Fran Shaff's Blog - Posts Tagged "romance"
Love Stories
Love stories have always been popular because everyone can identify with them. We all want to give and receive love.
I write and read romances which are good, old-fashioned, classic love stories, novels with compelling stories and lots of sexual tension between the man and woman, but without explicit sex, the kind that would make you blush if you read it aloud to your young daughter or granddaughter. These "sweet" romances are like "PG" or "PG-13" movies, as far as sexual content is concerned.
Sweet romances are getting harder and harder to find, even though many Readers prefer this type of love story. There are, however, a number of writers like me who continue to provide classic romance, high in conflict and sexual tension, but low is explicitness.
Any good love story, whether is "PG" or "R," is made up of the following:
1. The hero and heroine of a love story must be highly attracted to each other, physically and emotionally.
2. At least one major obstacle must stand in the way of their being able to be together. The conflict may be either exterior, (happening outside of the individual, such as in Romeo and Juliet's family issues) or interior (a woman who was terribly hurt by a first husband might be afraid to trust a man again).
3. An external force must cause them to have to be together. (Example: a child goes missing. The heroine is the detective on the case, the hero is the widower whose child is missing)
4. Emotion is key in a love story--love, hate, regret, longing, sorrow, misery, laughter, anger--but it should never be contrived. The emotion must be natural to the characters and realistic in the way the plot is developed.
5. As the hero and heroine struggle to defeat the external force causing them to be together, a relationship grows between them. It might begin with a sense of loathing for each other, even though there's plenty of sexual chemistry between them, but it eases into mutual respect, friendship and eventually true love by the time they finally defeat the external force and decide whether or not they should be together. (The widower of the missing child in the example above might blame the detective for not doing enough to find his missing child, but, as they work together, they begin to respect each other, find common ground, friendship and realize their mutual admiration has blossomed into true love.)
6. The hero and heroine must be loveable to the Readers as well as to each other--but they must not be perfect. They should have flaws, sometimes major flaws, and they must struggle to overcome their shortcomings and thus be worthy of loving and of being loved.
7. Most Readers prefer a "happily ever after" ending. I know I do. But it isn't necessary to end a romance that way. A few writers have found a following by writing stories which end in tragedy. Every author who writes love stories must decide which type of ending they want to give their Readers, and their Readers will decide whether or not it's the type of ending they want in their love stories.
I hope your March, 2013 is filled with a special love story of your own...
Fran
Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author
Fran's Web Page
I write and read romances which are good, old-fashioned, classic love stories, novels with compelling stories and lots of sexual tension between the man and woman, but without explicit sex, the kind that would make you blush if you read it aloud to your young daughter or granddaughter. These "sweet" romances are like "PG" or "PG-13" movies, as far as sexual content is concerned.
Sweet romances are getting harder and harder to find, even though many Readers prefer this type of love story. There are, however, a number of writers like me who continue to provide classic romance, high in conflict and sexual tension, but low is explicitness.
Any good love story, whether is "PG" or "R," is made up of the following:
1. The hero and heroine of a love story must be highly attracted to each other, physically and emotionally.
2. At least one major obstacle must stand in the way of their being able to be together. The conflict may be either exterior, (happening outside of the individual, such as in Romeo and Juliet's family issues) or interior (a woman who was terribly hurt by a first husband might be afraid to trust a man again).
3. An external force must cause them to have to be together. (Example: a child goes missing. The heroine is the detective on the case, the hero is the widower whose child is missing)
4. Emotion is key in a love story--love, hate, regret, longing, sorrow, misery, laughter, anger--but it should never be contrived. The emotion must be natural to the characters and realistic in the way the plot is developed.
5. As the hero and heroine struggle to defeat the external force causing them to be together, a relationship grows between them. It might begin with a sense of loathing for each other, even though there's plenty of sexual chemistry between them, but it eases into mutual respect, friendship and eventually true love by the time they finally defeat the external force and decide whether or not they should be together. (The widower of the missing child in the example above might blame the detective for not doing enough to find his missing child, but, as they work together, they begin to respect each other, find common ground, friendship and realize their mutual admiration has blossomed into true love.)
6. The hero and heroine must be loveable to the Readers as well as to each other--but they must not be perfect. They should have flaws, sometimes major flaws, and they must struggle to overcome their shortcomings and thus be worthy of loving and of being loved.
