Say What? - Romance Writers Weekly - #lovechatwrite

​I’m going to make a confession.

Writing is hard.

That’s why this week’s blog hop topic is a difficult one to answer.

How do you surprise readers with unique and unpredictable plots?

Every writer is different. Some have great stories to tell but struggle to make their characters feel authentically alive. For some, writing poetic descriptions comes easily, but action scenes are wooden and stiff.

For me, I could write dialogue and inner monologues all day long, but conjuring up obstacles and goals for my characters sometimes makes me want to hide under my desk.

Plot is the mechanics of a story. It is the outside influences that cause a character to act and react, that moves the story from the beginning to the end.

People read romances because they know the ending. They know the main characters will be rewarded for the struggles they go through and end up together. For romance readers, a unique and unpredictable plot is everything, otherwise why bother?

And that’s where I run into difficulties, because I like to write romances that are relatable to me. To my age, my financial station, my family situation. But to keep things interesting, I have to figure out a way to make that relatability different.

Characters with unusual careers help, but only if those careers also impact the relationship. A family, while “ordinary” on the outside, is always a good place to find conflict. Sometimes I have to dig deep to find those nuggets that will astonish my readers and keep them turning the pages.

What do you think makes a book unique and unpredictable? How has an author surprised you? I’d love to hear about it. Then hop over to Jenna Da Sie for her take on this topic.

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Speaking of unique stories...

​My inspiration for AFTER WORDS was the diary of William Henry Smith, a Canadian soldier who took part in the D-Day invasion that turned the tide of World War II. I found a transcription online and was immediately determined to work it into a romance. Each chapter begins with an entry from that diary. These excerpts, in William’s own words, tell a heartbreaking story on their own. Here is a sample of what I included in the book.

July 21st, 1941
The journey starts here. I don’t know if I’ll be able to record everything about it but I’ll try. My mother made me promise that I write in this journal as often as possible. She believes that writing your thoughts in journals keeps you sane. So I promised her, to comfort her. I’ve left home. We left today at noon from Halifax. It was difficult seeing the coast slowly shrink as we left. I hope this trip won’t be too long, I don’t want to get seasick.

June 23rd, 1942
Me and Rodney just got back from London, we had a great time. We went dancing and met lots of girls. There was this really nice girl that I met. Her name was Daphne. We chatted together for a while and I bought her a few drinks. She’s a little shorter than I am and her hair is beautiful. She wants me to come and see her again.

July 3rd, 1942
Got a letter from mom today. Everything’s fine. Maureen and David are fine also. I’m trying to get a pass to have the whole weekend off so I can spend it with Daphne in London.

September 5th, 1942
I got a letter back from mom today. I wrote to her about Daphne and she doesn’t seem very pleased. She doesn’t want me to see her anymore because she wants me to marry a Canadian girl. I didn’t know she felt that way. She’s a thousand miles away so she won’t know if I’m seeing Daphne or not. Thank the Lord for England.

September 15th, 1942
It’s over between me and Daphne.

December 18th, 1942
We’re constantly training on beaches on the Isle of Wight or near Norway. I’m guessing that we’re going to be landing on enemy beaches. This isn’t too comforting. They checked our feet two days ago after marching over forty-five miles and climbing cliffs and later enemy planes tried to bomb our camp as you can see we are a busy bunch.

​September 9th, 1943
I won’t be seeing London again for a while because we’re in Scotland now in a place right by the ocean called Rothesay. Here, I think I’ve done my most difficult training to date. First of all, they brought us in boats 50 yards from the shore and we had to swim back to the shore with our complete kit and Mae West (a sort of life vest). The problem is that the water is freezing. I have never been in water as cold as that. I’m thankful I can swim because lots of the guys can’t swim. You should see, those guys are being showed how to swim in these small swimming pools.

June 5th, 1944
They’ve brought us to the ports and boarded us in these massive ships. This is it, we’re leaving tonight.

June 7th, 1944
As we approached the beaches yesterday, all I could think of was one specific line in the speech General Eisenhower wrote us before we left England, “The free men of the world are marching to victory!” But now, words are jumping out at me. I still can’t describe the horror I saw yesterday as I got out of the L.C.I. I saw my own friends a few feet away from me, have their arms shot off or even worse die instantly in front of me. Everything has a different meaning once you live through it.

July 7th, 1944
I'm going back home. I lost my right foot on those new German mines. We were under fire and I was running to hide in the fields and next thing I knew I was laying in a pool of blood in great pain. But it’s over, the nightmare is over.

AVAILABLE IN E-BOOK AND PRINT HERE