Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Saturday, 13 December 2025

"A straightforward guide to writing romantic fiction" by Kate Walker (Straightforward publishing, 2002)

  • Unlike other genres whose popularity fluctuates up and down, the popularity of romances stays consistently high (p.9)
  • As the majority of readers of romantic fiction are women, the character of the heroine is central to their enjoyment of the novel (p.17)
  • Readers can't identify with your heroine unless they have a very clear idea of what she looks like (p.19)
  • If the heroine is the reader's guide into the story, the 'eyes' through which the action is seen, the hero is the character most likely to be remembered (p.25)
  • In some senses, a hero is always a mystery to the heroine (p.28)
  • In fiction there can be a very narrow line between being a gentle man and being a wimp (p.29)
  • at times, the hero must play the role of both the hero and the villian (p.30)
  • The run-up to the final pages are often described as the 'But you said ...' section (p.65)
  • the present story always affects the reader much more than the past (p.120)
  • A book should try to be at least 60% dialogue no more than 40% narrative (p.123)

Many typos - see the final quote above, for example. And there are many extra spaces near apostrophes.

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