Author Alyssa J Montgomery and her award-winning book, Return To Hope Creek. Photo: Supplied.
Award-winning Illawarra author and USA Today bestseller Alyssa J Montgomery is set to turn up the heat for writers this Saturday (18 October), leading a hands-on workshop in Coledale that dives into the craft, chemistry, and commercial secrets of romantic storytelling.
Montgomery, who has nearly 20 published contemporary, rural and medieval romance novels, will guide participants through the nuanced world of romance – a multibillion dollar industry trying to satisfy the demands of diehard voracious readers.
While her first book was published 12 years ago, her writing journey began 10 years before that.
“I’ve always enjoyed romance. I think that it’s lovely to have a positive ending,” she said.
“My sisters actually challenged me – I’d said something about romance novels, and they said, ‘Well, why don’t you write one?’ and I said, ‘OK, I will’.
“I persisted and I think that’s the key, persistence and surrounding yourself with people.”
She was prompted to join Romance Writers of Australia and admits if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be published today.
“I’ve never met such a group of women who are so supportive of each other,” she said.
“I remember one author quoted somebody else saying, ‘A high tide floats all boats’ and it’s true.
“We could take six months to write a book, but a reader takes an afternoon to read it, or overnight, so the market is there.”
Montgomery is also part of South Coast Writers Centre, which is hosting Saturday’s romance workshop.
She said the workshop would explore romance subgenres from the historical to the steamy, characterisation techniques, writing “dazzling dialogue” to create sexual chemistry on the page, avoiding the “saggy middle”, publishing opportunities, and understanding what’s trending in the market.
“It’s the first time I’ve run this writing romance course,” she said.
“Normally I do plotting workshops for cross genres, but this time we’re going specifically with writing romance.”
She said while many elements could be applied to other genres, she would be putting a romance lens on topics such as developing character arcs.
“In romance, it’s very much that the character develops because of the romance,” she said.
“Although you have two strong, independent people, they are better for having the other person in their life.
“They’ve learned something from that other person.
“It’s very much that the romance is helping them be a better person and develop their character.”
Montgomery has won many awards for her books, including in August her book Return to Hope Creek winning the Australian Romance Writers’ Romantic Book of the Year Ruby Award for a long contemporary romance novel.
“I made an impromptu speech because I didn’t expect to win it and one of the things I said was, ‘To all the newbie writers out there, if this is your first conference or you’re an unpublished author, if I can do this, anyone can’.
“You’ve just got to keep trying.”
She said the plots for her book were usually character driven, but the themes could stem from the publisher’s knowledge that royalty series were trending, for example.
“There was a funny one – after the royalty series, they said it’s billionaires and babies,” she said, laughing.
“I was talking to one author at the conference that was in August, and she said, ‘Walmart have stopped stocking a lot of Mills and Boon books, but anything with a baby in it, they will stock’.
“That’s that insider knowledge. You might have a good story, but it’s not going to sell.
“In fact, at the last conference, we were told, don’t write romantasy anymore. The market is flooded with it now.”
She said she wanted to be able to share some of those insights with those at the workshop.
Montgomery has written the third book in the Hope Creek series due for release next May, and is writing a murder series, admitting she’s steering more towards suspense and crime now.
Register for Writing Romance With Alyssa J Montgomery, with South Coast Writers Centre, on Saturday (18 October) from 10 am to 2:30 pm at the Coledale Community Hall. She will also hold a plotting course through the centre early next year.
