Many Mills & Boon books have an aspirational, international location. So have fun choosing a location, but don’t get bogged down in local politics. And don’t drown the reader in facts — you’re not writing a travelogue.

Base your story on universal emotional truths. Not just love and death, but renewal, justice, truth, strength, contentment, passion and tenderness.

Tie in these truths with the desires that are common to most women: unconditional love, safety, affluence and success.

Make your characters resonant and believable as well as aspirational. Have them communicate with plentiful dialogue, and motivate their actions soundly.

Be very careful to conform to the sexual mores of your chosen series — nipples at dawn are not right for Romance but for Blaze, they’re a prerequisite.

Who is driving your story? Make sure the conflict always comes from the main characters and their emotions — not from the supporting cast.

But remember: conflict isn’t a continual argument between the hero and heroine!

Layer the drama with highs and lows, advance and retreat.

There should be more internal than external drama between the hero and heroine — devices such as unexpected pregnancies (“secret babies” in M&B speak) are good. They’re a way of creating sustainable conflict that is emotional for the couple yet easy for readers to relate to.

To develop your heroine convincingly, feed her backstory through the action of the book, avoiding “chunking” — shoving in lengthy chunks of interior monologue.

Last, but not least . . . have fun!

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