Four Stages of Romance Novel Writing

First Draft

 This is the baseline sketch. It all feels black and white, prose is wooden, characters flat.

Second Draft

The elements begin to merge. Ideas flow. The story starts to breathe. This is the place where you first start to weave a connection between the story world and the words.

Third Draft

Now we’re cooking! The characters have a voice and life on the pages. You disappear into the story while you write. Maybe at this stage it is good enough, but why stop there when you could go one level deeper?

Fourth Draft

You tweak for drama and page-turning emotion until the story consumes you. Then it’s ready.

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