For us, though, figuring out the perfect obstacles in a story plot is part of the fun. It’s probably no accident that most of our obstacles are psychological in nature. We’re writing erotic romance, so we wouldn’t have a story if there wasn’t already lots of sex happening; the battles almost have to be internal. Plus, our backgrounds are both in the social sciences. Inner turmoil is where we live (well, where our professional selves live).

Take Kate (and I hope you do!). The broad obstacle in The Diary is our setup: Kate’s sister has gone AWOL and left only a diary full of erotic exploits with a mysterious professor. But the rest of the plot hangs on Kate’s devious scheme to extract revenge, then on her stubbornness and tunnel vision, and finally, on a deep sense of honor that drives her to risk all.

The prairie we’re traversing on our research trip this week is filled with obstacles of a physical nature, and the heroine in our WIP will surely battle many of them. Sun, wind, floods, drought, did I mention wind? It hardly ceases out here on the plains; it has scoured countless acres of topsoil from the land. It scours faces and wears down hope and dreams. The heroine we’re developing has fled the city, where she did what she had to for survival, and she’s doubly determined to beat the odds as a woman homesteader on the prairie. We’re eager to get to know her, and it may turn out she already has more than enough obstacles in her path for a good story.

Adriana