[A slightly different version of this piece was originally published on 22 May 2023 at the romance blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.]
 
Confession: I’m a little obsessed with both consent and romance. A couple years ago, I taught a course and gave several presentations on consent for fiction writers. As I spoke with participants and did research, I was amazed by just how many connections there are between consent and storytelling—especially in our genre, which is of course the best.
 
This essay shares a little of what I’ve learned about consent, how it’s connected to romance, and what diversity has to do with all that. And I am obviously honor-bound to share reading recs: At the end, you’ll find a list of romance novels that are super smart about consent and diversity, as well as links to some favorite resources on consent.

Microsoft Word is … not my favorite … for a wide variety of reasons. However, the reality is that it’s also industry standard, and many many writers find themselves working in it during some (or all) stages of their process from idea to published work.
 
If you use Word, especially for longer documents (like, say, a draft of your novel), I urge you: Take advantage of its Styles tools.

Should a particular romance novel, novella, or story be written in the past or present tense? (Should romance in general be written in the past or present tense?) Well ...

Some romance writers know with absolute certainty that a particular story has to be told in the past tense or in the present tense. Some people only write in one or the other, in which case: Problem solved, carry on!

But a bunch of other people get really stuck on the question of the storytelling tense--when is the story being told? during or after the narrated events? Sometimes this is a stressful decision when a writer is just beginning to play with a sparkling new idea. Sometimes it comes up when someone's trying to get a handle on a draft that just does not feel right.
 
Here's my own (informed, yet personal) take on present vs. past tense for romance fiction: