Where to start my contemp Western romance/woman's fic?

First, let me say that it sounds like you may be leaning strongly toward a romantic suspense, but it depends a lot on how you write it.

Second, I'd suggest maybe writing a few of those beginning scenes and see which one grabs your attention immediately, the strongest.

Remember that you want to have a great first line hook, and, your first several pages should be either fast-paced or emotionally grabbing. You want to hook your reader right away so they don't put the book down.

From what you've described here (and it could be just because I personally prefer suspense) I would think you could manage those things by starting with the ex shooting the cop. It's a life changing event for the FMC and definitely an attention grabbing event.

Best of luck with it.

This probably isn't much help, but my advice is to write the story and see how things look after it's finished. All of the elements you mentioned could be in a women's fiction, or general fiction, or contemporary romance. What genre it's classified as will depend on which story elements you choose to focus on, which you probably won't be certain of until the book is finished. Even as you're writing, you'll probably see that one of the story's elements (the romance, the aunt, the creepy ex) will become more prominent.

Hey Jamie!

Have you heard of the "W" plot graph? When I'm having a structural question like this, I can usually apply the W and figure out what needs to be done. I can't find my favorite explanatory blog post about the W, but I'll try to find it for you if you aren't familiar with it.

The W opens with establishing normal world (A). In what you've described, it seems that normal world for your FMC is her relationship with her boyfriend, and the legal troubles there. The inciting incident is the next point (B) and that would be the cop getting shot, and BF vowing revenge. Next point, (C) is when she finds out about her aunt.

At least, I think that's how it would work structurally to me. And GCSalamon is right, it could be a good romantic suspense.

I really hope this helps.

I'd say start someplace that fits into the overall tone and content of the book. Otherwise readers might feel it's a bit of a bait and switch - draws them in as one thing and then changes so much it seems like a different genre.

As for the exact place, hell, just pick one and start, I say. It will probably not be quite the right place, but you can change that in your editing. I've changed the starting place for a few of mine, either I started too late or (more rarely for me) too early. It's not a big deal, because whatever happens, writing it will help you figure things out about th story and characters - including the right place to start the story!

I'm going to second the RomSus suggestion. If you want it to be a romantic suspense, I'd suggest starting back in the small town right as the ex starts making a reappearance. Give her a cozy flirtation with the sherriff, set up the aunt's health issues and have something suspicious happen quickly.

Just my take, of course. The type of story you want to write is completely in your hands.

I've read all of the comments and I'd love to know: Jamie, what did you decide to do?

Jamie Stone said:

My new predicament us that sending the fmc to this small town actually clears up most of the conflict at least for a bit.

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Let's say you're writing a Romance story and a Suspense story.

Where to Start:

-- Start the story with FMC and MMC in the same town.
They meet.

-- The threatening ex-boyfriend, the shoot out, the legal battles, the aunt announcing she's sick on the phone, the decision to leave, quitting her old job, and the FMC's travel are now backstory.
These events do not occur onstage.
They get reffed later.

-- Because this is Romantic Suspense or a fast-moving crime story, something frightening happens in the opening scene.
It can be fairly subtle.
It can be foreshadowing.

-- The frightening incident is the first in an escalating series of event that will end up truly menacing the FMC.

-- If there is an antagonist -- like the Evil Ex -- the opening is the point at which he inserts himself into her life in Wholesomeville for the first time.
This is his first chess move in his dire plot.

-- The FMC and MMC meet.

-- You will probably have some distrust or conflict between the FMC and the Deputy. The opening is a good place to introduce this.


Taking that above stuff into account, here's an example of two ways a writer could approach the opening scene.

Scenario One

Ellie's car breaks down on a deserted country road. She thinks she hears something moving in the woods.
(The reader knows somebody caused the breakdown even if she doesn't know about the Ex.)

FMC gets on her cell phone and calls 911. The Deputy shows up.

He says, "Why isn't your spare pumped up? Don't you know how to change a tire?"
"I can change a tire. The spare shouldn't be flat. I hear something in the woods."
"You heard a deer in the woods. Jeesh."