7. Most Readers prefer a "happily ever after" ending. I know I do. But it isn't necessary to end a romance that way. A few writers have found a following by writing stories which end in tragedy. Every author who writes love stories must decide which type of ending they want to give their Readers, and their Readers will decide whether or not it's the type of ending they want in their love stories.
I hope your March, 2013 is filled with a special love story of your own...
Fran
Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author
Fran's Web Page
Male Fraud--In the Locker Room Excerpt
"What if a woman pretended to be a man in order to get a job as trainer with a pro football team," I thought, "and then fell in love with the coach?"
I loved the idea right away. As I began to imagine the kinds of problems that could arise under circumstances like these the idea developed into a very funny story filled with tense situations.
Of course, these circumstances aren't funny to the hero and heroine who are embroiled in some heavy emotions, but readers are having a great time watching these two deal with their challenging situation.
"Male Fraud" is available as a download at major Internet stores such as B&N, I-Books and others for 99 Cents. It's also available in the paperback "Romantic Comedy Collection" (which includes short stories "Married While Intoxicated" and "Crossed Wires") at Amazon for $7.95.
Terry Fiscus wants to be a trainer for the pro football Chicago Cyclones. Coach Dan Barringer doesn't believe a woman belongs in a men's locker room. Terry really, really wants this job so she disguises herself as a man, and Dan hires her. When Dan meets Terry outside of work and gets to know her as the lovely "Teresa" he falls in love, and so does Terry. As Terry tries to manage her double life things get extremely complicated and side-splittingly funny.
"In the Locker Room" Excerpt:
Setup: Female Terry Fiscus, the new trainer for the pro football Chicago Cyclones is disguised as a man--and she's made a few discoveries about being a woman pretending to be a man during her first week on the job.
As she policed her area of the locker room Terry realized the first week of training camp had gone by with lightning speed. She’d worked hard to keep her players as healthy as possible, and things had gone well most of the time.
The only thing giving her more trouble than she’d thought it would was getting used to the smells, sights and sounds in the locker room. Especially the sights!
Seeing naked men by the dozens was a completely new adjustment for her. At Nebraska, where she’d first worked as a trainer, the players knew she was a woman, and most of them would cover up if she was in the locker room. Now that Terry was one of the guys, she rarely saw a towel wrapped around a waist in modesty.
More than once the old story about the size of a man’s feet and his--
“Fiscus!”
She looked at the coach who was standing in the doorway to his office.
“When you have a minute, I want to see you.”
“Sure thing, Coach.” She was getting used to using her fake deep voice, though it didn’t sound as gruff anymore since her cold had gone away.
The coach went back into his office, but Terry kept looking his way.
There was one other thing which had been giving her trouble since she started her new job. Coach Barringer.
Not that he’d been hard on her or anything, no harder than she’d expected anyway. The trouble she was having with the coach was entirely her own fault.
She found him terribly attractive. Whether he was a Neanderthal or not, she couldn’t help being practically giddy over him. Consequently, she’d avoided Dan as much as possible.
She’d learned rather quickly that one glance from him could melt her quite completely, and she couldn’t afford to liquefy around him.
At least not until she told him she was a woman.
She finished cleaning up her area and went to face Coach Barringer.
She knocked on his open door.
“Come in.” His voice was stern, commanding.
He was looking at a pad full of x’s and o’s when Terry entered his domain. Considering the crush she had on him, she blushed a little at the symbols for hugs and kisses which Dan was using to diagram offensive and defensive team members in plays he was designing.
This was the first time Terry had been alone with Dan in his office. All her meetings with him before this one had included other trainers, and they’d taken place in the conference room.
Dan looked up and pointed to a chair. “Take a load off, Fiscus. I’ll be with you in a minute.” He looked again at his pad of intricate plays, and made a few changes.
She seated herself in the black tweed armchair the coach had pointed to and waited for him to speak. The longer she waited the more intrigued she became with the handsome coach and his thick dark hair, angular jaw and broad, strong build.
His shoulders looked like they could hold the weight of the Sears Tower.
When minutes passed without him initiating the conversation, she decided to start it herself. “Is there a problem you wanted to discuss with me?” Considering the way she felt about him, being alone with him put her ill at ease. She wanted this meeting over with as soon as possible.
