The Write Word with Wareeze

The Write Word with Wareeze

Goal Setting

Hello again writers and fellow readers. Thanks for joining me on the Soul Mate Publishing blog page. If this is your first time to read a Soul Mate Publishing blog post, allow me to introduce myself. I write historical romance novels with a dash of suspense under my pen name, Wareeze Woodson. Six of my books are published by Soul Mate and have been released on Amazon. Conduct Unbecoming of a Gentleman, An Enduring Love, A Lady’s Vanishing Choices, Captured by the Viscount, The Earl’s Scandalous Wager along with a historical romance western: Bittersweep. I have a self-published one as well. After She Became a Lady. That is number seven. Self-publishing is not for me, however.

How do you set a goal for the heroine/hero? What does the heroine/hero want and why does the heroine /hero want that particular results? Each one tries something to win his or her goals. If that doesn’t work, he or she tries again. That still doesn’t work (conflict).

I’m going to set the goals for the heroine first. Vanessa steps on stage on page one. What does she want? Having been shut away at school for some years, she dreamed of elaborate ball gowns of silk and satin, trimmed with lace, over gowns sprigged with spangles all over jeweled or embroidery along with more demure morning dresses, worn with gloves and fashionable head gear, suitable for a lady of her advance years of-ten and nine. The why of the reason she longs for such things. She wants to have gown-up apparel suitable for her age instead of a chit still in the schoolroom. She can’t wait to arrive at her home, Hill House again, to be free, in charge of herself as much as her guardian will allow. She can’t wait to hear the music at the theater, to dance at a ball, to enjoy all the activities the Ton has to offer. The music, the theater, the elaborate house parties, and all the other pleasures of the Ton to stave off boredom-she wants it all. Even the on-dits she’d heard were amusing and if the rumor mill seized a fancy tidbit, society waited with bated breath for the next crumb to fall. She can’t wait.

Social norms dictated strict codes of behavior many would scoff at today. The slightest slip and a young lady may be ruined for life—if her misdeed became common knowledge. I love to escape into another era to witness the mannerisms, the apparel, the modes of transportation, and even the rather stuffy rules a young lady must adopt. Not so the gentleman—hardly fair, but oh well. That alone is all the more reason to merely visit the past without fully embracing a life without electricity.

Below is a section where Vanessa first appears in my novel under contract. She is on the way to Hill House and home at last, thrilled and excited.

 Chapter 1

From the view out her carriage window, Vanessa Ann Riventon scanned the trees flashing by. The coach had picked up speed for some reason. Her heart thumped in rhythm with the jingling of the harnesses and the creaking of the coach as it raced over the hard pack roadway. Something was definitely wrong.

The outrider thundered up to the window on his horse and yelled, “You ladies hold tight and duck down. Thieves is riding up on us. Careful like now.”

Her traveling companion cried, “Dear lord, we are going to be murdered. Robbed then hacked to pieces. Only yesterday I heard…”

The woman’s abrupt silence indicated hysterics would soon follow. That would never do. Vanessa patted her companion’s hand. “Mrs. Latham, calm yourself. The guard will protect us. That’s why he was hired to ride with the coach.”

Vanessa opened her reticule and pulled out her pistol. Uncle Charlie had always insisted she carry a weapon upon the rare occasion she traveled home to Hill House from The Young Lady’s Academy beyond Bath near the village of Sheffield. Her throat tightened and tears filled her eyes. Uncle Charlie would no longer be at Hill House to greet her, but this was not the proper time or place to allow tears of sorrow to overwhelm her. She blinked the moisture from her eyes.

Vanessa peered out the window and caught her breath. Indeed, three men with masks over their faces and pistols drawn were riding hard after the coach. A shot rang out and she jerked back, watching in horror as the coachman tumbled from his perch and rolled on the ground. The horses snorted and careened out of control. With every muscle in her body tensed, she clung to the strap above the seat. The carriage bounced in and out of a deep rut followed by a loud explosive crack sending the frightened animals into a frenzy. The scream of splintering wood filled the coach as the shaft convulsed allowing the panicked horses to break free. The carriage swayed, nearly over-turning before it verged into the underbrush beside the road and crashed into a tree. Vanessa was thrown to the floor with the other passenger on top of her.

After what seemed like hours, her mind cleared, and Vanessa came to herself. Her head ached and the other lady’s loud weeping made the situation worse. “Mrs. Latham, please hush and move off of me. I can hardly breathe.”

The other passenger struggled upright and moved onto the tilted seat. She sobbed into her handkerchief. Vanessa lifted her skirts and spied her pistol at her feet. Scooping up her weapon, she scrambled onto the other banquette, and sank back with her hand at her chest to halt the pounding of her heart. After taking a minute to compose herself, and to listen intently, she leaned out of the window to take a quick peek in both directions. There was no sign of the guard or the crooks—no one. Only the distant slowly fading beat of running horses reached her over Mrs. Latham’s whimpering.

It appears as if nothing is going according to Vanessa’s dreams, hence conflict, the much desired happening to keep the reader turning the pages.

Finally, the heroine/hero seems to have solved the problems only to reach a hopeless outcome. Both must learn and change—grow into a changed, improved character. Happy ever after naturally is the end results.

I hope you enjoyed this brief dip into setting a goal. Please visit some of my social media sites to learn more about my writing.

Respectfully,

Wareeze Woodson

Website: www.wareezewoodson.com

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