If the very thought of combining adventure and intimate coupling calls to the core of you, but the idea of travelling, fighting, crime-solving and intimate coupling fills you with the heebie jeebies then perhaps a career in novel-writing is a more palatable ambition. Now, as the very thought of combining adventure and intimate coupling within the safe confines of sentences calls to the core of you, Bewildered Heart has helpfully detailed two appropriate imprints for such things, Love Inspired Suspense, for thrill-seeking Christians, and Intrigue, for inquisitive agnostics. In the unlikely event that aspiring authors fall between these two worldviews Harlequin offers another alternative. With anticipation bubbling at levels that can only be described as negligible there seems little reason to hold off introducing Romantic Suspense any longer, and so, website guidelines, what exactly is Romantic Suspense? 'These novels are romance-focused stories with a suspense element.' There you have it. With definitions as solid as this, is there even a need for a continued use of words?
The continued use of words suggests that further explanation is necessary, so onwards we go. 'Powerful romances are at the heart of each story, and the additional elements of excitement, adventure and suspense play out between complex characters.' With an emphasis on romance and suspense the imprint could not have been more aptly named. As with every novel worth its weight in paper, the books of Romantic Suspense recognise the importance of good writing, and therefore refrain from boring story-lines and weak characterisation. Yet in order to construct a manuscript capable of reaching a quality that can only be described as publishable by Harlequin, there are several other key elements to note, which we hope are more specific than the initial ones. 'Big, sweeping romances amid dangerous and suspenseful settings.' The message is obvious and more than a little repetitive, but is there another way to iterate this point with synonymous adjectives? 'Strong, compelling romance drives the stories but is matched by dramatic and layered plots.' Unlike the suspiciously similar subgenres previously out-lined where the action was expected to be secondary to love or religion the possibly incorrect use of 'matched' suggests Romantic Suspense gives equal standing to both parts of its name. Unless, of course, such an indication is immediately contradicted.
'Romantic Suspense novels are fueled by the romance and not the suspense.' The conundrum of this underwhelming statement is indicative of the subgenre's inherent narrative problems. In a suspenseful situation, where characters are threatened by violence, death or seeing their empire crumble, the high stakes of the unfolding drama naturally take precedence over the emotional feelings of the hero and heroine. Downplaying the action, as a means to retain the priority of the love story, trivialises the struggle and squanders the tension. The focus of any story should be on its most interesting constituent. For romance to work the narrative must concentrate on the mind games and power struggle that idealists call courtship. More significantly, what is at the forefront of the drama must be deserving of its attention. Traditionally, Romance has solved this by jettisoning anything else remotely diverting, splitting devotion equally between the dripfeed of back-story explaining the protagonists' inability to commit and the forward momentum of them over-coming these obstacles and committing. This, perhaps optimistically, is thought to be more than enough for fifty thousand words of story-telling. Once an orphan, medicine, a kidnapping, or a war is introduced to enliven proceedings, but not over-shadow the central plot, romance writers have tended to run into trouble.
There are means to compensate for the difficulty in finding this balance. Romantic Suspense asks for a word count between seventy to seventy-five thousand to allow for, 'A wider breadth of story and potential for subplots that speak to the conflicts.' With these twenty thousand extra words authors are invited to flesh out their scenarios, characters and themes without having to skimp on the elements that conventional romance often deems superfluous. Due to this, however, there are expectations that the novels are more strongly developed, satisfying, and with an, 'Emotional payoff to fit with the larger-than-life stories.' This makes for a challenge not unlike those faced by non-romance authors, but Bewildered Hearts will have noticed that what Mills & Boon says it wants is not always what Mills & Boon is happy to make do with. Nevertheless, a greater word count, but the allowance of subplots and adventure, might appear more attractive to aspiring novelists than only fifty thousand words, but no discernible plot at all.
