One Purr-fect Christmas

byDiana Hickerson from the December 26, 2022 issue

Tagline: Adopting two kittens is Gracie's one Christmas wish, until a handsome stranger steps in and snags one...and steals her heart in the process.

Observations: It can seem like an impossible task--to give the editors the same thing, but different--but it's not. Ms. Hickerson did it by taking a tried-and-true trope I've seen time and again (adopting a pet) and bringing it into the technological age. All it took for this tale was to add a live feed that showed the cats and kittens up for adoption. Voila, you've got an old trope with a fresh spin.

So if you're looking for story inspiration, just take a few moments to think about the leaps and bounds technology has taken in the past decade or so. We can now binge entire seasons of TV shows. Top tier movies sometimes never even go to the theaters. People who never took taxis before are using Uber or Lyft. Online dating is, perhaps, the premier way of meeting singles. We carry around excellent cameras for still photography and video and they fit in our pockets. And we can view the pictures and videos instantaneously. No film or film developing necessary! It's common to be able to literally see who is at your front door. You can have music play in your house just by saying "Alexa, play some jazz." The list goes on and on. 

Because Woman's World embraces characters of a certain age, take an older person and combine him or her with something "newfangled" and you've got instant conflict, a problem to solve, a character arc to complete.

Photo by abcrumley via Flickr Creative Commons License

Bargaining for True Love

by Diana Hickerson from the April 11, 2022 issue

Tagline: Hosting a yard sale is not newly single Tracey's idea of a fun way to meet people...until a handsome man arrives wit the offer of a lifetime.

Observations: The first third of the story has zero dialogue in it. It's just the main character's thoughts about her friend's obsession with yard sales, her mediocre interest in them, but the reason why she's hosting one anyway. 

There's a common "rule" that says you shouldn't front load your story/book with backstory, but I have always disagreed. You can do anything in fiction as long as you do it well. It's all in the execution. I mean, take those epistolary books--books that are entirely composed of letters. Crazy idea, right? So not what we would expect or imagine that we would enjoy, and yet, I love these types of books. 

And I didn't find the beginning of this story to be boring at all even though nothing was really going on at first. Obviously, the editors didn't have a problem with it either.

So, I encourage you to take risks with Woman's World stories. The stories are so short that you can afford to spend a few days going out on a fictional limb. Take a so-called writing rule and break it on purpose. See what happens.

My favorite part:

He had moved away when he turned 12, and I never knew what became of him. But clearly, wherever he'd been had done him good. Or else there's no limit to what four decades and a weathered barn jacket could do for a guy.

Photo by Mike Mozart via Flickr Creative Commons License

Where There's a Will

by M.H. Hickerson from the November 16, 2015 issue

Tagline: Maddie had never fallen quite so hard or so inescapably for anyone before!

Observations: So, remember last week when I talked about matchmaker stories in which we don't see much of the matchmaker? Here's a perfect example. Aunt Martha only shows up in the last paragraph. Otherwise, it's a cute man-to-the-rescue story with a situation I haven't seen before -- someone getting pinned under a box. I thought this was original and perfect from a "feminist's" point of view. Maddie needed help getting out from under that box. It wasn't that she was a woman, so she didn't know how to change a tire or flip a breaker. No, she honestly needed someone's help.

I liked that the stacked DVDs made it easy for David to compliment her on her choice of movies and it gave them something in common. And showing them working together did indeed bode well for their relationship. As Maddie herself pointed out, putting together furniture can be a source of frustration between people.

I did think David was a tiny bit presumptuous to just show up at the same time for the rest of the week, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he brought dinner at least a couple of times.

Photo Credit: HomespotHQ via Creative Commons license

In the Market for Love

by M.L. Hickerson from the May 11, 2015 issue

Tagline: Nick might not have a fondness for vegetables, but there was something--or-someone--that kept him coming back to the produce stand...

Observations: I found it interesting to find a common romance novel trope in this 800 word story. There have probably been a ton of other stories this trope has appeared in, but this is the first time I've ever noticed it. Sometimes I mentally separate Woman's World romances from full-length romance novels; they're sort of like apples and oranges.

