When
Life Hands You
Lemons...
Copyright Judy
Bagshaw - All Rights Reserved
When life hands you lemons, the
saying goes, make lemonade. A good maxim to live by,
I think. The optimist's path. So how does this relate to
the craft of writing romances?
One of the first questions often asked
of a writer is, "where do you get your story ideas?" My
response is to say, "from life". I firmly believe there is
no such thing as a writer's block. Added to that, I believe
that an endless array of ideas present themselves to us
every day, even during those bad times. And I further
believe that even the worst of life's experiences can teach
us something. We just have to be observant and pick up on
them. And since we're starting a brand new year, it doesn't
hurt to be reminded of how to do that.
A good place to start looking is at your
own life experience. Remember the first time you fell in
love - really, deeply, head-over-heels in love? Can you
remember what it felt like? I can. Do you still look back
on that first love fondly and wistfully? I do. Were you
ever dumped? Recall the hurt? What if you could rewrite
history; take that story of first love/ first heartbreak,
and take it in another direction? You have an idea for a
romance novel.
Have you ever had your heart broken?
Have you broken someone else's heart? Were you ever jilted
at the altar? Did you pine for someone from afar but never
acted on it? Did you have a secret admirer? Did you ever
secretly admire someone? Did you ever flirt with someone
online? Did you ever have a long-distance relationship? All
these are fodder for your writer's imagination.
Think of all those sessions of girl-talk
with your friends. Think of the rich subject matter to be
gleaned from these conversations. Did someone have a
cheating spouse? Did a friend reunite with a long-lost love
and get married? Depending on the age of your circle of
friends, you could get insight into second marriages,
blended families, late life relationships, dating at
different stages of life, adoptions, single parents,
divorces, loss of partners through death, spousal abuse,
bizarre dating stories, surviving things like cancer or
accidents---all sorts of drama that could be woven (with
your friends permission in some cases) into romance
novels.
Another place to glean story ideas is
the newspaper. It's surprising what will spark a plot idea.
A small item about a young girl who finds a small locked
box washed up on the beach, can lead to a story about, for
example, a woman who is told that her fiancé was killed in
the war. The box holds the love letters he wrote to her. Or
perhaps the box holds jewellery that was washed overboard
with the sinking of the Titanic. An article on baby boomers
and dating over fifty can open a whole storehouse of ideas
for romance novels and short stories with widows or
widowers finding new love, or long married couples
rediscovering their love and igniting the spark of passion
again.
Family is another great source. My
mother has personally provided ideas for several short
stories that I've gone ahead to write and get published.
One came out of hers and Dad's experiences on bus tours.
Another came from a true story of a fellow parishioner at
her church who waited almost fifty years for the man of her
dreams. My great-great-grandparents' story of coming to
Canada in 1830 is a testament to love and faith in your
partner. Look around at your extended family and you may be
surprised at the wonderful romances that are there. Was
there an "arranged" marriage that ended in love? Did a
relationship survive the intrusion of war or separation?
Did anyone marry the boy/girl next door? Was there a couple
who at one time despised one another, and then came to love
each other?
Carry a notebook or journal with you
everywhere. If you're stuck in traffic or on a long train
commute, let your mind open to story ideas. Have a little
notepad by your bedside for those middle of the night
inspirations. On a rainy or snowy Sunday afternoon, sit by
the fire with your hot chocolate and a notepad and
brainstorm a series of "what ifs". Perhaps doodle some
character descriptions, or possible settings. Whenever you
get a snippet of an idea, a germ of a story, jot it down.
You can snip little things out of magazines or newspapers
that catch your fancy and turn on that creative light bulb.
Keep a file of these ideas. You don't have to act upon them
right away, but just having that well of ideas to dip into,
can make the story writing experience so much easier.
Our local writer's group offers a day
trip where members take the GO train, go to the main
terminal in Toronto, spend time sitting in the terminal
people watching, take the subway through the city...and so
on. The idea is to observe, write down impressions,
character sketches, snippets of overheard conversation,
sensory details, descriptions...all to provide fodder for
possible future work. The same thing could be done simply
by going to a busy restaurant and watching and listening,
or sitting in the middle of the mall at a busy time of
day.
If you and your family travel, keep
journals of your trips as well as your photo or video
memories. Make note of the sights, smells, flavours, and
sounds. Catch the nuances of language and customs. Keep an
eye out for interesting or eccentric characters and record
mini character sketches. I've used my journal from a
Caribbean cruise taken almost twenty-five years ago, to
provide some details and texture to two of my novels.
Story ideas can come from anything and
anywhere. You can take the lemons of life and turn them
into lemonade - a romance novel or short story that you can
get published.
About the Author: Judy
Bagshaw has been published since 2000. Writing
romance featuring full-figured heroines, her
publishing credits include 4 novels, 1 collection of
short stories, and short stories in three
anthologies. She was also part of the writing team
for the Ginn Reading Series, and Reaching Readers
Series, used in many elementary schools. Retired from
teaching, she writes full-time from her home in
Ontario, Canada. Visit Judy's website: www.judybagshaw.com
