RIRW exists to promote excellence in women’s and popular fiction, to help writers become published and build careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the women’s and popular fiction publishing industry. Formed in 1983 as a Romance Writers of America chapter, we disaffiliated in 1988. We are an independent, nonprofit organization in Rhode Island.
We welcome everyone, without regard to race, color, national origin, disability, religion, cultural identity, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, or any other identity distinction. Furthermore, we recognize that because racism, homophobia, and other forms of bias are systemic in our national culture, people from marginalized communities continue to be denied advancement in our industry. RIRW strives to address this by raising awareness within our membership and increasing our efforts to attract members from a variety of backgrounds to enrich our community of writers.
If you are serious about writing popular fiction, we invite you to join us!
We meet from September to June on the first Saturday of the month at the Cumberland Public Library in Cumberland, Rhode Island. (Because of holidays and/or activities at the library, the date or venue may change. We will announce changes here.) During COVID, we’ve been meeting via ZOOM. We’ll post what will happen in Sept. 2021 as soon as we know.
12:30 p.m. General Meeting
1:30 p.m. Workshop/Speaker
We welcome Visitors. (We would appreciate a $2.00 donation at the door.) Visitors may attend up to two meetings before they need to join.
Check us out on our public Facebook page (click here!)
Next Meeting: Oct. 2nd,
12:30 (via ZOOM)
Sarina Bowen: Conflict Soup (3 key conflicts in romance)
Conflict Soup – What can we do to take a romance from good to amazing? There are three kinds of conflict in a romance novel: internal, external, and sexual. We will discuss methods for enhancing and defining all three of them. Sarina will provide how-tos for keeping a “conflict journal” to help with your story work. And then we’ll discuss how they intermingle in the best romances.
You will come away with:
– A terrific method and vocabulary for enhancing your own use of conflict in storywork
– A conflict journal of your own
– Some suggestions for further reading and brainstorming
Sarina Bowen is the award-winning author of more than thirty contemporary novels. She has hit the USA Today bestseller’s list nineteen times and counting. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.
Sarina is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. She lives with her family on a few wooded acres in New Hampshire.
Sarina’s books are published in over a dozen languages on five continents.
RIRW meetings start at 12:30, with workshops starting after that (c. 1:30). Non-members who want to check us out, just email via https://www.rirw.org/officers/ and we’ll send you a link.
Upcoming Meetings:
2 October
6 November
4 December (ARIA Expo 11 Dec, change from usual)