He looked at her with those bone-melting blue eyes of his and leaned back in his black leather, swivel chair. He tapped the pencil in one hand against the index finger of the other......
------------------
I hope your week is full of smiles and laughter.
Fran
Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author
Fran's Web Page
I loved the idea right away. As I began to imagine the kinds of problems that could arise under circumstances like these the idea developed into a very funny story filled with tense situations.
Of course, these circumstances aren't funny to the hero and heroine who are embroiled in some heavy emotions, but readers are having a great time watching these two deal with their challenging situation.
"Male Fraud" is available as a download at major Internet stores such as B&N, I-Books and others for 99 Cents. It's also available in the paperback "Romantic Comedy Collection" (which includes short stories "Married While Intoxicated" and "Crossed Wires") at Amazon for $7.95.
Terry Fiscus wants to be a trainer for the pro football Chicago Cyclones. Coach Dan Barringer doesn't believe a woman belongs in a men's locker room. Terry really, really wants this job so she disguises herself as a man, and Dan hires her. When Dan meets Terry outside of work and gets to know her as the lovely "Teresa" he falls in love, and so does Terry. As Terry tries to manage her double life things get extremely complicated and side-splittingly funny.
"In the Locker Room" Excerpt:
Setup: Female Terry Fiscus, the new trainer for the pro football Chicago Cyclones is disguised as a man--and she's made a few discoveries about being a woman pretending to be a man during her first week on the job.
As she policed her area of the locker room Terry realized the first week of training camp had gone by with lightning speed. She’d worked hard to keep her players as healthy as possible, and things had gone well most of the time.
The only thing giving her more trouble than she’d thought it would was getting used to the smells, sights and sounds in the locker room. Especially the sights!
Seeing naked men by the dozens was a completely new adjustment for her. At Nebraska, where she’d first worked as a trainer, the players knew she was a woman, and most of them would cover up if she was in the locker room. Now that Terry was one of the guys, she rarely saw a towel wrapped around a waist in modesty.
More than once the old story about the size of a man’s feet and his--
“Fiscus!”
She looked at the coach who was standing in the doorway to his office.
“When you have a minute, I want to see you.”
“Sure thing, Coach.” She was getting used to using her fake deep voice, though it didn’t sound as gruff anymore since her cold had gone away.
The coach went back into his office, but Terry kept looking his way.
There was one other thing which had been giving her trouble since she started her new job. Coach Barringer.
Not that he’d been hard on her or anything, no harder than she’d expected anyway. The trouble she was having with the coach was entirely her own fault.
She found him terribly attractive. Whether he was a Neanderthal or not, she couldn’t help being practically giddy over him. Consequently, she’d avoided Dan as much as possible.
She’d learned rather quickly that one glance from him could melt her quite completely, and she couldn’t afford to liquefy around him.
At least not until she told him she was a woman.
She finished cleaning up her area and went to face Coach Barringer.
She knocked on his open door.
“Come in.” His voice was stern, commanding.
He was looking at a pad full of x’s and o’s when Terry entered his domain. Considering the crush she had on him, she blushed a little at the symbols for hugs and kisses which Dan was using to diagram offensive and defensive team members in plays he was designing.
This was the first time Terry had been alone with Dan in his office. All her meetings with him before this one had included other trainers, and they’d taken place in the conference room.
Dan looked up and pointed to a chair. “Take a load off, Fiscus. I’ll be with you in a minute.” He looked again at his pad of intricate plays, and made a few changes.
She seated herself in the black tweed armchair the coach had pointed to and waited for him to speak. The longer she waited the more intrigued she became with the handsome coach and his thick dark hair, angular jaw and broad, strong build.
His shoulders looked like they could hold the weight of the Sears Tower.
When minutes passed without him initiating the conversation, she decided to start it herself. “Is there a problem you wanted to discuss with me?” Considering the way she felt about him, being alone with him put her ill at ease. She wanted this meeting over with as soon as possible.
He looked at her with those bone-melting blue eyes of his and leaned back in his black leather, swivel chair. He tapped the pencil in one hand against the index finger of the other......
------------------
I hope your week is full of smiles and laughter.
Fran
Fran Shaff, Award-Winning Author
Fran's Web Page
