You’ve all heard the old adage, “When
life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.” I love the lemon to lemonade concept and
was toying with ways we could take the negative aspects of our present
situation with the coronavirus and use it in a positive way to enhance our
writing.
Most of us are sheltering at home, right?
So I thought it might be interesting to use the outbreak as a starting point to
brainstorm future stories. For traditional publishing, the process from
proposal to having a book on the shelf takes about a year. Looking ahead to
April or May 2021, I anticipate most stories released from that time on will at
least mention the pandemic, while others might draw more deeply from what the
world is experiencing at this unique moment in history.
Are you stamping your foot and wagging
your finger at me? “Books transport me away from daily problems,” you say, “and
I don’t want to read about another pandemic, especially when I lived through
the BIG ONE of 2020!” You’re right, of course, and I agree.
Readers won’t be enthusiastic about immersing
themselves in fictional outbreaks when the actual event is still so real, but they
will expect to see some of the repercussions from a near global shutdown woven into
future stories.
So let’s brainstorm story ideas
using the pandemic as a backdrop.
Throw out some ideas—the sky’s the
limit—and we’ll add to the comments and see how the various plots develop.
What about characters? How will the
outbreak play into our hero or heroine’s backstory? Perhaps they’ll struggle
with the loss of a loved one from the virus or a hesitation to “get close” to
people or interact or fall in love. Some characters might carry guilt for the
mistakes they made during the actual outbreak. It’s plausible that nurses and
doctors might leave the healthcare profession or deal with emotional problems akin
to PTSD after the suffering and loss of life they were exposed to day after day.
Let’s also brainstorm ideas about our
new normal after the outbreak subsides. How will life change and how will those
changes play into future stories? Will we continue to wear face masks when we’re
ill or in crowded situations? What about handshakes and hugs? How will we greet
one another post-corona? Will more people work from home, will distance
learning be the norm for our schools, will more church services be
live-streamed? Share your thoughts about life after corona and how writers can
anticipate those changes now. If you’re currently working on a book, how do you
plan to include the outbreak in your WIP?
Brainstorming
works on the premise that two heads are better than one. Articulating ideas
without a censor overrides the negative voices within and allows creativity
free rein. So let’s throw out story ideas or
facets of a story that relate to the outbreak. We’ll take the lemons of this
time of social distancing and make some refreshing lemonade to curb our thirst
and spur on our imaginations.
Along with lemonade, there's also coffee and hot tea. Pour something to drink and help yourself to the
breakfast bar. You’ll find blueberry muffins and orange scones, fruit and
grits!
Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered in a drawing
for a copy of my latest Love Inspired Suspense, DANGEROUS AMISH INHERITANCE.
Now, let’s Brainstorm Post-Corona Stories!
Wishing you abundant blessings,
Debby Giusti
Dangerous Amish
Inheritance
By Debby Giusti
“Move off the
mountain. No one wants you here.”
Can this Amish widow survive her dangerous stalker?
Someone wants Ruthie Eicher off Amish Mountain…enough to terrorize the widow and her boys. Now Ruthie must rely on her former sweetheart, Noah Schlabach—the secret father of her eldest son—as they figure out why. But Noah has turned his back on love and the Amish way of life. Can he shield Ruthie…without breaking her heart again?
Can this Amish widow survive her dangerous stalker?
Someone wants Ruthie Eicher off Amish Mountain…enough to terrorize the widow and her boys. Now Ruthie must rely on her former sweetheart, Noah Schlabach—the secret father of her eldest son—as they figure out why. But Noah has turned his back on love and the Amish way of life. Can he shield Ruthie…without breaking her heart again?
Pre-order HERE!
The Georgia Romance Writers
Maggie Award of Excellence 2020
is looking for submissions!
Don't miss a great opportunity for feedback and
the chance to win the prestigious Maggie!
Submission deadline is April 24, 2020.
Good morning to you all! I'm sipping coffee and thinking of a story...
ReplyDeleteFollowing the outbreak, NYC nurse Vicki Warner leaves the hospital to do medical clerical work from home. She's become a recluse and would remain in her tiny apartment 24/7 if not for her sweet dog, Sam. Fortunately for her, Sam needs to be walked three times a day. A cute guy, Brad Davis, lives in her apartment building, and he has a dog named Sugar. How do Sam and Sugar as well as Vicki and Brad meet?
Sounds like the beginning of a Hallmark movie, IMHO. :)
Throw out any ideas that pop into your head. We'll need to know something more about Brad and how he's handling life post-corona.
I’m not much for lemonade-now a fresh made lemon meringue pie is something else! I think you are correct in saying there will be a lot of new books that reference the pandemic this next year. I’m not sure things will change a whole lot when it clears up. I don’t see people wearing masks as becoming a usual practice—perhaps some continued social distancing for the fearful ones we know. But I’m looking forward to hugging and being with my friends again.
ReplyDeleteAnne, homemade lemon meringue pie can even take my mind off chocolate. What time should I come over?
DeleteAnne, I would love a slice of lemon meringue pie! :)
DeleteI lived in Japan for three years as a child, and as we know, in oriental cultures folks have long worn masks when they have a cold or illness. As you mentioned, I doubt it will be the norm in the US, although we will see them, I'm sure. Perhaps people with weakened immune systems will be sporting masks more than the healthy population.
Like you, I'm eager to greet family and friends with hugs!
Sending cyber hugs to all!
Good Morning Debby! Yes, I expect we readers will see stories next year about the pandemic. Since I love medical fiction so much, I would prefer to see a story about NYC nurse Vicki Warner than other mentions of the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading more during sheltering in days and have almost finished your great series Amish Protectors...love it! I will review it and place in our small county library when it reopens. Next I have the continuity series AWP to read. So I am on a Debby reading marathon!!
Don't enter me for your drawing today as I have already won it and am expecting it WHEN convenient for you to mail it. Keep up the great writing!
Jackie, thank you so much for reading my stories!!! You've made my day. I'm smiling and toasting you with my second cup of coffee!!!
DeleteI made a change in my current WIP and included a coronavirus tie-in. The hero had left the Amish faith and came back when his father fell ill with COVID-19. The story will release next year, and the outbreak is mentioned only briefly as backstory.
Your WIP sounds great; can't wait to read it!
DeleteThanks so much, Jackie!
DeleteSo much to process here. I'm in my historical romance mode right now, so I wouldn't directly reference this pandemic, but I write the occasional cholera epidemic and would probably revisit that and enhance it with what we're going through. In a wider sense, we should all be using this uncertainty, confusion and yes, fear, to inform what we're doing. I have two characters running for their lives in my current WIP and I would be remiss not to channel some of this, with the underlying thread that God will get them through it.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts go toward a nurse, doctor or medical assistant so traumatized by what he or she saw that they think they can't practice any more, and they take a less-demanding job or hide and live off their savings, until something OR SOMEONE forces them to bring out their dormant skills. I watch a lot of Westerns and that's a basic Western plot, the medical professional who's too freaked out to work again. Often it's a doctor who becomes an alcoholic, but whatever.
Or you've got your hero or heroine who lost the dearest person in the world to Corona, and they have to work their way back from that.
Karen Kingsbury did a lot of good stuff after 9/1/1. So did other writers. God wants us to use this.
I'm not getting a lot of reading done, but that's because I'm rationing my books in case I run out. Sigh. I'm watching too much TV which has to stop at some point. But I am getting a lot done on my WIP!!!!! Huzzah! And feeling better now that the sun is out.
This could work...
Kaybee
Fielding the new normal in New Hampshire
KB, thinking back to the Westerns I loved in my youth, I recall those medical folks who stopped practicing...and the doctors who often took to the bottle. Thanks for refreshing my memory. Cholera outbreaks were horrific. How about smallpox? Kids now hardly know about that terrible disease. We all used to have our vaccine scars on our arms. I remember a Wagon Train (one my my fav shows in the day) episode when smallpox hit. One woman cared for the people. Many died, but naturally, the hero--the man she loved--survived.
DeleteI love Karen Kingsbury, but her books always make me cry. These days, I don't want to cry. :)
Oh, sweetie, I so get it about the crying.
DeleteWe all need to be uplifted during this time and not pulled down, right, KB? I love the sunshine and blue skies. It's windy in GA and the air is crisp this morning...but so beautiful. I'm awaiting the birth of goslings and ducklings that usually hatch around Easter. My hubby and I walk to the dock area of our local lake every afternoon to get exercise and to check for new life. The babies will lift my spirits even more. And we're still in the Easter Season. He is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!
DeleteHi Debby,
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying my morning coffee with you.
What if Brad worked as a hospital administrator, or retirement home or some kind of health care system.
He sees so many people suffer and die, and he's in agony at how little he can do. He orders supplies etc. but still desires to be more hands on. After COVID19, he begins to study and applies to get into medical school. He believes becoming a doctor will make him more useful.
You can go two ways with Brad. He gets into school or he doesn't. If not, the heroine could start helping him see how valuable his work as an administrator is. He got supplies to keep staff and patients safe.
