Writing Tools: Disaster Love Stories & How to Write Them (the mini version) By Susan Hanniford Crowley

Two supernatural rescue workers meet on the darkest day in New York City.

I never planned to write a romance book that happens during a disaster. But I dreamed it. Let’s look at the anatomy of a disaster romance book.

You have your meet-cute.
Book Blurb: Regina O’Malley doesn’t know she’s magic. All she knows is that she’s late for her internship at a prominent brokerage house at the World Trade Center. Gregor Vasiliev, a shapeshifter and financial advisor at the World Trade Center, hates office coffee. While on a coffee and donut run, there in the street stands the lifemate he’s been searching for. He must act now or lose her forever.

I had to have a good reason for Gregor to do something when he saw her.
Reason: Shapeshifters know their lifemates at first sight. If you are writing a non-paranormal tale, then you still need a reason that brings the two together. Something just prior to the disaster that will bring your lovers together.
Disaster Strikes. It’s always best to choose one that has already happened. In that way, you can get many details both on the human reactions and the technical side. The less probable the disaster, the more readers will think the science is wrong and it can’t possibly be true and lose interest. Even though I dreamed my book, I still had to know what happened in the actual real-life story. I read old newspapers and magazines that had accounts of survivors. I read about the nearby businesses and about the rescuers themselves. Even though we write fiction, making it as real as possible is key.
Interaction between your new lovers (in what they can do during the disaster) increases as the disaster gets worse. If you can find a timeline of the true disaster or a similar one that helps.
When lovers work together, it’s intense. When lives are at stake, it grows more intense. Each must have a talent or skill that the other depends on to get the job done.
There is that moment when the characters feel helpless. They have done all they could for as long as they could. Others will take over. They have worked tirelessly to help others, but exhaustion hits them like a brick. It doesn’t matter at this point that the brain says to continue. The body must rest. It’s at this point when the lovers reach for each other for support and comfort. It’s that moment of feeling safe with the one you can depend on most, you have…
The big love scene.
After eating and resting, they return again. They keep working.
The awful part is the Silence, where there isn’t any more to do. You lovers have to decide what is best for them now.
You show them living their decision. You show how their experience still wears on them but how they are moving forward.

This is a sort of simplistic outline of how to write a Disaster Love Story. Another method would be to make two columns from the point the lovers meet. One column shows what they are doing. The other column shows what the disaster is doing. Three columns if you want to show what each of the lovers is doing and feeling.

I cried while writing When Love Survives. Before it was first published, the publisher called me to say that she and her staff cried too, and they had to publish it. To read When Love Survives, visit my Author Page on Amazon and scroll down. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susan-Hanniford-Crowley/author/B004YXOGXG At this time, it’s in Kindle and on Smashwords if you need other ebook formats.

Have a great Spring into Summer and remember to stay safe.

Truly,

Susan
Susan Hanniford Crowley
https://susanhannifordcrowley.com
https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Hanniford-Crowley/e/B004YXOGXG

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Now we wait
for the return of the princess.