When Love Strikes: Reading and Writing Romance

By: Laurelin Paige, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Laurelin Paige

Romance is one of the most popular literary genres out there. The world is filled with millions of people who long for stories of passion and intimacy, of fateful connections and emotional suspense, of love found in ancient castles and distant galaxies.

Maybe you’ve always considered writing your own romance story, or you’ve just landed on that perfect idea, or you’re curious about what makes a successful romance novel. Regardless of where you are in the process, New York Times best-selling author Laurelin Page offers invaluable tips to help you in her Audible Original When Love Strikes: Reading and Writing Romance.

You’ll learn about building believable worlds and putting fresh spins on timeless tropes. You’ll gain the confidence to write about physical and emotional intimacy. You’ll discover techniques for taking your story’s lovers from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. You’ll also learn the secret to writing unforgettable romance. And when it comes time to share your work with the world, you’ll get advice on finding the right path to publishing your work.

So long as there are people, there will be an audience for a romance story. So, listen to these five lectures, then start writing your own. It’s going to be great.

©2024 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC.

Perfect for writers new to the genre

This was a great overview of the romance genre. It was mostly aimed at beginners, though writers at any level could benefit from listening to it, in my opinion.

A useful resource

A good resource for those just starting out and a review for those who haven’t written in a while. I like the light conversational tone Ms. Paige used in her narration. I wish there’s an accompanying workbook to jot down the action notes.

Helpful and uplifting!

These lessons are easy to follow and contain useful guidance in just the right size tidbits! This gives you exactly what you need to get started and information about next steps to take! Much appreciated!!!

Inspiring

My biggest life-takeaway listening to this course was a reminder of my roots: theatre. Obviously, unintentional by the author but I’m so thankful for it (virtual hug to Laurelin Paige). I’ve struggled in my head what to write as a bio/intro, other than “she’s loved writing in one form or another since she was a preteen.” But I always felt as if I was missing something and that was it; the love of fleshing out characters whether it was directing, acting, analyzing, or writing them has been within me for as long as I can remember!

On a semi-less personal note, I found this quick course to be extremely beneficial as I’m writing my first (and definitely not my last) romance novel. Great tips and great reminders too. The part I’m the most anxious about, publishing, was presented fairly and gave me points to think about. I’m still on the fence on which side to jump to, but that’s future-me’s problem.

an easy guidebook

Oh Laurelin. You make it sound so easy. you made this guide simple, and inspirationel. this book gave me an ideer how to put my plots together,and an easy guide in how to start the process of writing romance. Not sure I ever do start the process. but now I know how to start.

Good reference

I thought this was a good reference. A couple things seem rather obvious if you read enough in the genre.

Both Interesting and Useful

This is a wonderful guide to understanding romance literature better. It’s not an historical review of the genre, but a look at how it stands right now and it is designed to be useful to both readers and writers. I really enjoy books that help us to understand why we enjoy a story. I always find that it enhances my appreciation of what the author has accomplished when I become more aware of how they manipulate the reader through the use of tropes, archetypes, character development, and plots.

While I read in just about every genre, romance is not my mainstay, so I was not familiar with this author before encountering the book in my “included” section of my Audible membership. I also was not familiar with more than ninety percent of her examples. That didn’t harm my enjoyment of her work or lessen the usefulness of her tips. If you like romances, or have even a passing interest in how such books are developed, this is a must read. I will be looking for similar books in other genres. I think it has seriously enhanced my appreciation of the genre. And, as an author, even if I don’t write a romance, I think that many of Page’s tips about how to develop unique characters, and the growing feelings between characters, will be especially useful to me. For a writer of romances, I think that would be even more true.

I’m very glad that I stumbled across this book.

great listen

this was an excellent listen that I found with my membership that gave good explanations to the craft of writing.