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Three UNEXPECTED Pieces of This story

The days of telling stories just to free them from the overcrowding inside my brain has past. And still, when I write something out of my norm it makes me nervous.

Enter the short story “Unexpected” coming in August. It’s one of four stories in the ONE SULTRY DAY anthology from Roane Publishing.

No, this isn’t an apology for my “outside the norm” writing.

Yes, I hope you’ll enjoy reading it with the same sense of expectation as other stories I’ve written.

This post gives a short list of what’s different about “Unexpected.”

An Unusual Shero

Most heroines-she hero or shero-are slender girls with the usual curves and model-length hair. It’s what romances are made of. Right?

Not this romance. My shero is tall and stocky. When she runs into the hero, it’s obvious that she outweighs him. He might even be staring UP at her.

Whoops! She’s also athletic and tomboy-ish.

Okay, there’s nothing wrong with these things. But they aren’t the norm in romance. Women look up to the man. He’s stronger than her.

I’m all for breaking stereotypes but I hope I don’t go too far with Ivory Konner.

An Unlikely Hero

As you can see, the hero isn’t the alpha manly type. He’s gangly and thin and has a pasty look about him.
It all makes sense when you learn his backstory. But that’s not all the issues I’ve given him.

Prescott Colyer is sensitive to touch. In fact, when he comes into contact with another person, it burns him. (Read the story to learn why this is so.) I took many of his responses from those I encountered while working with autistic students.

But I didn’t want him to be autistic. He is ARTISTIC, but that’s a whole other idiosyncrasy.

New Adult Tropes

The first couple short stories I wrote dealt with new adult tropes. Even though that’s only been a few years, new adult has fallen into disuse.

What can I do? The central problem for both of my characters revolves around their decisions for their future. The fact their parents disapprove is something that draws them together.

But it’s realistic to think it will also drive them apart. That’s how it works in the real world.

After publishing novellas with middle-aged main characters, this story feel like a stretch.

An entire post airing my insecurities. This is what it’s like every time I put another story out into the public eye.

What are your favorite sorts of characters to read about? What’s more important that you can relate to their issues or that you believe their problems could be real?

Note: If you want to read another excerpt from this story, join my Facebook “Friends & Fans” group. I’ll only be posting excerpts and giveaway details there from now on.

Another Note: There will be a giveaway associated with this books release. It will run from August 6 – August 26. The prizes are a $10 Amazon gift card and three eBook copies of ONE SULTRY DAY (four separate winners). Have you joined the Friends Group yet?

4 thoughts on “Three UNEXPECTED Pieces of This story”

  1. In taking James Scott Bell’s advice to have more than one project underway at a time (albeit at different stages) I am mulling over a story that started in a dream. What’s holding me back? It’s a romance, or largely a romance, and that really isn’t part of my comfort zone, though there are traces of romance in other things I’ve written. I dread being cheesy, or sappy, or cringey, or sickly sentimental.
    Still, even if nothing comes of it, it’s probably worth doing a) for practice and b) to stretch my comfort zone.

    1. I never thought I’d be a romance writer either. Many of the reviewers ding my books because I’m not traditionally following the romance schematic with my stories so they feel cheated. Some of my novellas are a “just getting together” story. I say write the story. You can make it as romantic as you want.

  2. I enjoy reading a believable story about characters that I can relate to. That doesn’t mean they need to be like me, but circumstances that I can understand, believe and relate to. I also like when the characters are somewhat out of the norm. Not the tall, gorgeous woman – whether she thinks she is all that or not. The hero, can be rugged or gangly, scarred, not handsome but needs to have hero characteristics and eyes or personality that are magnetic to the leading lady.

    1. I don’t really rely on physical descriptions that much when I write, because I know how much I like imagining the characters when I’m reading. BUT I’m pretty clear that she is taller than him and stocky and muscular and he’s thin and wan (because of previous health issues), but he has those eyes 🙂

What do you think? Add to the discussion here.