The Recipe for Harlequin Presents
by Sabrina Philips
Take one alpha hero and one spirited heroine. Mix with a large chunk of conflict. Add a dollop of sex. Simmer in a glamorous, international destination for 50-55,000 words, and garnish with a happy ending.
Sounds about right, doesn’t it?
Ask readers of Presents what the books are about and they are likely to mention the above ‘ingredients’. Look at the Publisher guidelines, and you’ll find them mentioned there too. The two books I’ve sold certainly include them. But is the recipe really so simple? And if it is, how can the books be so perennially popular if they all include the same old ingredients, (and how can writing a novel for Presents be so challenging if it is really that easy?!)
The answer, I believe, lies within the ingredients themselves…..
