Introducing Our Hot Couple!
Writing a ‘Seasoned Romance’ With My Writing Group
Image created by AI
The Image
After brainstorming our two main characters, Claire and Laurence, I had a great time getting AI in Canva to create an image of them both! Laurence is pretty much ‘spot on’. I couldn’t get the AI to change the massive gold chain on Claire, and I wonder if she is a touch too glamorous! That said, they do look like a great couple for a romance! What do you think?
The Update
Since the last post, we have held three additional meetings on 18 February, 25 February, and 4 March. The following are the key points that emerged:
All writing group members with the time (and the energy!) will meet weekly, rather than Michelle, Tess, and me meeting on alternate weeks. This will speed up the writing process and save us from updating every second week.
Many different scenarios have been written. However, we needed to get back to basics and develop the characters before any further writing.
We must bear in mind that this is a romance story rather than a novel, and there are specific conventions we must follow!
Denise is back on board, and suggested using a whiteboard for our brainstorming.
Fortunately, we had a whiteboard in our meeting room and Denise has been:
Recording our brainstorming sessions.
Taking photos of the results.
Formatting and emailing copies to us all afterwards
Super efficient!
So far we have:
Brainstormed Claire’s appearance, personality, education, backstory, and her two sidekicks, Trish and Maggie.
We were still veering off course, so I created an agenda to keep us focused for the meeting on 4 March. I have uploaded the agenda to my website here, and the password is … dear reader.
This helped Michelle, Denise, and me (everyone else had appointments on 4 March) create our second character, Laurence, along with his sidekick Dave and son Nick, in great depth.
Claire
Our main female character is Claire Fitzgerald. She is 49 and was born in 1976 in Kalmenora, a fictional mining town in Western Australia. Her parents own the town’s roadhouse. Claire receives a scholarship to the prestigious MLC, the Methodist Ladies’ College in Perth, where she boards throughout high school.
Claire and Trish have been best friends since primary school, and Trish is also a boarder at MLC.
Different Perspectives
Initially, we had Claire studying archaeology. However, Michelle presented a compelling argument for switching Claire’s degree to geology, drawing upon the knowledge and experience of a geologist Michelle knows. Later, I had a change of heart and wanted Claire to study a law degree relevant to the mining industry while Trish, Claire’s best friend since primary school, studied geology.
Michelle was reluctant to change, having experienced negative personal interactions with female lawyers.
Denise offered the perfect compromise. Claire would first work as a geologist after her graduation, where she would meet her future husband. After their divorce, she wanted a change in direction and returned to university to study for a Master of Mining and Energy Law at the University of Western Australia, where she had initially obtained her geology degree. Both Michelle and I were happy with this new scenario.
Sidekicks
Trish also earned a geology degree from UWA before returning home, marrying her childhood sweetheart and continuing to live and work in Kalmenora. She and Claire catch up regularly via mobile.
After graduating with her master’s degree, Claire joins the Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR) as a legal advisor. Maggie starts in the department on the same day, and they become close friends who look out for one another.
Claire and Laurence’s Earlier Relationship
Initially, we had Claire and Laurence go on a few dates at university as part of their backstory before they reunite in the present, thirty-one years later.
We subsequently realised that for Claire to have been so deeply affected by Laurence’s abrupt silence (he ‘ghosted’ her), they must have been together for several months; merely a few dates seemed unrealistic. This had implications for Laurence’s character development, which was our focus in the meeting on 4 March.
Michelle suggested a new scenario instead of having our couple meet at the university. This provided us with a fantastic opportunity to introduce Laurence’s sidekick, Dave, and incorporate the theme of ‘surfing’ into our story.
More about Laurence and his sidekick in the next post.
Post Schedules
I’m finally getting my act together.
Henceforth:
A Seasoned Romance will be posted on the first and third Thursday of the month, Australian time.
Approximately 6.30 am AU, and delivered on Wednesday, between 12-3 pm in the USA, and 10.30 pm in London.
I’m also writing another series of posts called Snapshots Of A Life. These are posted on the last Thursday of the month. I’ve written two so far, and if you would like to catch up and read the first one, Born Into A World At War, click here.
I’m looking forward to bringing you the next update on creating our seasoned romance story, which is moving along at a pretty good pace. What do you think so far?
P.S. Please DM me if you have any problems with the downloads.
Kisane, I am so glad that you and your writing group are using my book as a resource - and for such a creative project! Love the collaborative aspect of what you're doing! And for readers who don't know, the book is "Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance," and it's available on order from your local bookstore or at all the online places. Best of luck!
Hi Kisane :) This sounds like a great start to your story. I use a quick and dirty approach to discovering who characters are and their back story. From there they come alive as I write. When you get to writing the story, a group I belong to do sprints. That seems to keep us...me at least ;)...consistent. Good luck to you and your writing group.