Last time I blogged I talked about finding my “anchors” for the story that allowed me to go deeper with the characters and the plot.

As I worked through the middle part of the book, I came out of my office and said to my husband, “I need a “The Proposal” moment!”

“Like??” he said.

“You know when Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is trying to convince Drew (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her and they are standing out on the sidewalk?”

“Yes…”

“And she tells him, if you don’t marry me, I’ll be deported. They’ll give Bob my job and he’ll fire you. Which means you’re out on the streets starting all over again.”

“Okay…”

“I need that kind of detail. Why does Joy allow Spear to come and work with her on HER show?”

So we mulled it over for a bit and I worked out a good scenario. I needed my cooking show host to allow her new producer to bring in a co-host. But why? It’s her show? I new why the producer wanted to add the co-host, but why would the talent go along?

I needed a “Bob will fire you” reason which would send my protagonist farther from her dream.

One of the reason I loved the movie The Proposal was because the writers really took the time to set up a valid, real, hard hitting scenario for why Drew would lie about his affection for the boss he hated.

He was desperate to become a book editor.

Too many times we fluff over the reason our characters make choices they would never make. Donald Maass says, “have your characters do something they would never do.” So, in the course of writing, an author just randomly had their character turn left when they always turn right.

Or, we make up a flimsy excuse. “I just felt like I should give the producer a shot, you know, see if a co-host  would be fun.”

No! Too nice. Joy is hiding something and a co-host would bring her world down on her head.

So why would she go along? Now, you’re going to have to read the book to find out. But think of your own WIPs. Have you backed your hero or heroine into a corner? Squeezed them into an unseemly decision? GREAT. But tell us why. Give us a solid reason, not a surface on.

In most Hollywood movies, Margaret would’ve had some stupid detail on Drew like, “I saw you making out with the boss’s daughter,” or worse, his wife. What? No. How does that impact his dream.

They set up the scenario to kill his dream if he didn’t go along.

Set up your backstory and reasoning so if the protagonist doesn’t go along, his or her dream is lost.

Think. Dig deep. Take your current ideas and ask “what if?” and turn the ideas upside down.

Happy Writing!