by Megan Hart

Created on: December 22, 2009

Tips for writing a historical romance novel

First, understand what a historical romance novel is. According to Romance Writers of America, two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying and optimistic ending. Historical Romance novels are set in any time period prior to 1945, and take place in any location. Some time periods and locations are more popular than others – for example, Scottish Medievals, Britain-set Regencies and American Westerns are immensely and lastingly popular with readers, while stories set in World War II have only recently begun achieving popularity. However, as with any novel, a fresh perspective on a popular theme can be just as successful as coming up with an entirely new idea. It’s all in the execution!

So, how do you write a historical romance?

Tell a good story. People have been falling in love and having romances since the beginning of time. With romance taking the top performing category on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists in 2008, there’s no doubt romances are popular. But that doesn’t mean just any old plot of boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl will fly. Romance readers are savvy and opinionated, and often consume hundreds of books per year. While many of them love the “standard” formula, many more are looking to read new twists on the story of two people falling in love. Your novel should be unique but satisfying to readers who expect a romance novel to contain the elements the RWA says they should: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying and optimistic ending. Your story is the frame upon which everything else will hang – it won’t matter if you’re historically accurate if your story isn’t compelling.

However, you still need to do your research. All books, even contemporaries, take a certain amount of research, but historicals should be particularly well-researched. Once you’ve settled on your time period, read books or study websites for information on how the people of that time dressed, spoke, courted, married. Customs, fashions, speech patterns and societies all change drastically over time. Romance readers who love historicals will probably have read a lot by the time they get to yours, and many won’t be forgiving of your mistakes. You don’t want your readers tossing the novel in the trash because you made a research blunder! Keep

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