Zara West

I had a dreamy childhood full of imaginative play. All of my toys had lives of their own as did the people and animals I drew and cut to tell stories with.

The guaranteed happy ending is the key feature of the romance genre. There is nothing worse than reading a novel and then leaving depressed or unsatisfied.

I wrote nonfiction works for years. Then we decided to renovated our 1865 farmhouse. I became fascinated by its construction as an early balloon-frame house and by the history of the people who had lived in it. I imagined it being built by a wounded Civil War soldier for the women he loved. I began writing the story and sending out chapters to my friends. They kept asking for more and I kept writing more.

I was born in Brooklyn, and I have family there. My sister and I visited often. I was fascinated by the vibrant graffiti art scene and decided to write about it. The initial characters grew out of my personal experience as an ethnographer and my time spent in Greece. When a troop of engaging graffiti kids entered the story, I knew I had a series to write.

Each book in the series is loosely based on a fairytale. Within the Skin has a twisty Cinderella theme. The heroine and her brother grew up homeless on the city streets, not knowing that she is descended from nobility. I had a lot of fun turning the fairy tale upside down. The “prince” turns out to be evil, her royal father ruthless, and the hero, someone easy-to-miss.

Today contest wins arrive in your inbox. Winning a contest is always a thrill. I particularly prize my first places at From the Heart because I am a member of their marvelous critique group, and it was through my fellow member’s feedback that I was able to hone my novels to such a high level.

I first joined RWA in 2010 as a prerequisite to joining my local romance writing chapter STAR. I have since joined many other RWA chapters. I love being part of a wide group of energetic and enthusiastic writers. RWA and the affiliate chapters offer wonderful writing workshops. Members love sharing their knowledge with newcomers.

As an ethnographer, nonfiction writer, and trained researcher I have

Pictures are worth a thousand words, as they say, so it is the cover that will draw the reader to look inside. The cover colors and images must convey the mood, genre, and setting. The title adds to the message, but maybe because I am an artist, I feel less important. Many romances just have a character’s name or a brief phrase as a title, such as Betrayed or The Sweet Spot. A dark romance needs dark colors. A light rom-com needs bright colors.

It is always a good idea to hire a professional cover artist. They will have the digital experience to compose a book cover with the title and author with the right font, size, and placement. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have input into my covers. It is important to be specific on the color scheme, the characters’ appearance and the setting elements. In my case, I selected possible photographs from the depository the publisher used. Then the cover artist arranged them. Under the Skin won the 2019 Romance Jam Slam Emma Best Interracial Romance 1st Place for its cover

Vernon was the villain in Book 1 Beneath the Skin. So I set myself the challenge of turning him into a good guy in book 2. And it was a challenge for both me and him. He had to work hard to redeem himself and get the woman he loved, and to make it work, I had to come up with an even more evil villain.

Character naming is one of the fun parts of writing fiction. I try to make sure that no character name starts with the same letter as that can become confusing for the reader. Then I look for a name that has the right sound, the right meaning, and maybe gives a hint of the ethnic background. I loved giving the graffiti kids their handles as that allowed me total creativity.

Romantic suspense combines two different plotlines. There is the romance plot in which two people fall in love, and then there is the thriller plot in which people are in danger. One way to pull these together is to put one of the lovers in jeopardy and then keep making everything worse and worse for the characters. I really do like to torture my characters. That is what I did my Skin Quartet novels.

I am doing the final edits on Book 1 in my Tides series. This a romantic suspense series set in Nova Scotia where I have a cottage on the sea. Be looking for it to release in the fall.

Have fun. So much writing advice is to do this or to do that. But the most important thing you can do when drafting is just to play with your characters and get the words down on the page. If writing isn’t fun, then find another way to express yourself.

I love All Author. The book mockups save me so much time and are gorgeous. The book tweet scheduler, and book review gif maker are also great timesavers. If you are looking for a quick way to produce professional-looking graphics, give AllAuthor a try.