Set in the fictional town of Boyne Heights, Practically Married includes some interesting conflicts, including no cell phone reception and a lake effect blizzard. As a lifelong resident of Michigan—and having spent the past 20 years in the northern section—I don’t have to research or make up situations to put in my books. I just use my own experiences.
Here are a few examples of things that have made it into my books and unpublished manuscripts:
- Driving across rumble strips in a blizzard because you can’t see the road.
- Shoveling the driveway only to discover that where you started is already snow covered.
- Getting lost on the wrong road because they all have the same name (North Long Lake Road, South Long Lake Road, East Long Lake Road … where’s the creativity?)
- Getting lost on a road and having to drive around until you find cell service.
- Being stuck in the house for days because the blizzard is so intense that only emergency vehicles are allowed on the road.
- Sleeping outside under the stars and waking up covered in dew.
- Being so far away from civilization that you’re stuck on the beach because there are no lights, a new moon, and no way to see the path back to the parking lot (pre-cell phone flashlight days).
- Pink and orange sunsets so vibrant that you’ve never seen those shades anywhere else.
If you pay attention to the world around you, you don’t have to look far (or hard) to find interesting bits to add to your novel. My favorite part of including these bits of description is when readers say, “That could never happen!” Maybe not where you live, but that’s what makes reading so fun! You get to enjoy other people’s lives and experiences, even if it couldn’t possibly happen to you.
Have you ever read something in a novel and thought, “No way!”? Did it ruin the story for you or make you wonder what else might be happening around the world?
Her fiancé left her his house—and his roommate.
Ashley Johnson moves to northern Michigan to finally meet her fiancé face-to-face, but she arrives in time to go to his funeral. With no home back in Ohio, she decides to stay in what would have been their house, except his cousin Russ lives there too, and Russ has never heard of Ashley. To complicate matters, her fiancé accidentally willed her the family farmhouse. Eager to please everyone and desperate to disappoint no one, she proposes a marriage of convenience that could solve her and Russ’s problems, if they can get past her aunt, his sisters, and an ex-girlfriend.
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Karin Beery grew up in a rural Michigan town, where she wrote her first novel in high school. Today, she writes contemporary stories with a healthy dose of romance. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s reading, editing, or teaching it. In her free time, she enjoys watching University of Michigan football and action-adventure movies with her husband and fur babies.
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