Build a Romance Blueprint in Four Weeks
Starts Monday, March 10 and concludes Monday, April 7
All lessons and feedback delivered online via groups.io. Student interaction is encouraged. Number of assignments intensify during weeks three and four.
Who is this class designed for?
- Aspiring writers who have never written a complete romance;
- Writers who want to strengthen their romance plots;
- Writers who want to strengthen their hero/heroine character arcs;
- Pansters who want to try plansting/plotting;
- Writers who want to strengthen their understanding of the romance genre;
- Lapsed writers who want to jumpstart their writing again;
- Writers who struggle to finish a romance.
How does the class work?
During the course, students will develop a blueprint for a romance novella in any subgenre. The class will lead students through the steps of developing interesting characters, compelling settings, and satisfying romances.
The class will pace the students through several short lectures and assignments each week. Students log in to read each lecture and then complete the assignment. They post their work for the instructor and other students to review and provide feedback. Be prepared to devote 5-6 hours a week to completing the assignments, depending on how quickly you work. The class is asynchronous, which means students can access and work within their own schedule each day.
Week One: Choosing subgenre, setting, and tropes for your story.
Week Two: Developing the hero, heroine, and possible villains.
Week Three: Outlining the essential romance scenes/beats to optimize character arcs for the hero and/or heroine.
Week Four: Creating individual scene cards for 6-10 scenes, including the MeetCute, inciting incident, barriers/attractions to love, declaration of love, midpoint reversal, dark moment, final recognition and the HEA/HFN.
By the end of week four, after completing all of the assignments, each student should have completed a blueprint for a novella, ready to be written. For the purposes of this course, blueprints are not synopses; blueprints are structured sequences of events that hit the key beats and/or encounters necessary for a reader to believe a couple has fallen in love.
Maximum 20 Students
About the Instructor – Selene Grace Silver has been writing and publishing romance since 2012. Prior to retiring, she taught English at the high school and college levels for more than 20 years. She has a BA and MA in Creative Writing.
Registration has closed.
Occasionally class content may contain material that you find objectionable. Please check with class instructor if you are concerned about this issue.
The opinions expressed and class content presented as well as those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions or policies of Orange County Romance Writers or its members. Orange County Romance Writers is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Presenters.
Would You Like to Teach a Class for OCRW?
OCRW is always looking for accomplished and enthusiastic online class instructors.
Required
- Writing craft or expert in field such as police or forensics
- In depth workshop
- At least one lesson per week
- Q & A at least two days per week
- Must be online at least once a day to respond to student questions
Preferred
- Two week or four-week classes
- Two to three lessons per week and Q & A three days per week
- High speed internet
Online classes are moderated. The moderator will enroll students, collect class fees, and oversee other administrative duties.
If you are interested in presenting an Online Class for OCRW, please complete the Online Class Proposal Form. One of our board members will contact you to review your proposal.
Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions!