Saturday, February 10, 2024

Snow Men


by P.S. Murray from the January 29, 2024 issue

Tagline: When Selina called a number on a flyer tucked under her windshield wiper, she never imagined that it would lead to a winter romance.

Observations: This story had a lot of things I like to see in a Woman's World story, but it really focused hard on the hero. During the course of the story, we see Dane and all his good qualities.

He's shown to be a good uncle, helping his nephew out with his side gig. We see him complimenting the kid. We see his playfulness and humor in the snowball fight. At last, we see his unwillingness to do a good deed when he cuts down the dangerous branch on her tree. He's also a "tall good-looking man."

All of this gives us a chance to develop a crush on him along with the heroine, Selina, because Woman's World stories --indeed all romances--focus on escapism. Readers wnat to live vicariously through the story, experiencing the giddy feeling of falling in love or, in the case of Woman's World first meet stories, finding someone who just could be The One. Never lose sight of that when you're writing.

Photo credit: Via Flickr CC License, Nomadic Lana

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

As Sweet as a Macaron


by Audrey Wick from the 1/22/24 issue=

Tagline: When Rayna takes a French cooking class, she never expects to whip up romance...until she meets the handsome chef and sparks fly.

Observations: This was a charming story. I love cooking and am a genuine foodie. I love watching cooking shows. The Great British Baking Show is a fave of mine. I imagine Ms. Wick likes macarons and perhaps even makes them. Or, if she's like me, she wants to try her hand at them one day. To be honest, I've even had daydreams of starting a macaron making side gig, selling at farmer's markets and online. Probably never gonna happen, but it's fun to daydream.

The thing is, you can take one of your daydreams, and turn it into a Woman's World story. I talk about this at length in my book, Story Sparking: How to Generate Ideas for Woman's World Magazine 5-Minute Romances. (If you're interested in buying the book, the link is down below.)

For instance, let's say you thought it might be fun to be a blackjack dealer. Maybe your heroine's friend owns a catering company or is a party planner. She needs someone to help her with a casino night and your heroine has played blackjack in the past with her late husband, so she knows the game. Her friend is desperate, so she volunteers to help. One of the guests has never played before so she teaches him some tips and tricks her late husband taught her. One thing leads to another and they make plans to see each other the next weekend.

Now, I have to tell you, I also used another story sparking idea in that story outline, above. Look at your own life. What is going on at this moment? At this moment, I'm at the Red Rock Resort outside of Las Vegas, so when I asked myself, what kind of kooky, out of the norm daydream/interest could I use as an example for this blog post? Blackjack dealer!

Try it yourself. Try either method--current events in your own life or a hobby or interest--and see if you can come up with a story plot. Do this often and it will get easier. The more you brainstorm story ideas, the better you'll get at them. 

To buy Story Sparking: How to Generate Ideas for Woman's World Magazine 5-Minute Romances, click here.

Photo credit: Takeshi Kuboki via Flickr Creative Commons License

Monday, January 29, 2024

Romance Ahoy!


by Wendel J. Potter from the January 15, 2024 issue

Tagline: When Miranda's friend invited her out to the local seafood restaurant, she never imagined she'd end up catching feelings for a new man.

Observations: I liked this story. I like the meta aspect of the heroine being a budding romance author, even if I wondered if Miranda had a day-job, because graduating from college to be a romance novel writer is ambitious and risky. I identified strongly with her writer's block and the fact that she has a writer buddy to help her through the tough times. Also, Shrimp Boat Charlie's sounds like the kind of restaurant I want to go to.

However, other than Naomi saying at the beginning that she might be able to help Miranda figure out what the perfect man looks like, it wasn't crystal clear that this was matchmaker story. Miranda might have wondered if her friend Naomi might be interested in Charlie for herself, but she didn't. This is a very nit-picky point but I would like to have seen some other clue that Naomi meant for Charlie and Miranda to meet. Maybe Naomi could "suddenly remember" she had somewhere else to be. Or maybe Naomi could have been engaged.

Another small point--it's my nature to focus on the tiny details--Charlie would most likely not refer to his son's teacher by her first name.

But otherwise, great story!

Photo by Yoppy via Flickr CC License

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Love on Ice


by Rosemary  Hayes from the January 8, 2024 issue

Tagline: When Jacqui had to help cover a shift at the cafe, she never imagined that her heart would be warmed with love on such a chilly day.

Observations: I adored this story! The more I read, the more things I found to love about it.

I loved the heroine's go-to attitude... I wasn't going to let a little snow stop me. Sara couldn't do her shift at the cafe today and Alex would need help.

"...this cafe used to be my uncle's DVD rental store a long time ago." -- Ah, the memories! I remember Blockbuster used to be a regular stop on my errands. That is, until I discovered Netflix would deliver to my mailbox. Gamechanger. I should have invested right then and there.

