Loving Women's Fiction! Most of the Time!

I love writing romance. Check out this video my daughter Beth made for me... Twenty Love Inspired books so far. #21 comes out in February and #22 in August... and then a Christmas novella duo with my buddy Linda Goodnight... and then #23 in January of 2019.

I am blessed.

I love writing mysteries!!! Who knew? This was my first mystery for Guideposts, and I've just finished mystery #2 and I'll be plotting #3 in a couple of weeks!!!

I love writing big books and smaller books, too. 
Link to bestselling "Back in the Saddle" on Amazon...

And I've always loved writing women's fiction... with women empowerment plugged into the story because I believe women should all feel empowered. They should feel ready to handle whatever life sends their way, and when I wonder why women might not feel that way, I look around the world where oppression and lack of women's rights... and the fact that we only gained equal rights in the grand old U.S. of A. a hundred years ago. Historically, that's like YESTERDAY...

But while I love a splash of romance in Women's Fiction, I don't want the heroine rescued. There ain't no Disney princess on my watch, although their newer varieties are more my cup of tea.

Note to everyone reading this: PLEASE DO NOT TRY AND RESCUE ME. Rescue not needed, not appreciated and clearly unnecessary. And that's the spirit I like to see in my heroines... even the ones that might benefit by a little help and a ragingly cute, cool guy. 

BUT... I don't want her saved by a knight in shining armor.

I don't want her to be relegated to a life of raising kids in a worn kitchen while the hero earns a living.

Not because that's bad... It's not.

But if we don't learn to take care of ourselves and stand up for ourselves, neediness can become a major step backwards in the story plot... and I don't want to see women stepping back when God calls us forward. But if your heroine is strong, what makes the conflict relatable in your story? Why does she need a story at all?

Here's where Mandisa hits the nail on the head with "Overcomer" on Youtube. I love this song... and what it represents. 

Plotting the Wishing Bridge series came from multiple inspirations, but today we're sticking to heroines and Thanksgiving. I brought pumpkin pie and cranberry orange relish!!!! YUM!

Back to plotting.... In a women's fiction story, your women need to be the crux of the stories/series. The stories and plots should revolve around the woman's story. She's the ice cream in the sundae. The fruit in the pie. The cake... not the frosting. Because the solid base of the woman and her issues is what your story grows from.

In Wishing Bridge, all three women are from abusive pasts. All had troubled teen experiences. All were in group foster care at Hannah's Hope, a home for troubled girls near Philadelphia. And they'd made two promises at age 18: To never repeat the mistakes of their mothers... (mothers take a lot of heat in this series!!!!) AND...

If one ever runs into trouble, all she has to do is send the others an SOS and they will come running.

And of course, that's the beginning of the series.

Book One: Cinderella-looking Kelsey has always longed for the All American dream. To be a teacher, to be beloved, to fall in love with a wonderful man and raise a family.

OOPS. How about a con-man disguised as Prince Charming, an unexpected pregnancy and an $8000.00 line of credit taken out in your name... only it wasn't you who signed the application.

Book Two: Jane Eyre-styled Thea is the big city loner. Sold into human trafficking by her crack/cocaine addicted mother, she was eventually released from captivity by a kind man... Now a family practice nurse practitioner, Thea's determined to work in the big city and help the teens and tweens that remind her of herself... and here she is in a tucked-in-the-hills snow-belt town that rolls up the sidewalks at seven o'clock, every night. Yawn.... 

Book Three: And then there's long-legged, drop-dead gorgeous bi-racial Jazz, a supermodel living the high life, a runway favorite, destined for continued greatness... If she survives the eating disorder threatening her life.

And that's where it begins, with strong, flawed characters who might need help, who may seek redemption but who are inherently overcomers... the kind of women who don't blame others because they're too busy carving a life for themselves.

I try not to belabor my own slovenly upbringing when talking about stories... not because I don't like talking about it. I don't lean on it, I don't use it as a crutch. It's the past. Over. Done. Finis. I don't dwell in the past. Ever. But I'm not afraid to use my past, my experiences, or those of others to deepen a story.

I don't wallow, and I don't want my heroines to wallow, either. Wallowing is for piggies, down on the farm. Not for successful women, even if they still question their own strength.

We know they've got what it takes, and as authors build their stories, we can construct a path that helps readers reach for success. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it ain't real.

Keep it real.
Keep it upbeat.
Keep it moving.
Stay on the upside of the crises, never miring down in the seamy side of life for too long. We know it exists... we don't have to drown ourselves in it.

Show your heroine emerging from her cocoon like a butterfly escapes the chrysalis... To spread her wings and take flight. And if that flight includes a wonderful man, well that's not a bad thing. But it shouldn't depend on the wonderful man outcome. That should be the frosting on the cake... the whipped cream on that sundae... And a drizzle of hot fudge is never in bad taste!

I am so excited about this release. I love the story, I love the series, and I've had a great time working with Amazon's Waterfall Press to launch this book.

FIVE MORE DAYS!!!! COUNTDOWN BEGINS!!!! But you can pre-order "Welcome to Wishing Bridge" here.

What kind of women's fiction do you love? What speaks to you?

Come on inside and let me know and I'll put your name in the wishing basket for a chance to win the amazingly beautiful and so well done audible version of "Welcome to Wishing Bridge", narrated by Erin Bennett of Los Angeles.

They picked a great actress to do the voices... and she nailed it! 

Thank you, Erin!

Multi-published, award-winning inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne is currently holed up on her Western New York farm with family, friends, 3 miniature donkeys, two dogs, three cats and a partridge in a pear tree! Friend her on facebook... follow her on twitter... and she'd LOVE IT if you followed her on Amazon and Book Bub!