To give an indication of what the editors consider classic themes and acceptable conflicts, here is a list of things: 'Revenge, women in jeopardy, espionage, family, Westerns, military and law enforcement.' This is a variety of options, each suggestive of action and bloodshed. Several of them already exist as niche imprints, while Women In Jeopardy was the original name of the romance genre. As a result of the gamut of heroic career choices, including but not limited to, vigilantes, spies, fathers, cowboys, cops and soldiers the novels can be set in any country on the planet, although this is true of all subgenres with the exception of Spanish. On the subject of artistic freedom Romantic Suspense can be written anywhere on the sliding scale of sensuality, with sex scene number ranging from zero to the highest number the author can count to. There seems to only be one constraint and that is for nothing paranormal. If a manuscript contains anything paranormal the most suitable imprint for it would be Paranormal.
All this discussion of story and what passes for theme has caused the guidelines to forget the most important part of romance writing, characters. 'Relatable heroines in extraordinary circumstances - swept into the arms of powerful heroes.' This sounds standard and suggests that cosmic destiny brought about by the wrong end of a sword is the suspenseful version of a meet cute. The heroine is the sense of normality keeping the action tethered to credibility, with her understandably alarmed reactions to pirates, jewel theft, her family and jeopardy grounding the spectacular adventure. Yet other than the aforementioned power, how else should the leads be defined? Something to do with force? 'The hero should be a force to contend with, and the heroines are equally complex, strong and smart.' There are no damsels in distress to be found here, and if the heroine is rescued by a dashing alpha male it is because she wants to be saved, not because she has to be. Still, a less than clear picture has emerged from a handful of sentences that could have been copied from any of the other subgenre pages, with the exception of Spanish.
As we discovered from Love Inspired Suspense and Intrigue, Mills & Boon have taken to using long-running television procedurals as an idea of what they are looking for, because no one reads books anymore. 'Romantic Suspense is Criminal Minds, Bones or The Good Wife for their solid levels of story, three-dimensional characters and varying levels of suspense with strong romantic themes, witty dialogue and lives and hearts on the line.' Naturally, none of these programmes concentrate on developing their love stories above all else, with Bones seemingly interested only in delivering exposition to the detriment of drama. Still, there maybe inspiration to be gleamed from the likes of The Good Wife, a glossy courtroom soap-opera starring actors from other more popular shows, and whatever Criminal Minds is. As with all of Harlequin's implied requests this advice might be worth following, just as long as it isn't followed particularly closely.
The continued use of words suggests that further explanation is necessary, so onwards we go. 'Powerful romances are at the heart of each story, and the additional elements of excitement, adventure and suspense play out between complex characters.' With an emphasis on romance and suspense the imprint could not have been more aptly named. As with every novel worth its weight in paper, the books of Romantic Suspense recognise the importance of good writing, and therefore refrain from boring story-lines and weak characterisation. Yet in order to construct a manuscript capable of reaching a quality that can only be described as publishable by Harlequin, there are several other key elements to note, which we hope are more specific than the initial ones. 'Big, sweeping romances amid dangerous and suspenseful settings.' The message is obvious and more than a little repetitive, but is there another way to iterate this point with synonymous adjectives? 'Strong, compelling romance drives the stories but is matched by dramatic and layered plots.' Unlike the suspiciously similar subgenres previously out-lined where the action was expected to be secondary to love or religion the possibly incorrect use of 'matched' suggests Romantic Suspense gives equal standing to both parts of its name. Unless, of course, such an indication is immediately contradicted.
