Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

From Reality to Hope

From Reality to Hope

To me Romance Writing is an attempt to blend hope with reality.

I'm sure that all writers look upon their lives and wonder if there might not have been something more….it’s the old question of choices made lalong the road and opportunities never visited.

This can be the case with members of the opposite sex, career choices, decisions taken in haste or a window that opened for an instant and then slammed shut.

As a romance writer dwelling upon the what might have been is not a luxury…it is an imperative. We must shamelessly pander to a readers vulnerability to the mystery….what would my life have been like had I taken a different course? We must catch that sigh and write it down, giving the reader an entertaining and believable vision….even if they have to live it through the eyes of another….even if it is fanciful…we all long to escape, however briefly into a land where dreams come true, good triumphs over evil and a girl and a guy walk happily into the sunset of a new tomorrow.

In order to do this we must take our experiences and yoke them to the fancy of other alternatives. From experience comes awareness of where the decision points come and in our imaginations give life to a more exciting choice of outcomes that lead to a different story for the characters we write about.

So on the one hand our experience grounds us in reality and makes our characters believable…This believability is important because if the reader can relate to them….to be able to vicariously enter into their lives than the only hurdle that remains is finding a story line that follows a new and exciting thread.

My life has been good and I don’t dwell that much on choices I might have made, but I see many that I know and interact with that do….In a way it’s sad but it doesn’t take much to see the evidence….just go to a high school reunion if you don’t understand what I’m talking about.

For me I take another approach to the “What might have Been” I sit back and take a couple of my characters and get them to talking….Off they go leading me on a chase into Mamby-Panby Land as I scrawl furiously or hammer madly on the keyboard of my lap top. (This is no lie…after a year I can hardly read the character etchings on the keys.)

So if you ever get writer's block, pour yourself a beverage and think back on something you have written and summon two or more of your old characters….Ask them “What’s happening Dude?” and as they answer begin writing it all down. It will lead you to an interesting tale….I guarantee it.