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Romance Writing Level 1: 10 Week Workshop (Zoom)

Explore the art of romance writing while developing the skills to create compelling love stories. Learn about romance subgenres, character development, plot structure, dialogue, storytelling techniques, and the publishing process. Through writing exercises and peer critiques, build your fiction-writing skills and bring your romantic story ideas to life.

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  • 18 and older
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  • Zoom Conference
  • 30 hours over 10 sessions

Express Checkout – $489

Tue. Jan 12, 2027, 6:30pm ET (10 sessions)


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Class Description

Description

Romance Writing I is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures, exercises, and the critiquing of student projects. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.

What’s more addictive than romance? Perhaps romance novels. They account for a hefty portion of all fiction paperback sales, with many millions of readers worldwide experiencing the thrills and heartbreaks of these ever-appealing stories. The field is more wide-open than ever, embracing romance in all its multifarious forms. 

To write successful romance novels, you must marry the skills of a fiction writer with a thorough understanding of the genre. Here you will learn about the various types of romance novels and their special requirements, as well as fiction craft and how to market your work.

Whether you seek to write historical or contemporary, sassy or suspenseful, we’ll show you how to write romance novels readers will fall in love with.

Notes

The “romance” genre does not refer to any fictional work that contains romance; rather, it refers to novels that follow the expectations of the romance genre.

You may also work on a “romance” novel in a Fiction I or (at the advanced level) Novel II First Draft or Novel II Critique, or one of our other genre courses: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery.

If you’re working on a YA novel, you may take a Fiction/Novel course, or a “genre” course, or you may take a Children’s Book course, where the full spectrum of children’s books will be covered. 

Syllabus

This course gives you a firm grounding in the basics of the romance genre, and gets you writing a romance novel. Course components:

  • Lectures
  • Writing exercises
  • Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work two times)

  • Week 1 - Introduction to Romance Writing: What is a romance novel? Types of romance novels. How to choose a type. Studying romance novels.
  • Week 2 - Character: The heroic couple. The heroine. The hero. Character descriptions. Creating characters. Bringing characters to life.
  • Week 3 - Conflict: Romance plots. Problems and solutions. Planning a plot. Cause and effect.
  • Week 4 - Love: The developing relationship. Lust vs. love. Pulling the couple together and keeping them apart. Love scenes. Sexual tension. Finding the right resolution.
  • Week 5 - Storytelling: Starting a story. Scenes and chapters. Story elements—narrative, flashback, suspense, pacing, foreshadowing, the switch.
  • Week 6 - Point of View: Point of view types—first person and various types of third person. Which POV to use. Choosing the POV character. The author's voice.
  • Week 7 - Dialogue: The benefit of dialogue. How dialogue is real but not real. Handling dialogue. Dialogue mechanics.
  • Week 8 - Setting: How to choose a setting. Political correctness. Research.
  • Week 9 - Revision: Reviewing your work. Tips for revision. Diagnosing romance novel “problems."
  • Week 10 - The Business: The ins and outs of publishing. Self-publishing. The submission process. Agents and editors.

Note: Content may vary among individual classes.

Remote Learning

This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.

Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.

Refund Policy

All Classes (except One-day and Zoom Intensives and Write-Ins):

  • For a refund or credit, contact us three business days or more before your class starts. You can either choose to hold a full credit with us good for one year on other Gotham classes OR you can opt for a refund less a $25 administrative fee and your $25 registration fee ($50 total).
  • If you need to withdraw after your class has started (or two business days before it starts), you won’t receive a refund, but you’re welcome to a Gotham credit less the price of Week 1 and your $25 registration fee, but we need to hear from you three business days or more before Week 2 meets for that to happen. After that point, no credits are available.

One-day and Zoom Intensives:

  • You may reschedule a One-day or Zoom Intensive one time, if you notify us two business days before the class begins. After that first reschedule, there is a $25 rescheduling fee.
  • If you notify us three business days or more before your class begins, rescheduling is free. If you notify us less than three business days before your class begins, there is a $25 rescheduling fee. If you don’t notify us until after your class begins, we cannot reschedule you.
  • You may get a refund (minus a $50 fee) if you notify us three business days or more before your class begins.

Write-Ins:

  • If you withdraw 1 business day or more before it begins, you’re welcome to a full credit good for one year toward another Write-In. No refunds are available.
  • If you simply don’t show up and don’t notify us in advance, you forfeit your money.

A few more things:

  • Credits are valid for one year and cannot be changed into refunds down the road.
  • Simply not attending class or notifying the instructor does not mean you've officially withdrawn.
  • Some exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis for medical emergencies with a doctor's note.
  • Refunds take up to six weeks to process.

Please understand, we can't issue a refund after classes have started, even if you miss your first class. Similarly, we can't offer you a credit one day before your second class or after that. We understand that other obligations get in the way of attending class, but these policies allow us to get other interested writers into class early enough to have a good experience, and this allows us to offer our classes at a reasonable price.

Important Notes:

  • Students are allowed to join a class in the second week.
  • Only those who pay the tuition in full can be guaranteed a place in class.
  • Class dates and times may be subject to change. A substitute may be assigned or make-up classes added to the end of the term.
  • Auditing and the recording of classes are not allowed.
  • For all classes, students receive a record of payment and registration.
  • Gotham reserves the right to remove any student at our discretion.
  • Gotham does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, socioeconomic status, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age, or marital status.
  • Our courses are not intended to provide instruction that will result in the student's acquisition of occupational skills.

In any event where a customer wants to cancel their enrollment and is eligible for a full refund, a 5% processing fee will be deducted from the refund amount.

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Gotham Writers Workshop

Gotham Writers Workshop is a creative writing school in New York City and online that has been teaching students since 1993. They offer classes for both new and experienced writers, focusing on writing craft and providing a safe and structured environment for improvement.

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