“Smooches and Murder: How to Write a Successful Romantic Suspense Novel”

I had a wonderful time presenting my workshop “Smooches and Murder: How to Write a Successful Romantic Suspense Novel” at the Maryland Writers’ Association South Baltimore Chapter on September 11, 2019. The audience included fiction and non-fiction writers and others who have yet to embark on a creative writing project.

Before I dived into the workshop, I engaged the audience in an exercise by having them watch a movie clip from Mr. & Mrs. Smith and asking them to identify things they saw. They all identified danger, romance, explosion, bad guys, etc. which are some of the common elements of a romantic suspense novel.

Once they were warmed up, we discussed the following:

• What is romantic suspense?

• This is a sub-genre of the romance category with the threat of danger and romance intertwined throughout the novel. It is driven by a prominent mystery, suspense or thriller plot.

• Common elements of a romantic suspense novel

• The importance of research

• Plot development

• Character development (protagonist, villain)

• Opening with a bang*

• Writing a satisfying ending

* The audience really enjoyed reading from several romantic suspense novels (Finding Gideon by Eric Jerome Dickey, Guilty Pleasures by Donna Hill, Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman, etc.) with mystery, suspense and thriller plots. We discussed opening with a one sentence hook and how sometimes it takes a paragraph or the first ten pages to get into a story.

Overall, the group's energy was great. At the end, I got some very positive feedback and suggestions which I will incorporate into my next presentation of this workshop like allotting more time to complete some of the exercises.

Here are some photos from the workshop:

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