Sometimes it's the little things that really make a book come alive.
Last spring we had a yard sale at the church and there, on a table, was a shoebox with some navy shoes inside. When I looked closer I realized there was something written on the box..."1930". I asked about them and it was confirmed that these were vintage shoes. They did not fit my feet, but there was something about them. I paid the 10 dollars and put them in my bag because I knew there was a story in the shoes.
Then I wrote The Italian's Surprise Proposal, and then I wrote a proposal for another book, and still no story for the shoes.
But then my editor called me and asked for another cowboy and ideas started coming. Suddenly I had a cowboy and a reluctant princess and a pair of vintage shoes.
Of course the story isn't focused around the shoes, but I do think they are a lovely detail - a thread that adds to the depth of the story. And that's what details do. They give you depth. My sister always e-mails me after reading one of my books and tells me her favourite part and often it's in the details. In Marriage at Circle M it was the daisies. I hadn't even planned on that being a thread in the initial stages. But then...it all came together. In The Cowboy's Princess (the book I just handed in), I also have a song that is meaningful and provides continuity.
One of the best examples I can think of in something I read recently is Trish Wylie's RETURN OF THE REBEL (Released in March by Presents in NA as At The Billionaire's Bidding) and the heroine's penchant for smart a$$ t-shirts. They weren't just thrown in...they added to the story. I loved those details.
The details are what makes a story memorable, and takes it from a good story to something special and great.
What books have you read lately, and what details stick in your mind making that book special?
THE SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING, Romance, March 08, Aus/NZ April 08
FALLING FOR MR DARK AND DANGEROUS, Romance, August 08
THE RANCHER'S RUNAWAY PRINCESS, Romance, January 09
http://www.donnaalward.com
http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com
great blog
Great blog. Well, the one detail that really made me love The Marriage at Circle M and made it special to me personally, ---- I can't say because it would be too much of a spoiler. I know it might be silly but sometimes I think romance writers have a way of reaching readers heart-to-heart by writing heroines with specific details too. (I think you know which detail, I hope
).
Liz FIelding: the way Gabriella fell off the bookshelf, or the snow globe and pink taxi in The Sheik's Unsuiitable Bride, in Cara Colter's Their Christmas Wish Come True is was those horrible too cute figurines, in Ally Blake's Billionaire on Her Doorstep it was the art/painting scene where she really looks at it.
Often times it is a secondary character like Cy in Patricia Thayer's The Rancher's Doorstep Baby. I guess with Marion Lennox's His Miracle Bride it was one word. I was caught up in the book in how it was like my favorite movie, The Sound of Music and intrigued by how she meade it different too...so when I saw that one word, I said an inernal "Yes!" knowing it was intentional and as a reader I was joining in her fun. In Trish Wylie's The One and Only Valentine, which I just finished, it was the mayonnaise. Can I tell you how much I hate, hate to look at mayonnaise. I won't ever forget that scene!
I like continuity details and also sometimes one quick image or moment in the plot.
Shoes...I love shoes. VIntage shoes conjure up so much in the imagination.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus