Guest Post with author Genie Gabriel

How do I come up with plots? Well, my plots kind of develop themselves…

The LEGACY characters first appeared as secondary characters in my book, THE BODYGUARD. Marly O'Shea was such an intriguing secondary character, I had to tell her story, so I wrote PICTURE PERFECT LEGACY.

Wherever Marly is, her seven overly protective brothers are nearby. To get them out of her love life, they needed challenges and lovers of their own, so their stories started percolating in my head.

One of those brothers is a priest. Yes, the kind who takes vows of celibacy. Right away this presents a major conflict in a romance as well as gives our hero some major internal struggles. :)

I learned early in my writing career that conflict is good if you don't want a story that's only a few pages long. So in spite of wanting my characters to have their happily-ever-afters right away, I learned to write conflict.

One of the ways I do this is pick two main character who are opposites in many ways. For instance, a cop who sees life in black and white falling in love with a social worker who sees all the rainbow shades of motivation. Or a fireman who is attracted to a woman who is afraid of fire.

Or, in LEGACY OF ANGELS, a priest and a prostitute.

Then the plot must unfold in a way readers will find believable--but not predictable.

I had already set up a baby-selling ring in the first book of my LEGACY series. A caseworker had removed a child from his adoptive parents because this child had been stolen from his birth mother and sold under the guise of a legal adoption.

With the baby-selling scenario and two main characters in mind, I started asking questions to build the plot. For example, where is the birth mother? Did she search for her child? If not, why not? Was she afraid to get the child back? Or was she in such a dire situation she thought the child would be better off with someone else?

I love to write about people who overcome traumatic events in their pasts to shine as heroes. So most of the time, my main characters have deep emotional wounds to overcome.

The heroine in LEGACY OF ANGELS was forced into prostitution by her mother at an early age. So her sense of self-worth is nearly non-existent. When she is raped and becomes pregnant by a respected member of the community, she knows no one would believe her story. Then the child is taken from her to be adopted by a wealthy couple, and she feels her only option is to hope he will be loved and cherished like she never was.

But my stories have happy endings, so I couldn't leave Claudia like that!

I started asking questions again to move the plot forward. What if the caseworker finds Claudia and pushes her to admit she is the baby's birth mother? Does she confess and stir up the wrath of the child-seller? Does she lie and face endless questions and psychological tests from the social services system? Does she run in hopeless terror?

And where's our hero? What if he becomes an unexpected ally who gives Claudia hope and shows her there are people who can be trusted?

Once the two main characters meet, they move the plot forward. While they are confronting their deepest fears and struggling to be their best selves, they are also bumping up against the physical attraction to each other--perhaps a socially forbidden attraction, as in this story. 

In LEGACY OF ANGELS, both Claudia and Patrick face choices that can totally change their lives. Does Claudia have the courage to reclaim her child and become a loving mother? Will Patrick find a way to reconcile his spiritual integrity with his very human desires?

Writing this LEGACY series has been like making new friends with each book. More than plotting a story, I'm sharing the unfolding of lives and how the fabric of the O'Shea family changes with the experiences and loves of the siblings.

I hope you will join their adventures! In addition to the LEGACY e-books, you can find out more about the O'Shea family and small-town living on my Web site or at the LEGACY blog.

Many thanks to "Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer" for hosting me today. To say thank you to readers, I will be awarding one $10 gift certificate to someone who leaves a comment.

About the Author:

For years I've been fascinated by the puzzle of why some people collapse under life's traumas and others emerge triumphantly stronger. These triumphs of the human spirit over the ugliest of adversities became the basis for my stories. Yet my dramatic stories have always contained touches of humor, and sometimes I have great fun writing romantic comedy novellas. However, in all my stories, my passion for writing romance is an outlet for the powerful messages that people can overcome great difficulties, and true love can turn life’s heartaches into happily ever after.