Stay safe and thanks for the opportunity to brainstorm with you!
This is good, Jackie. Administrators are among the unsung heroes.
DeleteJackie, I like your ideas. Yes, the heroine could help him accept his role as administrator, and with her encouragement, he sees his own role through a new lens.
DeletePerhaps his dad was a doctor and he wanted to follow in dad's footsteps, but couldn't get into med school in his youth so he "settled" for admin work and never felt that he measured up. Would that play into his internal wound? Does he think the heroine is a clerical person at first and only later learns that she was on the front lines during the outbreak, which might play into the black moment some how. Hmmm?
Time to refill my coffee cup!
Debby, I love his internal wound revolves around his successful doctor dad. The heroine being on the front lines makes it worse. I love it!
DeleteThe conflict builds, right, Jackie!
DeleteThis is fun, Debby! So, what if Brad is talking on his phone while walking Sugar. Maybe he turns around to look at the empty shopfront that used to be his favorite Meditteranean restaurant. Meanwhile, Sugar, who is a slightly rambunctious dog, dashes ahead because she sees Sam. Their leashes get tangled and Brad and Vicki literally run into each other . . . ? :)
ReplyDeleteJeanne, I love your meet-cute! I can see Brad engrossed in a phone conversation and oblivious to Vicki until the two pups get tangled up together. And I like the closed Mediterranean restaurant. Let's make that a favorite place where Vicki used to dine as well. I'd love to see the restaurant open at the end of the story. Vicki and Brad are at a table (by the window or in the corner?). Does he propose there? Or do they have their wedding reception there? Am I getting ahead of myself?
DeleteVery interesting post, Debby! I haven't even considered yet how the pandemic will affect my stories. I haven't added anything in my current wip.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading what everyone is pitching in to brainstorm today.
So to recap...does Brad feel he didn't do enough during the outbreak?
ReplyDeleteDoes Vicki wonder if she made a difference? If she's an ICU nurse, she would only see the very sick patients. Maybe she never knew how many patients thrived after they left ICU. Was there a particular patient who meant a lot to her? Does that patient end up at Brad's long-term care facility for rehab?
By the end of the story, the hero and heroine both need to know they made a difference and that at least one life was touched because of their care and concern. Anyone want to add to the story?
That would be a wonderful ending. One of Vicky's patients ends up in a nursing home or rehab unit at a retirement community. The healing patient brings the two of them together. What a great idea!
DeleteOr start a new story for us to brainstorm...
ReplyDeleteAny suspense ideas?
I can see someone struggling with social anxiety and fear of germs not being able to get back out in the world. Maybe theres an event they'd like to attend but the fear of germs overwhelms them.
ReplyDeleteTonya, great idea about an event that perhaps our heroine needs to attend. But fear is holding her back. How can the hero help to ease her concern?
DeleteA hazmat suit �� how about a scavenger hunt with a cool surpise at each step she takes further! Maybe the end is a beautiful dress for the event. Each step has an accessory or something to build her outfit!
DeleteGreat idea, Tonya! Love the scavenger hunt...and the beautiful dress at the end!
DeleteHi Debby:
ReplyDeleteMystery:
The perfect murder. Old people in nursing homes that have large estates are dying 5 times more often -- especially when the people who will inherit their money never visited them. Each month the $4000 cost is deducted from the old person's estate! How can it be proven that these were murders? Is there an army of 'angles of death'?
Here's one for Ruth.
(Don't try this at home.)
The hero lost his wife/ER nurse who died treating the virus. The heroine lost her husband, a doctor, who also lost his life fighting the virus.
The hero is a lawyer who, before the virus, was suing the heroine's husband for malpractice.). The heroine's daughter, 5 years old and adorable, desperately needs a kidney transplant and the hero is the only available matching donor. (It is a very rare genetic match.)
(The daughter is actually the hero's hidden child but neither the hero nor heroine know this until the kidney donor tests come out -- the hero, was an Olympic athlete, who made extra money to pay for law school by being an anonymous sperm bank donor).
Before the virus the hero and heroine pretty much despised each other because of the harsh way the hero conducted the deposition of the heroine in the malpractice law suit. In addition, each now swears they will never marry another person in the medical field. Neither could take the loss of the death of a spouse again.
As the story opens the hero and heroine are in the midst of a heater political campaign for mayor. The heroine only entered the race because she despises the hero who was running unopposed and looked like a sure winner. (When will the truth about the hero's fatherhood be revealed? How will this news affect everything else?)
I know this is a lot like "The Lawman's Second Chance", but I've added a few twists and tweaks, to spice it up a bit and make it more challenging.
