When you're stuck, look to structure and say, well, what should the scene actually do? And then it will trigger ideas in your brain. Oh, I could do this. I could do that. And structure is your friend. Even if you're a panster, when you get stuck, you go and look at structure and go, well, what's kind of demanded in the story at this point? And it will give you ideas. And then you can keep writing. And then you actually finish your draft, which is the whole point and it will give you ideas and then you can keep writing and then you actually finish your draft which is the whole point of it.

Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help

you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be

overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode

with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right

away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve

your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. Have you ever sat down to write your romance novel knowing exactly what your meetcute is,

exactly what your breakup looks like, and even what you're happily ever after moment will feel

like, and then still had no clue what's supposed to happen between any of those scenes?

If so, you are definitely not alone. Most writing advice for romance

focuses on the big, obvious key scenes, the meet cute, the midpoint shift, the grand gesture,

and all of those are of course essential. But they're not where most romance writers actually get

stuck. The place I see romance writers get stuck the most is in the connective

tissue or the scenes between those big scenes. So the lead-ups, the reactions, the dozens of

scenes between plot point one and the midpoint where your characters are supposed to be

falling in love and you have no idea what to put on the page. If you can relate to any of that,

you're going to love today's episode because that's exactly what we're going to tackle. And I'm so excited to

welcome Christina Stanley back to the show. Christina is the CEO of Fictionary, a school for writers and

editors that focuses on the structure of novels. And she just released a brand new book called Secrets to Writing Romance,

which is the basis for everything we're going to cover today. In this episode, we get into the lead-up

and reaction scenes that surround every key romance plot point, how your external plot supports the

romance, when to use dual point of view versus single, and how to give your characters

...