What Led Me to Queer Romance Story Coaching
Updated July 27, 2025.
Photo by Kyle Gregory Devaras on Unsplash
I read my first queer romance novel in mid-October 2016. A. D. Ellis’ Barret & Ivan was Book 3 of the author’s Something About Him series. Though I can’t recall much of how the book entered my reading world, by the time I decided to open my doors as an editor in mid-July 2021? I was fully immersed in the queer romance subgenre.
I could track down how many queer romance novels I’ve read over the past almost eight years, of course. The blessing (and curse) of StoryGraph is that it allows me to track each book I’ve read and when I read it. But as I tend to do, I digress.
In her book Wired for Story, writing instructor Lisa Cron touches on the innate power that sharing tales has had over the entirety of human existence.
Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution—more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to.
I am profoundly curious about the sociological side of the human experience. Coupled with my discovery of the queer romance subgenre, it’s no wonder it became the fulcrum on which my editing business balances. Time and time again, I’ve lost myself in the worlds and conflicts that queer people experience on their way to their happy endings.
There were two major turning points that eventually led me to elevating my services. Firstly, I landed my first two developmental editing clients. Secondly, I finally popped open a couple of the many, many writing craft books on my office bookcases.
My Developmental Editing Clients
Yes, my specialty and preferred genre to read, write, and edit is queer romance. In those early days, though, I just wanted to get fiction developmental editing experience. The first project’s editorial letter was nineteen pages; the second, twenty-nine.
Some of my developmental editing and manuscript evaluation colleagues were aghast at those lengths. Their letters were often as short as three pages or only as long as ten pages. For this blog, I went back and reviewed those letters.
The main section, Areas to Consider, made up fifteen and twenty-five pages, respectively. In each one, sure, I educated my clients on ways to improve their specific manuscript. That’s the primary point of an editorial letter, after all.
I also spent a considerable amount of page space explaining the principles of high-level fiction writing and their importance in the drafting stages. I explained the difference between authorial voice and the narrator’s voice. Additionally, I taught them why the two should rarely overlap.
These were skills I wished I could’ve had the chance to help the author develop either prior to or during their drafting stages.
My First Writing Craft Books
I wanted so badly to look like a “real editor” when I started doing consultations. I built a bookcase with PVC pipes and three planks of wood. Then? I stuffed them end-to-end with all the craft books Amazon recommended to me (and that I could afford). It wasn’t until I landed that first developmental editing client, though, that I learned a very important—and necessary—lesson.
The vital information in those craft books? Unfortunately, said information would not be jumping into my brain via osmosis. The first two craft books I read were Structure Your Novel by K.M. Weiland and The Secrets to Creating Character Arcs by John S. Warner.
Without doubt, these two books jumpstarted my need to start getting in not just on the ground floor of the drafting stage. Balanced against that, I needed to be right there next to the author as they worked out how storytelling principles were the foundation of their queer romance story. For example, well-rounded characters were relatable but imperfect.
I needed to be their sounding board for story ideas. That way I could better guide them into turning those ideas into plausible, entertaining, and emotionally powerful adventures. The kind of adventures that have the potential to make you even one reader’s Auto-Buy Author.
Photo by Katerina Holmes on Pexels
Kristina Stanley writes that “[a] Story Coach helps writers tell a better story and makes the writer’s voice shine!”
There is no One Right Way to create a queer romance story. However? I do believe and stand by the concept that there is a Less Wrong Way. In getting in on that basement level with queer romance authors, of course I want to guide those clients to a better story. That’s the joy of being a queer romance story coach.
More than that, though, I aim to guide queer authors through the quagmire that is threading one’s own queer experiences within a story. Authentic queer romance stories are most impactful when readers see the end result and think, “Oh, this was definitely written by so-and-so. I can’t wait for their next book!”
Need someone to light up the darkness around you so you can find that gem of a queer romance story begging to be told? Unsure how to get your characters from your imagination to the page without them turning into melodramatic caricatures? I’d be honored to have you book a free story coaching consultation with me.
Let’s start turning your publishing dreams into a reality by reflecting on your story one word at a time.
Reflecting On Your Story One Word At A Time!
