Thank you for writing this! I was, until a couple of years ago, a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and had friends who wrote for Mills and Boon - and others who desperately wanted to. It's hard work, but I believe the pay is good. They often earned-out. Then risked burn-out, trying to keep the momentum going.
M and B are very demanding - they know exactly what they want writers to produce, because they know exactly what readers want. I like dipping into Regencies (Janice Preston, Catherine Tilney, Sarah Mallory are my recommendations), and I'm a historian - and I know the amount of research that goes into Historicals. But it has to be worn lightly. I write WW2 sagas, and sagas aren't far from M and B in terms of people's derisiveness (that is, people who haven't read them!).
That's the skill of a Mills and Boon writer. Or saga writers. Or rom com writers. Or all the many other subgenres of romance, romantic fiction, and "women's commercial fiction". Without appearing writer-y, they transport readers emotionally, so that they are completely drawn into the imaginary world created by the author. It's not easy to do - just try keeping up the heart-wrenching emotion, while keeping the plot moving and following the beats, and ensuring there's enough historical detail to demonstrate where in time the characters are, without knocking readers over the head. Is your darkest moment dark enough? Are the stakes high enough? Is it historically convincing enough? Etc etc etc.
At the University of Birmingham, the English department used to (or still do?) run a women's popular fiction module. The tutor spoke to M and B, who one year sent the students boxes of free books. These ranged from hot rated sauce to historicals. The students took them home, and it wasn't long before several male housemates became addicted to Viking romances. There's action, drama, snogging, high stakes - it's not much different from blockbuster movies. But are blockbuster movies mocked as much as M and B, and romantic/women's fiction? They're not immune to mockery, but it doesn't seem as pointed.
A romance-writing friend commented that their writing should be like a window - they don't want someone saying their books are "well-written", although they are well-written enough for the writing to basically become invisible.
And... We are told over and over and over to show don't tell. I think maybe old romances used to be very tell-y, but we're told these days to avoid!
The use of adverbs varies - one publisher I wrote for banned them. Editors would strike them out. Whereas my current one really likes them because, so they say, it helps convey emotion. So after getting used to avoiding them, I'm now having to get into the habit of using them again.
No, do go on some more. I think this is really interesting. I did assume that adverbs were now much less in favour in romantic fiction. But the examples I read were deliberately not up to date. The writing 'like a window' is exactly what I was trying to get across. The prose needs to give access to the action, and if the reader becomes aware of it (as overdone) it immediately fails. Thanks for your response.
This made me laugh so much! But it's also thought-provoking, of course. I too first started to write by trying to write a Mills & Boon - I think because it gave me a goal and a structure and a reason for writing any given sentence one way rather than another. Everything you say is true: it's hard, demanding work. It is possible, I gather, to make a good living as Helen suggests, but only if you're writing four a year or so.
I only gave up because I realised all the passages I found most satisfying to write and satisfactory when read, were the ones which veered most away from what I knew that kind of book and reader needed. So I decided I'd better follow where my writing was pointing: towards something else.
But it's good for any writer to read a "bad" book of a sort which sells well, and start thinking "What pleasures and satisfactions does this offer the reader? Why did a publisher think that was worth investing ££££ to publish? What does that tell me about readers? What does that mean for what/how I write mine?"
Thank you for writing this! I was, until a couple of years ago, a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and had friends who wrote for Mills and Boon - and others who desperately wanted to. It's hard work, but I believe the pay is good. They often earned-out. Then risked burn-out, trying to keep the momentum going.
M and B are very demanding - they know exactly what they want writers to produce, because they know exactly what readers want. I like dipping into Regencies (Janice Preston, Catherine Tilney, Sarah Mallory are my recommendations), and I'm a historian - and I know the amount of research that goes into Historicals. But it has to be worn lightly. I write WW2 sagas, and sagas aren't far from M and B in terms of people's derisiveness (that is, people who haven't read them!).
That's the skill of a Mills and Boon writer. Or saga writers. Or rom com writers. Or all the many other subgenres of romance, romantic fiction, and "women's commercial fiction". Without appearing writer-y, they transport readers emotionally, so that they are completely drawn into the imaginary world created by the author. It's not easy to do - just try keeping up the heart-wrenching emotion, while keeping the plot moving and following the beats, and ensuring there's enough historical detail to demonstrate where in time the characters are, without knocking readers over the head. Is your darkest moment dark enough? Are the stakes high enough? Is it historically convincing enough? Etc etc etc.
At the University of Birmingham, the English department used to (or still do?) run a women's popular fiction module. The tutor spoke to M and B, who one year sent the students boxes of free books. These ranged from hot rated sauce to historicals. The students took them home, and it wasn't long before several male housemates became addicted to Viking romances. There's action, drama, snogging, high stakes - it's not much different from blockbuster movies. But are blockbuster movies mocked as much as M and B, and romantic/women's fiction? They're not immune to mockery, but it doesn't seem as pointed.
A romance-writing friend commented that their writing should be like a window - they don't want someone saying their books are "well-written", although they are well-written enough for the writing to basically become invisible.
And... We are told over and over and over to show don't tell. I think maybe old romances used to be very tell-y, but we're told these days to avoid!
The use of adverbs varies - one publisher I wrote for banned them. Editors would strike them out. Whereas my current one really likes them because, so they say, it helps convey emotion. So after getting used to avoiding them, I'm now having to get into the habit of using them again.
Sorry, I could go on and on.
No, do go on some more. I think this is really interesting. I did assume that adverbs were now much less in favour in romantic fiction. But the examples I read were deliberately not up to date. The writing 'like a window' is exactly what I was trying to get across. The prose needs to give access to the action, and if the reader becomes aware of it (as overdone) it immediately fails. Thanks for your response.
This made me laugh so much! But it's also thought-provoking, of course. I too first started to write by trying to write a Mills & Boon - I think because it gave me a goal and a structure and a reason for writing any given sentence one way rather than another. Everything you say is true: it's hard, demanding work. It is possible, I gather, to make a good living as Helen suggests, but only if you're writing four a year or so.
I only gave up because I realised all the passages I found most satisfying to write and satisfactory when read, were the ones which veered most away from what I knew that kind of book and reader needed. So I decided I'd better follow where my writing was pointing: towards something else.
But it's good for any writer to read a "bad" book of a sort which sells well, and start thinking "What pleasures and satisfactions does this offer the reader? Why did a publisher think that was worth investing ££££ to publish? What does that tell me about readers? What does that mean for what/how I write mine?"
“Barkeep, gimme a Mills & Boon, neat.”