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The Romance Genre Specialist Blog
Stop here for tips on how to write your romance novel, deep dives into your favourite tropes, updates on new romance trends, writing prompts, and more!
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10 Ways of Naming Your Romance Novel's Small-Town that Don't Involve Using Chat GPT
Fact: In the last two years, I have had no less than 10 manuscripts cross my desk set in the small town of Willow Creek. At the point...
Jul 9, 2025
10 Underrated Hockey Romances to Add to Your TBR
If you look at lists of the best hockey romances, you'll notice a pattern: the same authors listed over and over. And while those authors...
Jul 1, 2025
16 Romance Novels with Transgender Heroines to Read Right Now
It's a very difficult time for trans people the world over right now, especially trans women. There are many things you can do in...
May 15, 2025
2 Romance Novels with IBS Representation, and Why There Aren't More of Them
April is IBS Awareness Month in the UK, and while it's a common condition, affecting up to 10% of the UK population, it's often...
Apr 16, 2025
How Many (If Any) Sub-Plots Does Your Romance Novel Need?
When I describe the key elements of a romance novel, I always break them down into three things: the romance arc, aka the book's love...
Apr 8, 2025
The Cumplay Romance Kink, Explained
The exploration of romance kinks continues! And today we're looking at perhaps one of the messiest: cumplay. I've been wanting to...
Dec 3, 2024
3 Small-Town Christmas Romance Writing Prompts
If you're in the US, you've still got nearly a month before things get Christmassy. But over here in the UK, stores were decked out in...
Nov 8, 2024
5 Contemporary Romance Microtropes and How to Use Them in Your Next Romance Novel
I recently wrote a post about microtropes, a plot device that affects a romance novel at the scene level, rather than at the chapter or...
Oct 21, 2024
What Is a Microtrope, and How Can It Help Your Romance Novel?
Tropes. The romance genre, and indeed most fiction genres, can't exist without them. And that's because tropes are plot devices that can...
Oct 17, 2024
Three Low Competition Contemporary Romance Niches
Contemporary romance is by far the biggest and most popular romance sub-genre. And while that's great for readers—there are so many books...
Oct 16, 2024
5 Cozy Romance Writing Prompts for Spooky Season
Cozy. It used to be a word most closely associated with two things: autumn, and cozy mysteries. But now, it's taken over the romance...
Sep 27, 2024
The Difference Between Secret and Surprise Baby Romance Books
Tropes might fade in and out of style, but some persist no matter the trends, and the secret and surprise baby tropes fit that bill. This...
May 3, 2024
How to Write the Grumpy/Sunshine Trope
Ah, grumpy/sunshine. One of the best romance tropes to play with, because you get to create two characters who seem to, on the surface,...
Apr 26, 2024
A Guide to Writing Contemporary Romance Novels
Updated August 2025 Contemporary romance is what most people think of when someone says "romance novels." Famous authors of it include...
Feb 29, 2024
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