexpected benefit of reading this was my own reflection on the tropes that I particularly enjoy reading. I gave thought to which ones I’m drawn to and why. I also gave thought to ones I don’t like to read and most likely won’t write. (But I never say never.)
“Crafting Category Romance” was easy to read but a lot to take in, so I read it slowly over the course of about a week. I broke out my trusty notebook and did the exercises along with her and now I am really excited to work on a stand-alone story that I would like to use as a giveaway to my newsletter subscribers.
(This is not a sponsored post, but I will include a link to purchase the book for anybody who may be interested. I’m sure it’s available in the all usual places, but I have a fondness for Bookshop.org, so that’s the link I’m using.)
E.A. Brady 
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