"How to write romance fanfiction"

by Liz Reed

Hello all! Joe asked me to contribute to his site, and I was very glad to do so by writing this article on how to capture romance on paper. Now, as most of my readers know, I write mostly NC-17 rated material. However I will not be stressing that in this article.

I wish to share my ideas and thoughts about simple romance. First of all, romance is different for everybody. For some, it may be an exchange of passionate glances across a crowded room, a dozen roses delivered to your door, serenades of song from atop a balcony. For others it could simply be holding hands under a blanket at a football game in November, a lunch at a favorite restaurant, or eating nachos in front of the TV. Whatever it is, get it down on paper. Become your characters. Create the fantasy partner you want, or want to be. Use words you would use, or you would like to hear used. Listen to your favorite music over and over to give you inspiration for that glance, that look on the others’ face that you need to tie that scene together.

In "A hero’s honor," one of my most widely read stories, I used inspiration from Gone with the Wind. Ganondorf is General Sherman as he burns Atlanta and his soldiers threaten Tara, only I used the world of Hyrule instead. The scene with Melanie as she went into labor was the inspiration for the scene where Zelda is about to give birth to Syrus, and Ganondorf enters her bedchamber at Caer Laeryn. Caer Laeryn is the haunted castle where Link reluctantly sends Zelda to hide her from Ganondorf’s evil clutches.

I also used a lot of inspiration from a Celtic song I heard about a year ago, and the words were so intriguing that I combined that with the Gone with the Wind inspiration to create this story. I am an eclectic writer. I draw my inspiration from many, many sources. I’m much older than the typical Zelda writer. However I was drawn to their romance from the moment I first played "Ocarina of Time." I think their story is timeless. It can spin off so many ideas….

Make sure your spelling/grammar/punctuation are in good order too. You don’t want to submit a story full of these errors. Also, don’t rush your romance. I have seen some very good romance stories that have a lot of potential but the writer just didn’t devote enough time to build that tension and play with the flirting glances, those little words of suggestion that build incredible tension. Read "Chyvalry" for an example of this. Your characters are your toys, play with them however you want. Make them do this, make them do that.

If you watch a movie or hear music you like, rent the movie, play the songs over in your head. Make a "movie" with your characters. You’d be amazed at what this can do.

Well I hope I have been able to help a bit here. I by no means am an expert, because there are many wonderful authors out there. I am still unpublished, but I am going to remedy that soon. Good luck, and happy writing! Feel free to email me anytime!