Following the Story Thread

by Joanne Rock

As a writer, I am often asked where I get my ideas for stories.  I have a few answers for this—all of them true.

Stories come from everywhere, I’ve insisted in online interviews and casual conversations alike.  A magazine article, a TV news snippet, a character in a movie, an argument between a couple in an airport—all of these have sent my mind on the “what-if” journey that leads to a story.

Other times, depending on my opinions about my work on a given day, I might suggest that story ideas often start with plot or character and then I’ll build one to suit the other.  When characters are dogging me for a story, I might ask myself what would be the most problematic situation I could put that particular hero and heroine in.  If a plot hook is niggling in my brain, I’ll twist it in the other direction and ask myself what kinds of characters would find that particular plot problem the most devastating?  Yes, making life tough for our characters is a writer’s job.

But today I’ve decided that trying to track down the roots of a story is sort of like making my way through a labyrinth without the benefit of Ariadne’s thread.  I’ve culled inspiration from so many numerous sources, pulling together so many different ideas, that the end product feels wholly unique.  The ideas have fused so fully that to trace the root causes is almost impossible.  I might have pulled a character into the story that I conceived years ago and couldn’t find a place to put him.  I might build a world around a tiny germ of an idea that didn’t work in a book I wrote eons ago but now I’ve got new fuel for the concept and think I can make it work. 

Truly, some of the ideas are so deep rooted that they seem to come from my toes.  My stories represent a million facets of my mental make up, the snippets of thoughts, ideas, fears and dreams that make me.

So where do my stories come from?  It’s a topic I love to think about.  But in my book releasing April 3rd, EXPECTING A SCANDAL, the answer to the question is very different since it's part of the Texas Cattleman's Club series, which means the rough outline of the story was provided for me. 

If you haven't read any books in this long-running Harlequin miniseries, you're missing out on a wonderful facet of series romance. By plotting the fictional world of Royal, Texas, and all the people in it, Harlequin provided its writers with a unifying setting that readers love to return to time and time again. When I was asked to pen EXPECTING A SCANDAL, I didn't need to dream up the characters... the arrived with their professions and conflicts ready to roll. Sure, I had to find ways to move the story forward and help the characters to fall in love, but it was a really different experience not using characters of my own creation. I can't wait to try another one.

**Happy Spring my friends! What are you looking forward to most this month? I've got a copy of my February Desire, FOR THE SAKE OF HIS HEIR, to share with one random commenter! 

The Gifts of Ursula Le Guin

by Joanne Rock

Ursula Le Guin passed away this week, and it got me thinking about her wonderful books, and her thoughts about writing. When I read The Left Hand of Darkness, I was blown away by how much I loved it. I wasn’t sure it would be my “kind” of book—a story set in an alien world with its own rules, it’s science fiction or, some say, speculative fiction. I’ve never read much of either.

But with a wonderful story, genre never matters. Good storytelling transcends genre, drawing us in to the protagonist’s story, making us care about the world and the stakes. With The Left Hand of Darkness, it didn’t matter that I was in an alien world. The drama was human enough, and I cared deeply about what was happening. Not only did I love the book, I thought about it for years afterward, and what it said about the effect of sex and gender on a culture.

If all that Le Guin had given me, that would have been generous enough. But the gifts kept coming as, later in life, I stumbled on her thoughts on writing. She sheds insightful light on why the often-repeated “rule” of writing, “show don’t tell,” is detrimental advice to a more seasoned writer.

Thanks to “show don’t tell,” I find writers in my workshops who think exposition is wicked. They’re afraid to describe the world they’ve invented. (I make them read the first chapter of The Return of the Native,,,                                                          (On Rules of Writing)

She goes on to de-bunk other over-simplified writing advice in a way that helped me to marry my joy in romance and modern genre fiction with my deep love of literature. Her words gave permission to unapologetically dive into narrative paragraphs. To really set a scene and a mood by dipping deeply into a character’s thoughts, without worrying how fast I’d get back to action and dialogue.

Writers like Janet Evanovich do this all the time, even though we think of her Stephanie Plum books as full of action and fabulous dialogue. She starts High Five with a great paragraph about why being a bounty hunter is like going through life without underwear. It’s funny and vivid, and it gives us a snapshot of the character’s thoughts before we have any idea about the action.

“Telling” is not the root of storytelling evil. It’s an integral part of it, and one that I very much enjoy. So thank you, Ursula Le Guin, not just for your amazing books, but for all the writing wisdom you took time to share. I’ll leave you with a few other Le Guin gems for you to enjoy today:

* It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.

* Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.

* When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow.

***Any writers whose work you return to time and time again? Or any classic books that stood out for you in your English classes that were really memorable? Share with me today and I’ll send one random commenter a signed copy of my December Desire, His Pregnant Secretary. My current release, if you’re interested in taking a peek, is January’s Claiming His Secret Heir!

Favorite Books of Childhood

by Joanne Rock

My bookshelf from childhood-- with my hamster

I’ve started Christmas shopping this week and that means hitting the bookstore. Long before I sold my first book, I enjoyed giving books as gifts. So much so, I think friends come to expect that from me—I am the giver of books. It’s a pleasure to share that perfect story you think will really capture a friend’s heart or imagination.

That goes doubly so for kids. I remember so keenly how wonderful it was to discover the magic of reading independently as a child, and I always hope that giving the gift of a book will open that gateway for a child. Do you remember the first books that really made an impression on you as a child?