Vince
Vince, I like both plots. The old folks dying in the nursing homes is great...and probably has happened in real life. Hopefully the criminals were caught.
DeleteYour take on Ruthy's book gets 5 Stars, just like Ruthy's books always do! :)
I walked in the door and found a fully-plotted book for me! BEST PRESNT EVER, VINCE!!!!!! :) You rocked it, I love this so much!!!!
DeleteAnd I'll tell you, the nursing home or assisted living centers are unfortunately ripe for stories as news continues to find things that break hearts.... and this whole thing of folks dying alone is just wrong... I know we need to stay distant, but we will look back on this as being a heinous thing to do to family, to not allow them to say goodbye. That's a two-edged sword if ever there was one, and the very real pain of elderly people dying alone, or accident victims dying alone because access is denied, is gut-wrenching. And heartbreaking. :(
PRESENT... typing too fast for my keyboard!!!!!!
DeleteRuthy, so true about not allowing access to the dying! Around here, some folks have been allowed in if the deaths are not COVID related. Still...how tragic.
DeleteAlso I think we'll look back on locking the churches. We should never be locked out of our places of worship. I know, it's for our own good, but I still struggle with the decision. Live-streaming is wonderful, and I find God in my own home and heart and in prayer and scripture, but I also like to sit in HIS house and praise Him there.
I love lemonade but my stomach doesn’t so I’ll make lemon meringue pie instead. My daughters favorite. She always requests it when coming home. I hope pandemic books don’t flood the market as I honestly don’t want to read about it.
ReplyDeleteLucy, you and Anne (see her comment above) are thinking alike and making me hungry for lemon meringue pie!
DeleteI don't think we'll see books featuring another pandemic for some years to come. However, we'll probably see mention of the pandemic, and the events we're living today could easily play into the hero and heroine's backstory. We won't want to relive this in the near future, yet it will be part of our new norm no matter what that looks like. Less crowded events, more online shopping, more working from home, less hand shaking, etc.
Hi Debby:
ReplyDeleteI think the most obvious Amish plot would be to have a young person return from her Rumspringa with a case of asymptomatic virus and see how the community reacts. There would be so many 'what ifs' that this could be interesting even without a romance or a murder.
I saw an article yesterday about the first Amish person to have died from the virus. There's speculation others may have died, but the coronavirus was not noted as the cause of death.
DeleteAlso a group of women in one of the northern Amish communities is sewing face masks for medical personnel. A story could develop about the growth of a cottage industry that started during the pandemic and mushroomed into something large and profitable.
In KY the Amish often help frame houses but pay others to pick them up and take them to the work site. That would be one of many ways for an Amish person to get the virus.
DeleteGood point, Jackie! Thanks for that info!
DeleteHi Debby:
ReplyDeleteRight after WWII there were new war books released every month. I know. I bought every war book I could find, 25 cent paperbacks of course, because I wanted to know what I missed. Also because all the veterans I knew would not talk about the war at all.
My father would buy me the books, mostly from kiosks in drug stores, if I would actually read them. No one told me to do this. These were adult books and I was still in grade school. After a year of this my father would even buy me the 35 cent and 50 cent Ballantine books. These had photographs in them. Wow!
When the virus is beaten many of those affected, if not most, will not want books on this event. But some will and those folks, like I was with war books, will buy as many as they can find. Total sales could be more than other books not about the virus.
I think if a writer wants to write on this topic, she should do so; however, I do believe it has to be a better work because of having a more difficult topic. You can also expect the reader to have read many more on the topic and this can make a reader quite critical when comparing books.
How interesting, Vince. Thanks for sharing. I hadn't thought about people who would want more information about the outbreak. I thought most folks would want to read about anything other than the virus.
DeleteWhat lovely memories of your father buying you those books. In the day, 35 cents was significant! I remember my father saying he would save his small change and get a new shirt for a $1 or $1.50 or so. With another $.50, he could buy a tie. Of course, that was before WWII.
Hello Debby, I also Love Lemon Meringue Pie so that's what I would be making Blessings To You and Thank You for the amazing giveaway of Your book I Love the cover!
ReplyDeleteSarah, thank you for stopping by Seekerville! Thanks for your support, dear friend!
DeleteThis question was asked in a reader's group recently - if readers were interested in reading a book in the near future dealing with our current pandemic. It was an interesting question with interesting responses. Of course life as we know it will change once the worst is over, so it's a question to definitely ponder if we want our fiction to reflect life. I think there would be more opportunity for developing characters struggling with the financial aftermath - small towns may appear as ghost towns or maybe grocers become the backbone of the community (instead of say, industry or factories) since they would have been one of the only ones to survive. Maybe there are stories about communities having to rebuild. Also, would there be retirement homes filled with seniors or lots of vacancies?
