Feedback is Important...

As you may know I've been waiting to hear what comments judge Sue Moorcroft wrote about my romance novel entry that won me the Nottingham Writers' Club  Romance novel trophy, late last year.
 (This was just the synopsis and first three chapters submitted.)

Well today I got the comments in the post (thanks to the club Prose Secretary, Christine).

Now I was stunned to win the award in the first place, so I was even more amazed when I read the judge's comments.

Like any feedback there are things I can do to improve the work, and there are certainly a number of those comments- many of which I was aware of, having had time away from the novel.

So I hope you and Sue don't mind me mentioning the really good comments. :-)

It has a "Thomas Hardy-esque plot" and the really pleasing bit for me, was this: "I get the feeling that I'll never be bored or find the action lacking. The writer has a good way with pace and momentum."

The dialogue 'shines out.'

And I've demonstrated 'excellent viewpoint control.'

"This is a promising opening, heavy on plot, pace and focus, and demonstrating a feeling for the nuances of craft."

The comments on the synopsis were as I expected, it was a bit more of a detailed synopsis (outline) than the basic version needed. (I know a good book to help sort that out.)

The feedback has certainly confirmed a few areas that I need to work on- as already mentioned.

The other less obvious value of the comments is this: confirmation of how much I've improved my writing skills, so I know my novel is progressing in the right direction.

Stand Alone or Serial Romance?

I've read a lot of romance novels over the years (apologies for the cliché) and they've been a mixture of both types of books.

Every novel should stand alone even if it is one of a series-who wants to have to read half a dozen books to find out what happened with everyone else, to make sense of the current book?

I know Mills and Boon Presents often had mini series- brothers, a set of close friends (male or female)- characters from one book popped up in a secondary role in the others in the series.

Certainly some (originally) US published historical romances I've read, and enjoyed have followed family groups- Jo Beverley's, Mallorens, Stephanie Laurens',Cynsters, and Johanna Lindsey's Malory family stories. And some times you do need the family tree the authors' provided (in the books or on their websites) just to keep the relationships straight in your head...

I've lost count of how many Regency spying groups there's been with anything from four heroes up to half a dozen. Sadly I think that category has been over-used...But they're fun to re-read.

Perhaps it's the influence of all these books over the years, but my novel does have a secondary character who has his own story too, and his lady love has an interesting brother... But that's for sometime in the future when the current novel is complete.

I don't read as many contemporary romance novels as I should- I have a few on my e-reader to get on with-so perhaps these are more stand alone.

Or is this one of the difference between the categories, or even between romances published in the UK and the US?

As a reader, do you prefer single novels, or do you like to read a follow-on novel centred on one of the secondary characters from the previous book?