The Process: Pre-Stuff – Heat Levels in Romance

Continuing on with some of the things to know before you start writing romance…

It is important to understand the “heat” levels in writing romance and to know how far you can go in showing the emotional and physical aspects in your story. At the same time, it is important that you review the guidelines for any publisher to which you think about submitting. If a publisher only looks for sweet romance, do not submit a very hot, very spicy romance to them. But many publishers have a variety of lines, with fairly specific heat levels and what they consider acceptable for each line. Study those guidelines and, at the very least, look at sample chapters of some of their books.

As always, an article on Heat Levels in Romance has been added to the Writing Tools on my website and as a link in Writing Tips on this blog.