What!?

Um, foreshadowing drum roll please?

As an eight-year-old tomboy, I longed for Dorothy Gale to kiss (lip-lock) the Scarecrow. Hey, I’m not alone in that whimsical stretch. Most romance writers get it . . . or perhaps not. Anyhow, I began to create my own farewell scene between Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and that adorable clueless Scarecrow. A scene that will never leave the moldy, cardboard-box buried in the dungeon of Maple Tor Manor. (Yep, my house has a name.)

One of my writing workshop presentations, “The Yellow Brick Road to Publication” remains a wellspring to encourage storytellers. I love Frank Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” series including the 1939 movie. Baum showed me that like the “Wonderful Land of Oz” our God-given imagination has endless possibilities. And like Dorothy Gale I wanted to fly somewhere over the rainbow far, far away.

I continue to ponder what spurs my creativity and all those stories screaming to be told. After several discussions with writers I’ve concluded that every storyteller has his/her inspirational triggers.

As for me, I can find a romance in an expired can of spinach. Story pitch: On a desolate island, the Brad Pitt look-alike hero and the gorgeous heroine, arm-wrestle over a tin of spinach that holds an exquisite diamond. Meanwhile, pirates with bad hygiene skulk behind swaying palm trees. Yada, yada . . . . Hey, what’d you expect in a five second hot-flash?

So have you identified what (real or tangent) inspires you? If not, take stock. You’ll be enlightened and encouraged at what you unearth. Whether it’s a classic movie or an expired can of veggies, use those triggers as springboards to develop your characters and to tell their story—your story.

And yeah, it’s okay to admit that you wanted Dorothy to kiss the Scarecrow. I’m just saying . . .