RNA's Virtual Conference - My Take-home Messages

This weekend, I attended the Romantic Novelists' Association's mini virtual conference. It was a late evening, but I was able to enjoy a whole range of writing webinars from the comfort of my own home. It was such a fantastic night! I was especially keen to attend the Creating Conflict presentation from the Mills and Boon editors.

​There was a lot of information, but these are just three take home messages from each of the sessions.

The Fine Art of Submission - with Therese Keating from Bookouture

- I learned of a new book publisher - Bookouture.
- A synopsis may not need to evoke emotion, it is more of a tool to help an editor understand the book, plot, and character arcs.
- No matter what, editors just want good stories with well structured plots, developed characters, and a solid beginning and end.

Why Bloggers are an Author's Best Friend - with Julie Morris from A Little Book Problem

- Book bloggers don't just love to read and review books, but also enjoy author Q&A's, giveaways, and other book promotional materials.
- Blog tours sound like an interesting experience and are a great way to share and promote your book.
- I should read more book blogs.

Creating Characters out of Thin Air - with Julie Cohen

- Objects and places can create symbolism and metaphors for your characters, which allows you to show their personality, backstory, and conflict.
- Internal and external conflicts should link, interact, and play off each other to create interesting and emotional stories, allowing the character arc to evolve.
- There are plenty of fun and interesting ways to create characters and just the smallest thing can give you a lot of information about a character - eg, a colour, trait, object, room, etc.

The 279 Things I've Learned in over Three Years of The Bestseller Experiment - with Mark Stay

- Setting realistic goals and working on your book each day, which includes just thinking about it, is still considered the best way to make progress on your novel.
- Keep working on something new and getting your work out there.
- I'm well on track and confident with my writing career.

Creating Conflict through Character - with Bryony Green and Julia Williams

- Romance will always be popular because readers never stop wanting escapism, hope, and happiness.
- Character-focused stories with strong internal conflicts are still the best!
​- I definitely want to write Mills and Boon stories.

The Dark Art of Snappy Dialogue with Virginia Heath

I didn't attend this session live because it was on at 1:30am my time. I'm waiting to see if we get to access the webinars later...