DORA BRAMDEN
  • Home
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About and Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Inspiration for Romance Stories

11/12/2015

 
Picture
Inspiration is different for everyone, I imagine. It's the question I'm asked most often when I tell people I'm a writer. Lucky for me, I don't have any trouble answering them. I've been able to corral the plethora of things that inspire me into three categories. Travels, Real Life and Rescues and Fate Steps In. If you're interested in hearing about these, read on.

Travel and Holidays

I guess I've been a traveler since a very young age. All of us travel a massive orbit around the sun on this planet every year. That's a lot of miles or kilometers to clock up when you've just been born! No wonder we all hanker for a look at foreign places. 
I've been fortunate to travel to distant lands and experience the richness of their culture. But long before that I did it through documentaries on TV and reading. 
I guess that's why I like to use the escape of a foreign land or travels within my home country of Australia to help me craft a story that takes me away from my ordinary world and puts me into someone else's.
I set "A Wife for the Orange Farmer" in Mildura, a border country town situated on the grand Murray river. Its Orange Groves are watered by irrigation from that river and are the major produce for the area.  During a caravan holiday at Mildura, I sat in the shade of a River Red Gum, rocking my baby daughter to sleep reading a Mills and Boon romance novel. So romance and Mildura were already a connection for me long before I was rescued by a real life hero who was an orange farmer.

Real Life and Rescues
No wonder when I was rescued by an Orange Grower during a thunderstorm at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show I vowed to create a story for him. Such a charming handsome man, he entertained me and my mother with his easy good nature as he held a golf umbrella over the three of us. 
Another yet to be published story was inspired during a self drive holiday in England. I was out of my comfort zone and then got lost. I needed directions and, you guessed it, a handsome man in a shiny silver Mercedes guided me back to the freeway. 

Fate Steps In
I like these kinds of stories, soul mates who take a whole story to work it out. What if that woman lost in the car wasn't me but a grieving widow and this man was here to guide her back to a real life full of love and family? A novel was born. 
What if that Orange Farmer with his easy manners and caring nature was taking care of his grandma who had grown so frail she needed a Personal Care Attendant? In country towns they're not easy to come by but a woman who's lost everything might go somewhere like that to find community and belonging and ends up finding a family as well.

I've met so many interesting people and been so many places and have such a romantic heart that I can't help but put them all together to create a story that gives it all meaning. Inspiration is drawn from everything I've ever read seen or done. It all gets put into a big bag and I play lucky dip I suppose.  I also like to let my subconscious help out with meditating for writing and letting the words flow without questioning them and see what comes out. Later I sift through what has been mined for the gems. The results, well you've got to be the judge of that. Me, I love doing it.

http://www.amazon.com.au/Sweet-Spicy-Melbourne-Writers-Guild-ebook/dp/B017DVII34/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447112772&sr=8-1&keywords=sweet+and+spicy


Bel link
11/10/2015 05:59:48 pm

It's funny the way the nonfiction slips in, isn't it?

Dora Bramden link
11/10/2015 06:14:20 pm

It sure does, Bel. Why waste it, a little tweaking and away I go.

Savannah Blaize
11/10/2015 10:38:42 pm

Loved your Blog Dora. I agree that sometimes the most innocent events can trigger the most wonderful shorties.

Dora Bramden link
11/11/2015 11:58:49 am

Thanks Savannah. I've heard other romance writer friends say the same thing too. I really is wonderful. :)

Zoe Younger link
11/12/2015 09:29:43 pm

Great post! I love those stories that take a real life sad story and twist it. One of my favourites was based on a story my husband's uncle told us about his date at a Winton rodeo when he was young. The bull came for them and he pushed her through the fence only to have her come out the other side minus her trousers. Poor uncle didn't get a second date but I got my favourite short story with a happier ending.


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Romance author and lifestyle blogger

    My whole life is inspired by romance. I write romance novels of course but also love  creating DIY's and decorating in a romantic style. I'm rejuvenating an old garden, including rescuing a couple of old rose bushes and planting new ones.
    ​I also cook tasty meals every day to share with my partner.
    Romance is hopeful and although no ones life runs smoothly all the time, I keep that focus as I fill my  life with  loving family, friends and of course my partner Sam.

    Archives

    March 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    November 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All
    About My Books
    Book Releases
    Childhood Memories
    Christmas
    Collections
    Cooking
    Cooking Series
    Cooking-series
    Craft
    Decorating
    DIY
    Dora's GF Recipes
    Family
    Fashion
    Gardening
    Garden Update
    Happy At Home
    Heroines
    Holiday
    In Praise Of Romance
    Motherhood
    Moving House
    Reading
    Romantic Gardens
    Romantic Home
    Romantic Lifestyle
    Self Care
    Travel
    Valentines Day
    Wedding
    Wedding Planning
    Winter
    Writing Craft
    Writing Romance

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About and Contact
  • Privacy Policy