Writing Romance

As the biggest selling genre in the adult-fiction market, romance fiction today is all about smart, fresh, up-to-date and endlessly diverse storytelling.

Course director and tutor Heidi Rice has 10 years’ experience as a romantic fiction author and has sold over two million books worldwide. She is also an experienced teacher. As a USA Today bestseller and three-times coveted RITA® award finalist, Heidi is well placed to introduce you to the conventions and techniques you need to write vivid and engaging romantic stories, and ways of working with a range of heat levels.

You’ll learn how to create compelling heroes and heroines and a unique opening hook, how to understand the relationship between internal and external conflict, how to build emotional (and sexual) tension, and how to write convincing dialogue.

As you work through each weekly session you’ll collaborate with a close-knit team of fellow writers to develop the tools you need to explore your own potential within this evocative, exciting and constantly evolving genre.

We teach this course in our online classroom, which is open 24/7 so you can fit learning around your work, family and friends. You’ll work in a small group of learners so you can discuss ideas, ask questions and share your writing as you progress through the weekly sessions.

You’ll learn from:

• Videos from Heidi Rice and other writing experts
• Written guidance from Heidi explaining the conventions and techniques of romantic fiction
• Reading extracts carefully selected to help you understand what works – and what doesn’t – in this genre
• Reading and viewing lists from Heidi
• Short quizzes to help you think about your own writing and test your learning
• Samples of Heidi’s writing plans and drafts of her novels to show how successful authors develop characters and plot stories
• Exercises to help you experiment and practise your own writing, from the first session onward
• Online discussions with writers in your group and the chance to share and give feedback on each other’s writing

You’ll need:

• 5-7 hours per week to work through the course
• A notebook and pen or pencil, if you like to make notes by hand
• A laptop or computer* with:
  • A reliable broadband internet connection
  • Speakers or headphones
  • The latest version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Safari
  • Microsoft Word. If you don’t have this you can download Open Office free
  • Adobe Reader, latest version. Download free
  • QuickTime Player, latest version. Download free

*You can access the course from a tablet or smartphone, but we recommend using a laptop or computer, as this makes it easier to share your work files with your writing group.

Join our alumni
After your course, you can join our online alumni where you’ll meet our growing network of past students. The alumni is a friendly group of writers who support each other as they continue to explore and develop their writing.

Within our online alumni area you can:

• Rejoin your classmates on a private forum, together with access to an archived version of your course materials and forum posts
• Meet alumni from other courses and groups and share your writing for feedback
• Join discussions about reading, writing and ideas
• Retain access to our online resources area, which we constantly update with interesting and informative links
• Chat with other people in our online alumni chatroom. We also host live chats with guest tutors here

Commission a report on your work
If you’d like to receive a personalised, detailed report on your final piece of writing from your course tutor, this is available at an extra cost. You’ll receive detailed written feedback assessing your ideas and writing, plus advice on what steps to take next.

Taking things further
If you would like to continue on to another Professional Writing Academy course, you'll receive a 15% discount.

Writing tips from Heidi 

Why I love writing hot romance 

If you’re curious about how our online writing courses work, you can try our free taster session.

It shows you what our online classroom looks like, how our courses are set up, and gives you the chance to read, watch and listen to a sample of learning materials.

To try your taster session, please get in touch and we’ll send you a link.

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