I do edit a lot of them out. Em dashes in dialogue, I keep, especially if people are interrupting one another. But a lot of the em dashes in the prose are just constructed awkwardly and I either rephrase the sentence or replace the dashes with commas or periods.

@Leesa McKay I feel your pain. I wish I had a solution for you.

@Noora Danesh You ask "It doesn't have to be something that would mirror the love interest?" NO, the main characters can have their own different arcs. And I personally prefer when the characters don't "fix" each other, rather the relationship challenges them to see things differently and change and grow for themselves. If that makes sense.

@Noora Danesh "clock is ticking" are you on a deadline?

Hello! I write sweet, contemporary romance. So far I've published two Christmas novellas and a Halloween themed cozy fantasy sweet romance novella, too. Currently working on a sweet rom com that I aim to be novel length and the first of a series. For fun, I watch YouTube and ride my vibration plate.

@Leesa McKay

I'd like you to start at the beginning. Getting started, since I haven't tried it at all. Then workflows for how to write a romance novel or rom com from soup to nuts. It doesn't bother me if these are separate workflows, like one for getting all the supporting docs (characters, outline, etc) and one for drafting the prose. I think we all dream of having the push-one-button to get a bestseller, but I don't mind having a few check-points where I can review and course-correct if needed.