Tagline: When Amy whipped up her Nana's famous pie and muffins, she had no idea her beloved baked goods would be a recipe for romance.
Observations: In my book, Story Sparking: How to Generate Ideas for Woman's World 5-Minute Romances, there is a section devoted to using tried and true tropes of Woman's World magazine as a jumping off point. You'll find a list of 300+ tropes organized into people, places, objects, occasions, and actions and the trick is to choose two of them at random and see if that sparks an idea.
And wouldn't you know it...the farmers market is #26 in the Places category. Recipes is #32 in the Objects category.
Now, I'm not saying that Ms. Buffone used my book to generate the idea for her story. I just wanted to point out that this method could work.
Let's say we switched the numbers and categories and got #32 Place is a grocery store. The #26 Object is a loose dog. Now, that would be a funny story!
So if you haven't checked out my book, the electronic version can be had for about as much as a venti frappuccino costs. And my book has zero calories! LOL
Anyway, back to the story.
I love how in the first paragraph we get a little mystery...why did Nana leave the recipe file for Amy in particular? When you insert a mystery, it makes the reader/editor want to keep reading to find out the answer. Just make sure that you actually solve the mystery by the end of the story! Buffone never did actually state why Nana chose Amy over the other two sisters, but I think it can be inferred that she hoped Amy would develop a love for cooking.
I also like that Amy takes charge of her own love life by making the first move. Gone are the days when women did nothing but wait passively for Prince Charming. Sometimes she needs to show the guy she's interested.
Also note that there is a slight black moment (the good old misunderstanding)--when Colton mentions Jenna making Amy think he's not single. Black moments are not mandatory in a Woman's World story, but I think they add some tension.
Finally, the last paragraph brings us full circle back to Nana's note, which I was very surprised to see as a little picture in the story! That's something I've never seen before! It was pretty cool to see that.
Photo by Alice Keeler via Flickr CC License
