Readers are always curious how authors can sit down facing a blank page (paper or electronic), and fill it with a story that engages and intrigues them. It’s more than characters and more than the plot line.
Stories have themes, the building of a crescendo about an issue that is something the audience can relate to. For example, trust plays a bit part in almost every relationship. How do you establish it? How can we nurture it? What happens when it fails? Can it be earned back again?
These are all big questions. For my books, I base the themes on the real-life happenings of my friends. A girlfriend is getting a painful divorce from a cheating husband, but he doesn’t want to let got – of either woman. Another is dating a man who can’t decide if he wants to commit or not, and the revolving door swinging him in and out of her life makes me dizzy! A guy picked an extreme career, one that is leading him down a path that is doomed to destruction – but he doesn’t see the disaster awaiting him.
If you have a particularly interesting thing happening in your life that you think would make a good story, I’d love to hear it. Remember, even if we’re writing paranormal fantasies, we as authors can’t make this stuff up! Real adventures are just too good to be true – and they have the bonus of being something we can change to present a favorable outcome on the fictional page.
Hope to hear some of what you all are up to! In the meantime, take heart from the poster attached to this blog. And sorry, I don’t have a cite for it!
Yvonne
