March 2002 - Issue 6

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• Make your characters different, interesting and multi-dimensional;

• Brainstorm your story line so it differs greatly from all the other offerings in your particular genre;

• Explore exotic settings and research them so you can take your readers on a more exciting ride;

• Use interesting and innovative writing techniques that provide opportunities for the original flair publishers look for;

• Develop your own distinctive writing style and voice.

Short, contemporary romance novels are more often than not "character driven". This gives you the first opportunity to inject originality into your book through well developed characterisation.

I have read too many submissions in which the writer could have enriched the story by doing some simple brainstorming to flush out some original concepts that would have enhanced the story line. No editor wants to read a book thinking - it would have been better if this or that had happened.

When I was planning to write my first romance novel, I chose Papua New Guinea and Cairns, Queensland as my settings. I also set the book in the mining industry. As far as I was aware, there hadn't been a romance novel published that addressed the issues that centre around life in the isolated mining community of such an exotic country. I wrote the book from my own experience of living and working at a similar location in the course of my own career, but the mine and the characters are totally fictitious.

Although the setting in a romance novel is just a backdrop to the developing romantic relationship, it gives readers a truly different escape if you can transport them out of their own surroundings to a place that is "original".

It 's not easy to develop innovative writing techniques, but it's not impossible. This is a sure-fire way to achieve originality in your work Developing your own distinctive writing style and voice are other ways to inject "originality" into your work.

I'm sure there are many other ways - go for it!

© 2002 Robyn Lidstone
All content and articles in this newsletter are the intellectual property of Robyn Lidstone and Livewire Publishing and must not be reproduced in any format without the written consent of the author.