What trope might I be thinking of? It's a trope that promotes lovely conflict--something all novels need, but is not really mandatory in a Woman's World story. And the conflict is all internal.

Look back and see if you can find it.

Did you figure it out? The trope is The Secret. When one of the protagonists has a secret, it always begs to be told. The character is always worrying about it and wondering when it should be revealed. (The author wonders this too. LOL) We always worry about the reaction of the other character when the truth finally comes out.

In this story, Nick's secret was that he had no idea what to do with all those vegetables he'd been buying. (I did find myself wondering what he was doing at a farmer's market if he didn't like veggies, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the story.)

I liked that Nick ended up confessing. (Good boy. Honesty is the best policy.) I loved how their relationship grew slowly and steadily, so that by the end when you got that little plot twist, you totally believed that they could have gotten married and had a little girl, five years later.

And look at the last line.

Investing in the market had made Nick a very rich man.

There's another twist. Instead of using the word "market" like she (he?) had been, Hickerson suggested that Nick had invested in a type of stock market, and I thought it was very clever and different.

Photo credit: Infrogmation of New Orleans via Wikimedia Commons

Love on Ice

by N.L. Hickerson from the January 13, 2014 issue

Tagline: Ethan saved the pretty, green-eyed skater from falling on the ice, but nothing could keep Ethan from falling for the skater!

In a Nutshell: Ethan meets a woman skating but she gets away before he can catch her name. The next time he's skating, he finds out it's the same woman his sister has been trying to set him up with.

Observations: Hickerson is a regular contributor to WW. This story is a good example as to why. The circularity that occurs--tying the "most beautiful woman in the world" idea to the end--is perfect. We see the attraction between them. There's humor, from both the hero and heroine. Ethan is a go-getter, checking the local library to see if he can find her.

My only complaint is nothing the author can do much about. Of course, the moment you hear Ethan's sister talking about someone she wants him to meet, you know it's going to coincidentally be the heroine he meets on his own. But that's a plot we've seen before and will see again.

A Suitable Suitor

by M.L. Hickerson from the November 21, 2011 issue

Tagline: It took a romantically minded grandmother with a little Internet know-how to match up Gemma with Tom...

In a Nutshell: Jeanne joins an online dating site and arranges a date with a suitable man...for her granddaughter. She meets the guy and explains how she was doing reconnaissance without her granddaughter Gemma's knowledge. Luckily, the guy is a good sport and when Gemma arrives and is let in on the situation, they hit it off.

Observations: Hickerson has done it again. Her stories are always so fresh and new. She put a matchmaker and a blind date story into a can,  shook 'em up real hard, and this is what came out. All these characters feel real to me and I loved grandma's tech savvy. I had no complaints about this story. Zero.

All On Our Own

by M.L. Hickerson from the September 5, 2011 issue

Tagline: When Julia met Matt, everything fell into place--it just took them both a little while to recognize it.

In A Nutshell: Julia is marking items off her "Twenties List," things she wants to accomplish before she turns thirty. Matt encourages and calms her before she bungee jumps and even promises to help her learn to tango and drive a stick shift. She, in return, teaches him how to make ravioli by hand.

Observations: I thought this idea was fresh and I kick myself that I didn't think of it. I mean, I saw "The Bucket List" movie! Doh! Although I did wonder why someone would want to bungee jump if they were that terrified of it...

What I found more problematic was the fact that because Matt had chaperoned high school dances, of course, he could tango. I'm not sure where in the United States high schoolers tango or even play tango music at their dances, but I found that implausible. However, I managed to forgive that and still enjoy the story.

I liked how Hickerson dropped that mysterious hint about the last goal on Julia's list. When I read "...she realized she'd already mentally crossed off the last goal on her list," I thought, "Hmm, I wonder what it is..." The story moved along right after that to her 30th birthday party, so I didn't "have time" to ponder it. As a result, the ending was great because I hadn't already figured out her last goal was to fall in love.

On a side note, I found it interesting that you don't learn the hero's name until a third of the way through the story. And I didn't quite understand the title of the story. Maybe one of you can explain it's significance to me. :)

"The Game of Love"

by M.L. Hickerson from the February 21, 2011 issue

Tagline: It might have started with a coincidence, but Justin and Gail's romance was meant to be...

