A massive storm is headed north. It leaves flooding and destruction in its wake. Getting ready for its arrival is a boring storyline.
In my new novel, Mindy has three days to fill. One is spent stocking up. The second finishes up tasks and putting things away. Last is setting things up for the coming flood.
Routines Are Boring
Rural routines are normally a boring storyline. Each day has its routines. Excitement is not appreciated as it often means something went wrong. Mindy lives a rural life with regular routines and tasks. Ho hum says the reader.
Readers don’t read boring books. They don’t make it past a boring beginning. When I read over the draft for these three days, it was boring. How do I make these three days engaging? Suspenseful?
I know these days are important. They set up the rest of the novel. The reader doesn’t know this. How can I avoid having these three days being a boring storyline?
What is happening?
Looking for Suspense
The storm is coming. How bad is it expected to be? How bad has it been? Suspense? Morbid anticipation?
Mindy is making preparations for the storm. She has livestock to protect. There are buildings and equipment to secure.
These things are unfamiliar to most people today. Rural life is so far removed from city people’s reality as to seem alien, belonging to another country even.
More familiar perhaps would be the phone calls from Justin, her husband. He is working elsewhere. He wants to take her away from this life she has come to love.
Life is made up of choices. Many of these choices mean little. Some can change our whole lives.
From these beginning days with the boring storyline come the choices Mindy must make. They are choices only she can make. And she must make them alone. But first she must survive the coming storm.
