With many of you in lockdown, or at least staying at home a lot more than usual, now might be the perfect time to escape back in time and try your hand at writing a romance novel! And we’re looking for new authors!

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The Mills & Boon Historical series is excited to announce a new blitz for aspiring authors, opening on the 5th June!

Our readers around the world love Viking, Medieval and Highlander stories, and we’re looking for more talented new voices to write romances against these evocative settings.

These are the times of the ultimate alpha hero—whether he’s a Medieval knight, a Highland laird or a Viking warrior! He’s rough, tough, and brave in battle, but also prepared to fight for the woman he loves…

This is an opportunity to showcase your historical warrior romance to our editors and get some helpful feedback in an accelerated time frame—and maybe even become the newest Mills & Boon Historical author!

Join our bootcamp over at the Harlequin Writing Community group on Facebook for these events:

• Monday 1^st June: author and editor tips!
• Tuesday 2^nd June: videos from new Medieval authors Ella Matthews and Melissa Oliver!
• Wednesday 3^rd June: Q&A with award-winning Mills & Boon Historical author Jenni Fletcher—one of our most versatile authors, who has written Roman, Viking, Medieval, Regency and Victorian romances for the series! 5 p.m. UK BST
• Thursday 4^th June: Q&A with Carly Byrne, an editor on the Mills & Boon Historical series team. Carly has worked with a variety of Historical authors and loves a Viking! Find out how to write a great submission from her! 5 p.m. UK BST
• Friday 5^th June: the Blitz is launched!

If you are interested in submitting to our blitz:

• Check out our guidelines and submission info on Submittable.com
• Follow the editorial team on Twitter @BryonyGreenHqn, @CarlyMByrne and @C_Tricot for more updates!
• Read some recent Mills & Boon Historicals to get the best idea what our readers want! Here are some great reads:

• • A Healer for the Highlander by Terri Brisbin
  • Secrets of a Highland Warrior by Nicole Locke
  • Uncovering the Merchant’s Secret by Elisabeth Hobbes
  • The Warrior Knight and the Widow by Ella Matthews
  • Stolen by the Viking by Michelle Willingham
  • Falling for her Viking Captive by Harper St. George

Tips on writing your submission:

• Think of a really exciting, dramatic first scene to hook your reader straight into your characters’ lives!
• Show your characters’ personalities with everything they think, do and say. Then you won’t need to explain too much to the reader—they’ll get it!
• Keep your story focused on the hero and heroine—one or both of them need to drive every scene.

Warriors Wanted! Blitz—everything you need to know:

• Opens Friday 5th June 2020
• Make sure your submission is long enough. One chapter should be about 3000-5000 words.
• Submit the first chapter and synopsis to https://harlequin.submittable.com/submit.
• Closes at midnight UK BST Sunday 21st June 2020.
• All submissions will be read and responded to by 5 p.m. UK BST Monday 6th July.
• If we love your submission we’ll invite you to submit further chapters and work with you on developing your story.

This blitz is specifically targeting Viking, Medieval and Highlander era romances, but we’re always looking for Historical submissions from under-represented authors set in these or other historical time periods. If it’s not a Viking, Medieval or Highlander, you can submit to Mills & Boon Historical at any time via Submittable on the Historical page: https://harlequin.submittable.com/submit. We’d love to read your story!

By Becky Lushey