In A Nutshell: Gail is on standby at the airport. She meets a guy waiting for the same flight because he's playing the same word game on his phone as she is on hers. They decide whoever finds the longest word will get the ticket. He wins, but declines to take the flight because he wants to spend more time with her.

Observations: This reminds me a lot of the story in which the two people vied for the same vintage lunch box, but this story had more of a tech feel because of the important props--his iPhone and her Blackberry.

This is one of those stories where as a reader, you're the fly on the wall. Personally, I like this type of story because it's easier to believe in the connection between the characters. I see it happen, vs. the author telling me.

There's also the story element of circularity, which I'm also fond of. That's when you drop something in at the beginning of the story and bring it back in at the end, too. In this case it's the idea of coincidence. When Justin shows her the screen on his iPhone so she can see he's playing the same game...

"That's a coincidence!" to which he replies, "'Coincidence', eleven letters."

Then at the end you get not one, but two, references. When Justin suggests they grab dinner, they both happen to have the same favorite restaurant on the concourse. Then, the last sentence claims:


As they smiled lovingly at one another, they knew their chance meeting had nothing to do with coincidence.

Finally, there's another story element in this tale that I like a lot--the black moment, when you think all is lost. Justin's name is called to board the flight, and Gail is left alone, but then she hears her name over the loudspeaker. Justin, that chivalric guy, has given up his seat for her. But then, bam, backatcha, Justin. Gail doesn't take the seat. She'd rather have dinner with you. Viva romance!!!

In The Clouds

by Pegi Hickerson from the May 17, 2010 issue (The third of three posts I wrote but never published.)

Tagline: James hadn't thought of Kate for years. Seeing her again, he wondered how he'd ever forgotten her...

In a Nutshell: On her way to her high school reunion, Kate is nervous about flying. The man sitting next to her was her was her math tutor in high school. After reconnecting with him on the flight, she agrees to be his date for the reunion.

Observations: There are many "formulas" to be found in WW stories and this is one of them. Two people share a history and meet up again by accident. Usually, one of them had a crush on the other. Often the person with the crush was "undesirable" in some way, like they were geeky or the unpopular sibling.

I liked James' personality. He was cute when he said, "Please don't use the word 'bloomed' for a guy."

I thought it a tad strange that Kate didn't more easily remember a boy who had tutored her.

Rose's Roses

by M.L. Hickerson from the March 8, 2010 issue.

In a Nutshell: Rose owns a flower shop. A handsome man comes to order a bouquet. Rose assumes it's for his girlfriend, but soon finds out it's for his sister. The next day he sends Rose some flowers along with an invitation to dinner.

Observations: It's not unusual for the plot of a Woman's World story to hinge on a misunderstanding such as the protagonist assuming the love interest is married or taken when he/she is really not. Rose's Roses follows that "formula." However, what sets this story apart is the epilogue paragraph in which the two get married. That occurs very rarely.

Fairy-tale Beginning

by M.L. Hickerson from the October 26, 2009 issue.

Tagline: The last person Jim expected to meet in the park was a real-life Show White!

In a nutshell: Jim is dressed as a prince for the Halloween party in the children's ward at the hospital where he works as a doctor. His car breaks down near the hospital and he's forced to walk the rest of the way across the park. On the way, he surprises a woman dressed as Snow White. When she hits her head after falling, he convinces her to come to the hospital with him. Her daycare class (the seven dwarves) join the hospital party and Jim and "Snow" make a date to see each other again.

Observations: Making the Snow White story come to life is an adorable idea for a story, but challenging. Jim has to dress as a prince because there were no other costumes left. Check. I buy that. I can believe that he has to trek into the woods of the park to get to the hospital. I can even believe he happens upon Snow White in the park, with her dwarf-like charges. However, my imagination was stretched a tad too far when I saw her name was Miss White. I'll admit to rolling my eyes a little there. Otherwise, I thought this story was very cute.

Woman's World Stand-bys: Car trouble

My Favorite Part: I laughed when I read, "...so he locked his car and took off into the woods." Oh, brother, that cracked me up. It was that classic, "What NOW?" moment for poor dressed-in-a-puffy-shirt Jim.