'Romantic Suspense novels are fueled by the romance and not the suspense.' The conundrum of this underwhelming statement is indicative of the subgenre's inherent narrative problems. In a suspenseful situation, where characters are threatened by violence, death or seeing their empire crumble, the high stakes of the unfolding drama naturally take precedence over the emotional feelings of the hero and heroine. Downplaying the action, as a means to retain the priority of the love story, trivialises the struggle and squanders the tension. The focus of any story should be on its most interesting constituent. For romance to work the narrative must concentrate on the mind games and power struggle that idealists call courtship. More significantly, what is at the forefront of the drama must be deserving of its attention. Traditionally, Romance has solved this by jettisoning anything else remotely diverting, splitting devotion equally between the dripfeed of back-story explaining the protagonists' inability to commit and the forward momentum of them over-coming these obstacles and committing. This, perhaps optimistically, is thought to be more than enough for fifty thousand words of story-telling. Once an orphan, medicine, a kidnapping, or a war is introduced to enliven proceedings, but not over-shadow the central plot, romance writers have tended to run into trouble.
There are means to compensate for the difficulty in finding this balance. Romantic Suspense asks for a word count between seventy to seventy-five thousand to allow for, 'A wider breadth of story and potential for subplots that speak to the conflicts.' With these twenty thousand extra words authors are invited to flesh out their scenarios, characters and themes without having to skimp on the elements that conventional romance often deems superfluous. Due to this, however, there are expectations that the novels are more strongly developed, satisfying, and with an, 'Emotional payoff to fit with the larger-than-life stories.' This makes for a challenge not unlike those faced by non-romance authors, but Bewildered Hearts will have noticed that what Mills & Boon says it wants is not always what Mills & Boon is happy to make do with. Nevertheless, a greater word count, but the allowance of subplots and adventure, might appear more attractive to aspiring novelists than only fifty thousand words, but no discernible plot at all.
To give an indication of what the editors consider classic themes and acceptable conflicts, here is a list of things: 'Revenge, women in jeopardy, espionage, family, Westerns, military and law enforcement.' This is a variety of options, each suggestive of action and bloodshed. Several of them already exist as niche imprints, while Women In Jeopardy was the original name of the romance genre. As a result of the gamut of heroic career choices, including but not limited to, vigilantes, spies, fathers, cowboys, cops and soldiers the novels can be set in any country on the planet, although this is true of all subgenres with the exception of Spanish. On the subject of artistic freedom Romantic Suspense can be written anywhere on the sliding scale of sensuality, with sex scene number ranging from zero to the highest number the author can count to. There seems to only be one constraint and that is for nothing paranormal. If a manuscript contains anything paranormal the most suitable imprint for it would be Paranormal.
All this discussion of story and what passes for theme has caused the guidelines to forget the most important part of romance writing, characters. 'Relatable heroines in extraordinary circumstances - swept into the arms of powerful heroes.' This sounds standard and suggests that cosmic destiny brought about by the wrong end of a sword is the suspenseful version of a meet cute. The heroine is the sense of normality keeping the action tethered to credibility, with her understandably alarmed reactions to pirates, jewel theft, her family and jeopardy grounding the spectacular adventure. Yet other than the aforementioned power, how else should the leads be defined? Something to do with force? 'The hero should be a force to contend with, and the heroines are equally complex, strong and smart.' There are no damsels in distress to be found here, and if the heroine is rescued by a dashing alpha male it is because she wants to be saved, not because she has to be. Still, a less than clear picture has emerged from a handful of sentences that could have been copied from any of the other subgenre pages, with the exception of Spanish.
As we discovered from Love Inspired Suspense and Intrigue, Mills & Boon have taken to using long-running television procedurals as an idea of what they are looking for, because no one reads books anymore. 'Romantic Suspense is Criminal Minds, Bones or The Good Wife for their solid levels of story, three-dimensional characters and varying levels of suspense with strong romantic themes, witty dialogue and lives and hearts on the line.' Naturally, none of these programmes concentrate on developing their love stories above all else, with Bones seemingly interested only in delivering exposition to the detriment of drama. Still, there maybe inspiration to be gleamed from the likes of The Good Wife, a glossy courtroom soap-opera starring actors from other more popular shows, and whatever Criminal Minds is. As with all of Harlequin's implied requests this advice might be worth following, just as long as it isn't followed particularly closely.
