Writers With Wrinkles: Patience Bloom on Romance Writing
Patience Bloom, a freelance book editor with 26 years of experience in romance publishing, joins Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid on the podcast Writers With Wrinkles.
Key points:
- Elements of a captivating romance protagonist:
- Likable, even if flawed.
- Human and relatable.
- Vulnerable but strong.
- Possesses expertise in a specific area.
- Common pitfalls in portraying romantic relationships:
- Lack of conflict.
- Unrealistic or drawn-out conflict.
- Poor timing of romantic development.
- Current trends in romance writing:
- Increased inclusivity.
- More prominence of witches, sports, cowboys, dogs, and wilderness settings.
Patience Bloom's additional insights:
- Going through the process of publishing her own memoir, Romance is My Day Job, made her a more efficient, understanding, and empathetic editor.
Links:
Timestamps:
- 2:13 - Patience and Beth discuss their experience attending boarding school together.
- 6:43 - Lisa asks about the key elements of a captivating romance protagonist.
- 8:17 - Patience provides examples of characters with depth and expertise.
- 11:35 - Patience discusses the importance of avoiding one-dimensional characters and unnecessary conflict.
- 13:34 - She shares examples of how to create interesting conflict in a romance novel.
- 16:05 - Lisa highlights the frustration of drawn-out conflict in romance novels and television shows.
- 17:13 - Patience shares her controversial opinion on Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler from Law & Order: SVU.
- 17:58 - Beth and Patience discuss the importance of timing in the development of a romantic relationship.
- 18:51 - Patience emphasizes the need for urgency and emotional connection in a romance.
- 19:25 - Lisa asks about current tren
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Website: https://www.writerswithwrinkles.net/
Threads: @WritersWithWrinkles
Insta: @WritersWithWrinkles
Twitter: @BethandLisaPod
Support Writers With Wrinkles - become a subscriber
Email: Beth@BethMcMullenBooks.com
Writers with Wrinkles Link Tree for more!
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Death, Sex & Money
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.