ReplyDeleteI have considered this and though my idea is very early on (a seedling really), I have a feeling my next project will involve at least the aftermath of covid-19 - a support worker in a retirement center where the virus hit hard.
Thanks for turning lemons into lemonade Debby!
Lee-Ann, you've provided more food for thought. Thanks! You're right about the grocer doing well in these times. Their business is booming! Rebuilding communities will be so important. Hospitals and healthcare workers are at the epicenter of the outbreak. Long-term care facilities and retirement centers are next in line. Great insight. Good luck with your story. I'm sure it will touch hearts and resonate with readers.
DeleteThis looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteJoin in the fun, Angeline! Add your story ideas.
DeleteDebby, I'm tangling with this right now. The mystery I'm working on is set in Savannah, March 2021... so that's tricky. I'm assuming that things will be opened up by then, that the community (which does a big St. Patrick's Day and welcome to spring and tourism in March) but I can't ignore what happened twelve months before... so I'm allowing brief look-backs or allusions to "last year"... but not delving into what the 2021 will be like except back to some kind of open normal. And it's a guess, isn't it? Will folks be masked? It's March, 2021, so they might be, but how do I guess that now? Once we get some time under our belts, we'll have a more discerning vantage point, but right now I'm guessing... and then hoping we can adjust in a few months if things look different than I'm envisioning.
ReplyDeleteGreat post about moving forward certainly in uncertain times!
Savannah's St Pat's Parade and Celebration is HUGE! I was surprised when they cancelled it this year. Remember that was the weekend that everything started to close. Not sure if it will be in full-swing next year. Will mass gatherings be regulated? It's hard to predict. Can you place your story a bit off the River Street area so the event is referred too, but the reader can add his or her own visual of whether it's a large gathering...or somewhat small?
DeleteI honestly have a hard time reading books with a disease at the center. I read Susan Meissner's book about the Spanish Flu last year only because it was by Susan Meissner who is a master. I read one book about the plague for book club once and had to force myself to finish it. Sickness is so not my thing. I think this period of history that we are living is an important one to reference and can give a great backstory for our characters, but I can't imagine myself wanting to write a book with the pandemic as a backdrop or reading one.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, having read these comments, there are some great ideas here :)
I'm drawn to medical stories...but I'm not interested in anything like this happening again. For sure! I understand what you're saying and doubt editors will buy many pure pandemic stories for some time. But our 2020 situation will have bearing on future characters and their lives at least in the short term.
DeleteHi Ruth:
ReplyDeleteAfter writing stories with hospice themes, hero and heroine who have both suffered greatly because of breast cancer, difficult multi cultural relationships, and even an unwed mother heroine in the late 1940's, I just knew you would not shy away from a story as complicated and as risky as a mindfield, like the one I mentioned.
In a way, you make me think of Franz Liszt who composed music so complicated and so beautiful that the best pianists of his age said it could not be played.
Franz had to tour Europe himself performing so the great demand to hear his wondrous works could be shared with the world. Of course, the next generation of pianists, once seeing and hearing that it could be done, were able to do it too. It's amazing what can be done once someone else shows that it is possible.
Just keep composing your romantic music.
I hope Ruthy stops back to see your lovely comment, Vince! I didn't know about Franz Liszt. Those who break the mold are so important!
DeleteI remember an episode of Little House on the Prairie where some unwise men sold pigs they had, for meat, when they realized the pigs were sick. And the whole town is sick and/or dying. That was the whole story. The town trying to figure out the sickness outbreak. The tracking it back to the pigs.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty gripping.
I've had people die (in the past of the story) of Cholera, small pox, oh, who knows what all.
I seriously hate killing off characters who are good guys. It's a weakness in my writing.
What did the pigs have that caused the folks to get ill? I need to do a little swine research. I loved Little House on the Prairie! Such a wonderful show...loved the books, even more!
ReplyDeleteHi Debby & Ruth:
ReplyDeleteAddendum: when I wrote the above comment it was very clear in my mind but now I can see that I left an important element out!
Back in Liszt's time composers made money from publishers selling sheet music of their works. People who had heard new music in a big concert hall, (new compositions then were like big movie premiers today), would rush out to buy the sheet music and have someone in their area play it for the folks back home.
When they came back home with Liszt sheet music, the pianists remarked, "Nobody could play this. Look at all those notes. Impossible."
Vince