That opening gives us (1) menace from the evil Ex, (2) conflict between FMC and MMC.


Scenario Two:

Story opens with FMC driving madly to the hospital. Aunt has taken chemo pills and is horribly sick. Aunt barely survives.

Upon return home, FMC picks up pill bottle and is sure there's something different about it. These are not the same pills he aunt took.
(The Evil Ex has snuck in and switched bottles. He's going to Gaslight her.)

She storms into hospital demanding they do something to see what her aunt really took. Deputy is called and decides she's (a) a nut or (b) driven to hysterics by sickness of aunt.


You see what I'm getting at ...?

In the opening scenes you pick up the suspense thread at the point it moves to Littletown and the Romance thread when the FMC and MMC meet. (Or meet again.)


The advantage of leaving out all the backstory is that Evil Ex is the antagonist in the suspense plot. At best, he is a strong secondary character, along with the Aunt, the Aunt's lover, and the Deputy's father.
Time, words, reader interest, and character development should be devoted primarily to the protagonists.

Jamie Stone said:

The fmc also wants to get some kind of a job, preferably in medical but since she has no nursing license anymore she finds this difficult.

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Getting a job is going to be fairly low stakes compared to the other stuff going on. Unless FMC desperately needs that particular job for some reason, this is little bits of plot device. This is backdrop.

The reader should not be emotionally involved in a job hunt when the FMC is getting shot at and sideswiped by big black SUVs and falling in love.

So we don't plot scenes to talk about her job hunt or how she buys a car, makes dinner, or gets her car engine fixed.
We use this kind of everyday problem to grease the skids for important plot stuff

If the FMC is onstage, shopping for Sunday dinner, we did not add that scene because shopping is vital to the story.
The scene is really about the Ex lurking behind the frozen peas or the Deputy making an excuse to carry her groceries home because she's been acting erratically and he's worried about her.

Jamie Stone said:

. . . the fmc wants to care for her ill aunt, but doesn't initially get along with the aunt's lover.

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This is subplot.
One way to use subplots is to use them twice. Tie the action of a subplot to either of the Big Main Plots:
The Suspense plot -- the aunt's lover is unwittingly a tool of the Evil Ex.
The Romance plot -- the lover gives the Deputy good or bad advice on how to approach the FMC romantically.

Jamie Stone said:

... wanting to stay hidden and keep her family hidden from her ex. How to make all these compelling?

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If she's just gone back to her old home town, it seems she's going to be fairly easy to find. You can't do much to hide if you've made a beeline to your birth place.

If she is not going home, there's lots of sources on how to disappear. (see here, here, here, here and so on,)

The 'hiding story', like the 'looking for a job' story, does not generate scary and intense action scenes. Hiding is more cutting up old credit cards and getting new ones under a new legal name.
(Snip snip, fill out application forms, lick envelope, mail.)
Not so much colorful stuff to build a scene around.

What hiding would do is make the FMC worried and scared and unhappy. This affects her relationship with the Deputy, making the conflict stronger because she's on edge. It makes her love stronger because she is frightened and needs his help.

Jamie Stone said:

I'm pretty sure the plot will circle back around to the FMC's ex finding her and trying to kill her with the authorities hot on his trail, and the FMC hoping that her deputy will defend her, but ultimately ending up facing her ex all by herself and killing him.

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To make the plot satisfying to the reader -- this ending has to be integrated with the whole story.

Are you planning to have a bunch of action with FMC versus Evil Ex in conflict.
Then she goes away and pretty much worries about other things.
Then the Evil Ex shows up and she deals with him?

Take a look at High Noon -- the movie.
The villain only appears at the end. But the villain's henchmen are there as menace from the beginning. Every action the protagonist takes is motivated by the approaching villain.

I'd start with the shooting/accusation of betrayal, then skip ahead to after the FMC has already relocated, preferably when she meets the deputy. Then go back to the aunt.