"Flat white?"

"How did you guess?"

"My hidden talent."

This reminds me of that movie Chocolat, where Viv's special talent is know which chocolate is someone's favorite.

I was quite surprised she was the boss. It's very rare for someone to get a plot twist in without me seeing it in advance. This was so nice!

It was like a scene from a movie. I gazed at him, he gazed at me. Sparks flew. -- Note the short sentences. Great choice. Moves us along their emotional arcs at a snappy pace.

Hayes calls back to the hidden talent comment, which is always nice. It's like an inside joke for the readers to enjoy too.

I also like how he brought photos for her to see. She would definitely love to see what her cafe looked like before she took over, not to mention the fact that it brings them a bit closer together.

I thought the ending was perfect. It even gave me chills. Excellent.

Photo by Bill McChesney via Flickr Creative Commons License

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Serving up Romance


by Christine Greifzu from the January 1, 2024 issue

Tagline: When Jessa's sister asked her to help with her catering company on New Year's Eve, she never guessed what might be in store at midnight.

Off the Cuff Observations: So we start off with a paragraph of information to ground us in the time, the date, the situation/problem. Greifzu does a good job of including some of the info in dialogue which can be difficult to make sound natural, not stilted.

Aww, her boyfriend dumped her three weeks before Christmas. Here is where we feel for the heroine and connect with her. On a side note, I hope she hadn't bought him a present!

When he got closer, she gazed into the bluest eyes she could ever recall seeing. -- It's funny...I never notice eye color. Ever. I know, I'm weird.

Cody checked in on Jessa every so often to see if she needed help. -- What a nice guy!

After their first date a few days later, Jessa knew it had been worth the wait. She and Cody had incredible chemistry, and he turned out to be an amazing kisser. The New Year was going to be magnifique. -- I like this epilogue-ish type ending. I liked the call back to the kiss that never happened and the reference to her being a French teacher. It's little details like this that make a story nice and tight and connected.


Saturday, January 6, 2024

Black Friday Tussle


by Melinda Cherry from the November 27, 2023 issue

Tagline: A heartbroken Dana found herself injured amid Black Friday chaos, but she was in for a surprise when she later stumbled upon true love.

Observations: I clearly need a better organizational system. I keep finding my Woman's Worlds out of order! My apologies for this Black Friday story analysis coming so late.

I can't recall ever reading a Black Friday Woman's World story before, so that's refreshingly new. I was surprised to see the extent of the heroine's injuries and that she went to the ER. I think in the past, Woman's World shied away from too much drama or danger, but the new editors are more open to expanding the magazine's range a tad.

This story hit a lot of emotional buttons. Obviously, there was a sense of wistfulness about missing her beloved late husband. We were warmed by how her family rallied around her in her time of need. I had some personal experience with that myself right before Christmas. I went into the hospital with a big kidney stone problem along with a bacterial infection that spread to my blood. During my six-day stay, my family were there, bringing me things from home, including yummy things to eat, keeping me company, and in the case of my sister, giving me a full body massage. I'm a very lucky woman, as is Dana, the heroine of the story.

The last emotion this story highlighted was hope. The security guard proves that he would fit right into Dana's family as a caring and thoughtful man.

Well done, Ms. Cherry!

Photo by browniesfordinner via the Flickr Creative Commons License

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Mother Nature's Christmas Gift


by Rose Ross Zediker from the December 11, 2023 issue

Tagline: When the weather delayed Gabby's flight and made her miss a Christmas party, she soon met a handsome stranger who turned the delay into a sweet miracle.

Observations: This was a lovely story. I always worry when the story is set in an airport, because the chances the hero and heroine will live in the same city are very low.

If you're familiar at all with Woman's World romances, you will have right away recognized that the handsome stranger she meets in the airport is, in fact, the man she was being set up with. In a novel, you might not want a plot twist to be so obvious. That's why they call them twists, right? Usually the intention is that the reader is blindsided with new information that completely changes the story. And I have seen many a Woman's World story that surprised me with a plot twist I never saw coming.

However, in an 800-word matchmaker story, it's pretty near impossible for the readers not to guess who's going to fall in love. But the great thing is it doesn't matter. Yes, I knew he was The Intended One the minute he appeared, but the fun of these kinds of stories is seeing the characters themselves discover the plot twist. Tension and anticipation builds in the reader... When will they figure it out? Who will figure it out first? How? Then, when they finally see the light, the reader is delighted right along with them.

So, don't worry about your plot twists being obvious. If you can make it a true twist and surprise everyone, more power to you, but if you can't, know that in a Woman's World story, it can still work.

Photo by Syuzo Tsushima via Flickr Creative Commons License