This post is by Carrie Spencer.
I remember the first manuscript I wrote—after I decided to become a romance writer. Do you? I was forty-seven, had a decent command of the English language, and thought, For as many romance novels as I’ve read, this should be a piece of cake.
I should have thought, a piece of tripe. Oy.
In my book, I had three brothers—it would be accepted as a series after all—and they went to France for their mother’s birthday, and the hotel owner was beautiful and brother number one—a shipping magnate—would fall for her.
I thought it brilliant. When picking out a career for my hero I said, “Let’s see . . . who could be rich?” Well, shipping magnate came to mind. Do I know what a shipping magnate is? Nope. But I was betting he was rich. He would have to have been, because they flew to France in his private jet.
When picking out a scene, I decided on a posh hotel in France. Why France? Dunno, but it sounds exotic doesn’t it? France . . . come on, say it with a breathy sigh. Ahhhh.
Pretty much the rest of the book entailed me picking out scenes, heroes, villains, and crucial story parts simply because they were the first thing to pop into my head.
Drivel. Oh, so much drivel.
Digging for Your Best Characters
But, what if I had dug a little deeper? What if instead of using the first thing that popped into my head, I used the fifth thing? Or the twenty-third thing? What if there had been three brothers—I’m still determined to get that series deal—and instead of being shipping magnates they were:
1. Doctors/Health Professionals
2. Lawyers
3. Cowboys
4. Nuclear Scientists
5. Movie Stars
6. Country Music Band
7. Ship Builders
8. SEALs
9. Circus Performers
10. NASCAR Racers
11. Bank Robbers
Oh ho! Bank robbers? Carrie, you’ve gone crazy!
But wait . . . hold your horses. Why not a trio of bank robbers? They’d be rich, yes. And what if they were highly successful at it? What if they didn’t just rob banks? What if they stole:
1. Diamonds
2. Paintings
3. Antiquities
4. Gold Bars
5. Babies
6. Stolen goods
Robbers who steal stolen goods? Hmm . . . here the brain starts to hum a bit. So they wouldn’t be total bad guys. They’d be helping people get their stolen goods back. Kind of like Robin Hood. Sort of. You know what I mean.
Digging for Your Best Plot
Then expand your ideas a bit. Go for the gusto here.
If they did go to France—ahhh, France—maybe it was because:
1. Their grandma was having a birthday party
2. She’d once escaped from the Nazis
3. She knew where a lot of their purloined goods were stashed
4. The party was just a cover for the brothers to steal those goods back!
Do you see how much easier it’s becoming? If I don’t take just the first idea that pops into my head, I can make that idea grow and grow and morph into a unique idea. Sometimes it can be a bit ridiculous, but when you fork off the straight and narrow path your brain wants you to take, new ideas start to trickle in.
What if the heroine:
1. Inherited the hotel from her grandfather
2. Who hid from the Nazis
3. But knew where they’d stashed their purloined treasure
4. And she just found the map
5. And she needs the money desperately
. . . and so on and so forth.
Now the story begins to take shape. And not one down the straight and narrow path, oh no! But one with twists and turns and conflict galore!
You can play this game with all parts of your story. Use it to turn your setting from blah to ta-da. Turn your hero from a boring man in a beautiful suit to someone who has pizzazz and personality. Take your heroine from a beautiful woman who owns a hotel to one who has multiple secrets about her past and is on the edge of disaster. And she has a pet! What if she has a:
1. Dog
2. Cat
3. Parakeet
4. Monkey
5. Llama
6. Gerbil
7. Bloodhound
Bloodhound? And we’re off and running with a new tangent to our story!
About the Author: Romance author Carrie Spencer works as a restaurant manager, jewelry and website designer, and is learning how to use a flat iron. She lives on a farm in Iowa with seven cats and her English husband.
