Killer Instinct - October

Title: How to Amp Up Emotional Intensity

Instructor: Laurie Sanders

Class Description: The romance genre is different from other fictional genres. In the romance genre the ending is defined by the genre (at least according to RWA definition.) We know when we pick up a romance novel that no matter how dark it looks for the hero and heroine at the outset, they are going to end up at the end with the happily ever after ending.
What this means is that readers don't read romance novels to find out what happens at the end. Instead, they choose romance because they want to be assured of that happy ending and they want to share vicariously in the journey of the hero and heroine as they meet, struggle, begin to fall in love, struggle again, and eventually overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of their happily ever after.
All of this struggle between the meeting and the ending is largely an emotional journey for the characters—but also for the reader who has selected the romance genre because they want to experience the emotional journey.
During this workshop we will look at the basic building blocks of emotion as they relate to romance, romantic suspense, erotic romance, and other romance subgenres. We will examine the connection between the various building blocks within a basic romance novel to see how the blocks work together to provide an environment for emotional tension. Then we will look beyond the basics to discover ways to intensify the emotion for the character, and by extension the reader.
Emotional intensity isn’t an island unto itself…the crucial elements that lay the groundwork for emotional intensity.

• character
• plot
• viewpoint
• the union of character and plot

Once you have the crucial elements for emotional intensity – then the hard part begins – you have to capture the emotion on paper.

• new ways to think about emotion – which will help you capture the emotion and intensify it
• the questions to ask yourself about the emotions your characters experience – this is the key to capturing the emotions on the paper
• The 5 crucial mistakes that hinder or kill emotional intensity and how to avoid or overcome them.
• The top 5 ways to turn up the emotional intensity in your manuscript.

Instructor Bio: Laurie Sanders is the Founder, CEO, and Editor at Black Velvet Seductions. She writes and lectures frequently on topics related to writing romance and erotica. In her “spare” time she writes as Alyssa Aaron. Her book His Perfect Submissive was a 2008 bestseller at All Romance Ebooks. It also attained the #1 position at Fictionwise for erotica. His Perfect Submissive is available at Black Velvet Seductions, Amazon, Fictionwise, and AllRomanceEbooks.com

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