Guest Blogger Abby Gaines, Welcome to Seekerville!

Abby Gaines

Ruthy note: I can't even remember how I first discovered Abby, but she's a great gal, and a wonderful author, one of those Meg Cabot types who cross-genres (yes, thereby breaking tons of man-made rules, good for her!!!) with flair and alacrity. Some Supers contain adult content
When Ruth asked me to post about how to write forSuperromance, I was a tad daunted. Quite a large tad, if such a thing ispossible. Because although nine of the 19 books I’ve published with Harlequinhave been Superromances, I still feel like I’m learning the ropes!
Superromance is hard to define, as the series encompasses arange of story types. But you’ll see more single parent stories here than youdo in other lines (with the possible exception of Love Inspired). You’ll alsofind some suspense, lots of small towns, a few big city stories, and tones thatrun from light and humorous to intense.
If you know my books, you’ll know I sit at the light andhumorous end of the scale, and I like to give traditional romance hooks aSuperromance book. My November release, TheWedding Plan, is – you guessed it – a marriage of convenience story (myfavorite hook!). 
For other kinds of Superromances you could try authors likeKarina Bliss (humorous and intensely emotion – a wonderful writer), Ellen Hartman(intriguing heroes and unpredictable storylines), or Sarah Mayberry (stronglywritten stories that feel like real life).
Superromance recently increased its word count to 85,000,which can be quite a challenge if you’re used to writing shorter. The good newsis, Supers are strong on subplots, so this is your chance to bring out thosewonderful secondary characters...so long as the subplot either complicates orreflects or contrasts with the main plot, of course. I write a secondaryromance in most of my books, often featuring an older couple. Other subplotscan include suspense, family complications, small-town characters, and, ofcourse, those kids that regularly pop up in Supers.
So, how do you know if your book is a Superromance? Thissounds odd, but if you think you’re writing a series romance, and you can’tthink where it fits, consider targeting Supers. That’s basically how I ended upthere. I’d been trying my hand at shorter, sweet romances for a while. Then Iwrote a book that came out longer, and featured a secondary romance subplot. Ihad no idea where it might fit...then a contest judge suggested Superromance.Next minute...I was a Super author! (well, like everything else in publishing,it wasn’t quite that fast...)
If you have any questions about Superromance, I’d bedelighted to answer them. I also have a Love Inspired Historical out thismonth, The Governess and Mr Granville– think The Sound of Music meets theRegency! So I can talk about writing Regencyinspirational historicals, too...
One commenter will win a copy The Governess and Mr Granville.



Thanks for having me here today!
Guys, Abby lives across the GREAT POND so here time frame is a tad different from yours and mine! Come on inside, grab coffee and try some of this new apple Danish that Mandy made over the weekend. Her hubby was at the Bills game in Buffalo, so I got my girl back for a Sunday afternoon of BAKING!!!!  :)
SUH-WEEEET!  And you guys get to try it!  :)