How to Write a Romance Novel Will be Covered in a New Fall Course at Sarah Lawrence College

A new course called “Romancing the Novel” will be introduced by The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville this fall. Eleven Tuesday classes will be conducted from September 29 to December 15, from noon to 2 p.m.

This course is intended to help students write successfully for romantic readers — this is one of the fastest growing book-buying audience categories with annual sales at $1.4 billion; sales in this category were slightly over $1 billion in 2013.

“Writers of all romance subgenres from historical romance to romantic suspense and everything in between can benefit from this class,” instructor Eileen Palma said. “One of the great things about the romance industry is that there is a market for all story lengths including serials, short stories, novellas and novels. Between all of the the subgenres and story lengths, there is something for every type of writer in the romance world.”

“The focus in this course will be on romantic tension, story conflict, dialogue, heroes and heroines, and supporting characters,” Palma mentioned.

About the instructor

Eileen Palma has a dual B.A. in English and Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is an alumnus of The Writing Institute.

Her work has appeared in Romance at Random, Mumaspire, The Momoir Project, Macaroni Kid Bronxville, NYC Writers Network, Blogging in the Big Apple, and on the front page of Our Town.

Her debut romantic comedy Worth the Weight was selected as a compelling read from an emerging author for Barnes & Noble’s Nook First program. It also placed first in the 2012 Tampa Area Romance Authors contest and was one of the 2012 Wisconsin Romance Writer’s Fab Five. She is a member of the national and New York City chapters of Romance Writers of America. www.eileenpalmaauthor.com.

The registration cost for attending Romancing the Novel classes is $660. To contact The Writing Institute concerning this course, call 914-337-0700 or click here.

For more information about other offerings at The Writing Institute, click here.