Here in no particular order, are some of the books that really had a strong impact for me as a kid:

1-     Black Beauty- this was the first time I recall sobbing while reading. And I had the experience of thinking- it’s crazy to realize I’m sitting safely in my bed, in my pjs, and crying so hard for the hurts of a fictional horse. That was really powerful for me, as I had my first taste of the way books teach us empathy.

2-     Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life- a book that spoofs the diva life and made me smile

3-     Nancy Drew- I owned about half of them and read all of them. I shared my collection with a friend down the street and vice versa. This series made me realize how much fun it is to share characters and story,lines. Books make for fun conversation.

4-     The Ghost of Windy Hill- this book kicked off my long love of ghost stories and the paranormal, even though this one isn’t particularly spooky. Very atmospheric!

5-      When We Were Very Young- this book of poetry by A.A. Milne was the first introduction to poems I read on my own—sweetly memorable.

6-     Stories from a Snowy Meadow – Anyone else remember Mole, Mouse, Shrew and Vole? I liked the emphasis on an older character, and the idea that storyteller Vole could be so important to the next generation. No surprise that I like a storyteller as hero!

7-     Snoopy and “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night” –Snoopy writes a book and has a book signing. I loved this book so much and have thought of it often over the years in my career as a writer, since Snoopy gets writer’s block, has big ideas, and even feels the pain of a book signing where no one shows up. The perfect book for a young writer.

My January 2018 McNeill story

What about you? Any memorable books from your youth? Or any books that your eager to buy for the young readers in your life? Share with me this week and I’ll give one random poster an advance copy of Claiming HisSecret Heir, my January 2018 Harlequin Desire! In the meantime, please be on the look out for His Pregnant Secretary, my December story, in stores December 5th.

Power of Story

by Joanne Rock

With apologies to the wonders of modern transportation, I can’t help but think there is no faster way to take a long journey than four simple words—once upon a time.

There is magic in those words.  If you don’t believe it, try watching the opening to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast sometime, where a wonderful narrator’s voice sucks you in with a long ago legend told over the still pictures of a story book.  Whether or not our books begin with the classic words that begin a fairy tale, our brains still hear them as we sit down to open a book.  And by “we” I’m referring to romance readers, readers who believe in the transporting power of story and are eager to undertake that journey again and again through the pages of a book.  The magic of “once upon a time” is engrained, a mental portal we go through whenever we open a new book and that excitement for a story begins all over again.

Of course, maybe I’m a very susceptible reader.  I willingly suspend disbelief at the drop of a hat, always ready to take a new journey and see where a story leads.  Perhaps not all readers are as eager to see the world through pages as I am.

But even the most cynical of readers will undertake that magical story journey every now and then.  No matter that they fight the pull of “once upon a time,” sooner or later something will draw them in and lead them deep into a story.  For my oldest son recently, it was DaVinci Code.  For my youngest, it was Harry Potter.  You’ve got to hand it to J.K. Rowling.  Nothing captures a six-year-old’s attention like a giant driving out of the sky on a motorcycle.

 

Thanks to the power of story, I’ve been all around the world and through time to save the world, save the family farm, save numerous rocky marriages.  I’ve battled plagues, bad guys and vampires.  And of course, I’ve fallen for a few bad guys and vampires.  And sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, it all started once upon a time.

**Do you remember the last book that almost gave you goosebumps as you read the opening pages? Or the last book you highly anticipated? Share with me today for a chance to win a download of LAST CHANCE CHRISTMAS! Don't miss my next book in the Road to Romance series, A CHANCE THIS CHRISTMAS, releasing October 5th.

The Magic of Storytelling - Joanne Rock

During a recent writing snap in a local Starbucks, I fell into conversation with a man curious about my flying fingers and my AlphaSmart. He gave me a nice compliment after hearing what I did for a living. Toasting me with his coffee cup on the way out the door, he said, “Wow! I love storytellers!”

Well, I liked that sentiment. To be described as a “storyteller” was a special treat for me, since I quite like storytellers too. I tend to think of storytellers as people who relate stories orally. They draw their audience in with the same techniques ancient cultures used when they shared tales around a campfire. Hearing a story was often a shared event, and the task of the telling was given to someone who could create magic with words to hold their audience spellbound.

Chances are you know someone who can do this. Who in your life tells stories with flare? Someone in your family or in your office? It’s the person who can find an interesting anecdote about most anything, the person who can read an audience so that they spice up the details for some listeners, and play up the humor for others.

My dad is like this. I’ve heard the story of how he and his childhood friend Freddy tried to fix an old rowboat that washed up on the shore of the river near my dad’s house. I could summarize the highlights in a sentence or two. The plot isn’t the point. It’s the fun of how they get there, the details of two WWII-era kids whipping up something out of nothing, using hot tar pilfered off nearby asphalt to patch the cracks in a hopelessly cracked vessel.

It’s a story I don’t get tired of. And while I’ve never felt like the kind of storyteller who can hold a live audience captive, I like to think I inherited a bit of dad’s magic applied to paper.

One of my favorite descriptions of what a storyteller does comes at the end of the gorgeous book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. Author and cantadora Clarissa Pinkola Estes explains, “Whenever a fairy tale is told, it becomes night. No matter where the dwelling, no matter the time, the telling of tales causes a starry sky and a white moon to creep from the eaves and hover over the heads of the listeners.” Beautiful, isn’t? I love storytellers.

***Is there a story a friend tells that you know by heart... and you still enjoy hearing? How about a book that was read out loud to you as a child that still brings you pleasure to hear or to tell aloud? (All in favor of Goodnight Moon??) I'll giveaway a signed copy of one of my 2009 releases -- winner's choice-- to one random poster this week.***