Page 16 of Sing it, Sam

With a strong shake of my head, I delete the word ‘Plenty’ and write ‘TBA’ in its place. I’ll have to come back to that later, because I know if I try now I’ll just waste more time trying to come up with a name. I need to focus.

Moving on, I review what I have for Ally.

Ally Spence

Five feet six

Curvy—because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a skinny short girl in my home town

Pixie-cut brown hair, button nose

Works in a mobile dessert van, supplying the town with their sugar fix

Ally makes her own doughnuts—cinnamon, jam and chocolate-filled, made-to-order waffles with ten different types of toppings, some crazier than others. Lychee and sesame, Nutella and strawberries, peanut butter and jelly, caramel and crushed nuts. Topped with an assortment of weird and wacky ice-creams. This is why Ally is curvy. A good cook should taste everything that leaves their kitchen.

I swallow down the excess saliva in my mouth. My writing is speaking the language of love to my tastebuds.Bloody hell.Didn’t I get enough of a sugar high from the Tim Tams?

I look over my notes, but slump in defeat.

I’ve described two-dimensional characters. That’s what they are. Cardboard. What’s to love about them? How do I get their first meet to really leap off the page?

So why is Brandon single? Why is this bachelor so mysterious, and why is it that he decides to let Jane in?

Um, I mean Ally.

Bloody hell.

And Ally. What’s her story? Why has she been so unlucky in love?

I pretend for a moment that she isn’t as tragically unlucky as me. Maybe she had a great love and then lost him. Maybe that’s why she moved to Mount Plenty. She’s here for a change of scenery.

Or … Ally is on the run. Did she flee from an abusive relationship? Maybe she accidentally killed her ex-lover?

No. No.No.

That won’t work. How can a reader connect with a murderer? How can I expect them to excuse her for murder and then root for her when it comes to her dating the town’s most eligible bachelor?

Nope. No murder.

I think an overbearing and slightly loopy ex-boyfriend will do the trick. I’ll add in a dash of possessiveness and a scar on his face somewhere. I’ll base him on my ex, Jarrod.

I wash my teacup and pour myself a glass of red wine. With my hands set on the keyboard, I try and imagine Brandon and Ally meeting for the first time. Will it be Brandon’s love of sugar that brings him to the van? Ooh, maybe Brandon has a young daughter who has a sweet tooth. Yes! That’ll certainly add to the mystery. Where is the mother of his child? Ignoring the fact that I have another character to name, I try to focus.

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