5 Mistakes Beginner Authors Make When Writing Women’s Fiction

5 Tips on How to Avoid Them

When I transitioned from writing romance to women’s fiction, I was excited! I no longer had to write a happily ever after ending. I didn’t have to focus only on a romantic relationship, but I could write deeper stories about one woman’s journey and all her issues, just like all the emotionally rich books I loved to read. But I hadn’t fully grasped what women’s fiction was.

Here’s the thing: writing compelling women’s fiction isn’t just about the plot or women’s “issues.” Yes, it’s about her journey, but most importantly, it’s about creating a central character who feels deeply and authentically human. A trap many new women’s fiction writers fall into is that they think if they just create a sympathetic situation (middle-aged woman whose husband has left her, empty next mom finds a new life or career), readers will automatically root for our heroine. But readers don’t connect with a situation; they connect with a person navigating that situation. Leaning too hard on plot events without building a complex character at the center is a classic mistake that creates shallow stories.

The wonderful thing is that we can fix this problem. Here are the five biggest mistakes I see authors make when writing women’s fiction, and how you can move beyond the…