Snow graced our little hamlet, lacy upon the rocks of our town’s shoreline, evidence of the blizzard over the weekend. A perfect opportunity to huddle into my arm chair and get some writing done.  Although wedged into rewrites of a story, I pryed myself out to plow my way into town to meet with Sally, the aspiring writer I promised to mentor.

I hoped she’d taken my dare to dig deep into her life and interests to find a story spark.  I probably should have told her to start an idea file – I’d recently discovered Evernote as a way to capture all my wandering thoughts and story ideas.

She found me lost in the tangle of my rewrite thoughts, nursing a skinny vanilla latte.

“Hey Sally,” I said as she unwound her scarf, setting her mocha on the table.  I wanted to run my finger through all that chocolately sprinkled whipped cream.

“I think I found my story spark,” she said as she sat down and pulled out a folder. She reached into the folder and slapped down a picture on the table. Her blue eyes shone.  “The famous New York Times kiss picture from V-E day, 1944.”

Who didn’t love that picture? The sailor dipping an unsuspecting nurse in the family Life magazine snapshot.  “I like it, but why?”

“I’m a World War 2 buff, I’ve been to New York numerous times, I am a first responder, and interested in medicine, but most of all…” She smiled, as she drew the picture back.  “I’m a terrible romantic.  I know that it was just a passing kiss, but my romantic heart wants to think that they had a whirlwind romance and lived happily ever after.”

She’d just answered my next question without knowing it – what do you like to read?  Because as she looked at putting a story together, writing in a genre she already loved would boost her along the learning curve.  “You read romances?” I asked, just to confirm.

She glanced around the room, lowered her voice. “I love them.  Sometimes I’ll read romantic suspense, but my favorite are historical romances – I have an entire bookshelf of them.”

“Excellent.  For the next three weeks, I want you to find your favorites and re-read them, this time to discover three things: plot, character and story elements you love, the conflict between the hero and heroine, and most importantly, how they fall in love.”

“Is that my dare for the week?”  She smiled.

“No. That’s your gift – you get to read for homework.” I winked.  “But your dare is something bigger, something that will give your story real punch. Because while you’ve stumbled upon a fun story spark, you don’t have anything original or even sellable.  What makes a story compelling and pitchable starts with something called the story question.  It helps you create your logline, or pitch.”

“Logline? Pitch?”

“We’ll get to that, further along the journey.  For now…what is your story about?”

“True love?”

“What about true love?”

“I was thinking that the nurse could actually have lost someone in the war – maybe her fiance. Maybe even a sailor.  And maybe the sailor knows that and cares about her.”

“So, it wasn’t a chance meeting?”

“What if he was hoping for a chance to kiss her, and did it that day?”

“Why would he do that?”

“What if he was a buddy of her fiancé, and was with him when he died – and the buddy told him to take care of his fiancé.  Maybe he is shipped home because of an injury, and makes friends with her. Then he falls in love with her, and yet after this kiss, he realizes how terrible it is to fall for his best friend’s gal – “

Yes, she had a romance writer in her.  Not an elaborate plot, but a good start.  It had potential for her first run at a story.

“So, the story is about second chances?”

“Or maybe second love?”

“Excellent.  So, what will the story show about true love?”

She took a sip of her cocoa.  “That you can lose and love again?  That it might be different, but perhaps just as good the second time around?”

I liked that theme – at least for a start.  She’d discover that, as she got into the story, the theme might deepen, take on nuances. It was enough to push her to – “Now, let’s create a story question from that theme.  The story question is the question that propels the character – and the reader — even subconsciously, through the story. And, it’s the “lesson” that the story teaches.”

“But you told me not to preach to the world.”

“A story question doesn’t preach. It presents the question – and then explores the answers through the journey of the players in the story.  The best kind of story question offers a few different ‘answers’ for the reader to consider after they put the book down.  Like, is your first love always the best?   Or, is loving truly worth it, even with the loss?   When you start your character out on their journey, armed with this question, you allow them, and your reader, to discover the answer together.”

She was taking notes.

“Try this – look at your favorite books and movies. What are some of the story questions embedded in them?”

“I just saw Cowboys and Aliens.  I hardly think there is a story question there.”

“Sure there is.  Can a bunch of cowboys be aliens with vastly superior technology?  The answer is revealed through the movie.”

“If they have enough to fight for,” she said.

“You could take it even deeper – are old fashioned ways of merit in our technological world? But you touched on another element we’ll talk about soon – building story stakes. But for now, here’s your truth. All stories have a story question, something that drives the character, and the reader to discover. This story question is what you’ll use to develop the marketing materials for your book.”

“Yes – they didn’t even need marketing material – the title of Cowboys and Aliens was enough,” she said.

“You got it.  Here’s your dare.  Figure out your story question of your story.  Ask yourself – what is the theme of the story?  What am I trying to say?  What will the heroine learn?  And then turn that answer into a question.  Bring that back to me next week, along with your favorite book, and we’ll talk about finding your Voice.”

“My Voice is what I use to tell my son to stop jumping on the sofa,” she said, finishing her mocha. “I can’t wait to use it for something else.”

Me too.

Truth: Every story contains at least one (usually many) take-away “truths” that are learned during the character’s inner journey.

Dare: What is the lesson of your character’s journey?  Turn it into a story question and paste it in the comments….if you dare!