Two Dogs, One Bone. The Fight's On!

I'm revisiting a blog post from several years ago, but the topic is just as relevant with every book I start.

With each new project, I get excited and have a lot of angst and conflict planned for my characters, but sometimes the core conflict between my hero and heroine doesn’t feel strong enough to carry the entire book. Or at least it’s not fleshed out enough for me to see it.

And that's when I start looking around for ways to define that backbone and nail it down. (Ouch, that sounds painful, doesn’t it?)

Insurmountable Odds

The mantra, "If your hero is a fireman, your heroine had better be an arsonist" came to mind. One source attributed this saying to a Sandra Brown workshop. Not that my characters are firefighters or arsonists, but the analogy seemed to fit. I understand the logic behind the above statement, but without some plot details, where do you go from there? Maybe she’s a “former” arsonist? Or someone pressed into torching buildings against her will? Whatever the reason, the reader knows the truth and can root for her, but the hero doesn’t. 

The idea is to make the conflict seemingly insurmountable for your main characters, but figure out how to actually surmount those obstacles by the end of the book.

If your hero is a rich Roman aristocrat, your heroine better be a Jewish slave... A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers 

If you’ve never read A Voice in the Wind, you should. By reading that one-liner, you’d never believe the two could get together. But they do. Torn by her love for a handsome aristocrat, a young slave girl clings to her faith in the living God for deliverance from the forces of decadent Rome.

If your hero is a devoutly Godly man, your heroine better be a fallen woman... Redeeming Love, also by Francine Rivers 

This is the retelling of Gomer and Hosea from the Bible. Gomer is not a godly woman, and Hosea is a prophet. He buys her off the auction block, not once, but twice. Okay, the Biblical story is about Jesus loving us so much that he purchased us with his blood to save us, so it’s a story within a story, but telling the story again in a new era is even more poignant. Francine does a masterful job of taking an insurmountable premise and bringing these two characters together by the end.

Stealing Jake, Tyndale House
July 2011

If your hero is a deputy, your heroine better be a thief and a pickpocket... Stealing Jake, by Pam Hillman

When Livy O’Brien spies a young boy jostling a man walking along the boardwalk, she recognizes the act for what it is. After all, she used to be known as Light-fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she’s helping to run an orphanage. Now she’ll do almost anything to protect the street kids like herself. 

Sheriff’s deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into Livy—literally—while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a growing number of street kids in town—as well as a loan on the family farm that needs to be paid off—Jake doesn’t have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can't seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but Livy isn’t willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.

If your hero is a conscientious objector, your heroine better be a Civil War widow... Always to Remember, by Lorraine Heath

Another book that does a wonderful job of setting up two characters who are far, far apart in their ideals is Always to Remember, by Lorraine Heath. For refusing to pick up a gun for the Confederacy, Clayton Holland was branded a deserter and imprisoned during the war. When he returned home to Cedar Gove, Texas, he was given a coward's welcome, spurned by everyone in town. To Meg Warner, Clay's presence was a constant offense: a betrayal of the cause for which her husband and brothers died.

As punishment, she commissioned Clay, a talented sculptor, to create a memorial to honor Cedar Grove's fallen heroes, hoping that every name he carved into stone would carve remorse into his heart. But as Meg spent months watching Clay work, she began to see strength instead of cowardice. And she discovered that a hero could be found in the most unlikely of men. That passion could be sculpted from a heart hardened by bitterness. And that sometimes--like courage--whispers instead of shouts.

Some romantic movies with Insurmountable Odds:

Pretty Woman

Far and Away

Gone With the Wind

Two Dogs. One Bone.

This is another bare bones plot premise coming from a different perspective. Your two main characters, (hero and heroine in a romance) want the same thing and somebody’s not going to get what they want. Or are they? Again, you’ve got to resolve this to where they share the bone by the end, at least if it’s a romance. Or maybe they both give up the bone for the greater good of someone else. Just like in the insurmountable odds above, the reader’s got to be rooting for both the hero and the heroine.

Claiming Mariah, Tyndale House
January 2013

One ranch. Two owners....Claiming Mariah, Pam Hillman

After her father’s death, Mariah Malone sends a letter that will forever alter the lives of her family. When Slade Donovan, strong willed and eager for vengeance, shows up on her front porch, Mariah is not ready to hear his truths: her father’s farm, the only home she’s ever known, was bought with stolen gold. With Slade ready to collect his father’s rightful claim and force Mariah and her family out on the streets, Mariah must turn to God for guidance. Though Mr. Frederick Cooper, a local landowner, promises to answer her financial woes if she agrees to be his bride, Mariah finds herself drawn instead to the angry young man demanding her home.

With the ranch now under Slade’s careful eye, he unearths more than he ever imagined as a devious plot of thievery, betrayal, and murder threatens the well-being of the ranch, endangering those who hold it dear. As the days dwindle until the rest of the Donovan clan arrives at the Lazy M ranch, Mariah and Slade must rise above the resentment of their fathers and see their true feelings before greed changes their futures forever.

Two gals. One guy

... A Passion Most Pure, Julie Lessman

Julie Lessman supplied me with her pitch for A Passion Most Pure, saying she wasn’t sure if it fit a simple formula: Rival sisters with strong faith—one in God, the other in herself—turn the head of a heartbreaker who proposes to one and falls in love with the other.

If your heroine is a devout Christian, your hero better be an unbeliever.

This story is somewhat more multi-layered than a tradition romance so we get two for one. Not to compare poor Collin to a bone, but we could say that Faith and Charity are fighting over Collin. Another layer to this book is the insurmountable issue of Faith’s faith in God vs. Collin’s lack of faith. One or the other must give in from their stance at the beginning of the book.

A few movies with two dogs, one bone:

Princess Bride: the princess is the bone

Pirates of the Caribbean: the Black Pearl and the treasure are the bones

Shrek works for both Insurmountable Odds (Shrek and Fiona) and two dogs, one bone (Shrek and what’s-his-face both want to marry Fiona.

I’ve outlined two basic premises, the “if he’s a firefighter, she’d better be an arsonist” where total opposites meet in the middle, and the “two dogs, one bone” idea of fighting over something tangible.

One other thing. A great story will have more layers than just one. I’m sure if we get into a discussion of Pirates, (and we probably will, especially if Captain Jack stops by!) we’ll discover several layers, but I’m looking for that main thread woven all the way through the book. The backbone, remember? That’s the thread you’ll come back to over and over, and the one that the reader wants to see resolved satisfactorily in the end.

What are some other catch phrases that might jumpstart story ideas? Also, what books or movies fit into one 

of these categories? Share a good "Insurmountable Odds" story or a "Two Dogs, One Bone" story.