Story: Love on the Menu

What follows is an analysis of a Woman's World story with suggestions/observations for people who want to sell stories to WW, peppered with some personal opinion, too. :) If you truly want to learn, it's best to have a copy of the story in front of you. (And no, I don't get a kickback for pimping the magazine here!)

Story: "Love on the Menu" by Beverly Giroux from the November 13, 2007 issue.

Tagline: He wanted to meet the young woman behind the deli counter. She wanted to meet the young man who'd been coming in for lunch...

In A Nutshell: Carrie works at a deli. She wants to meet Steve, a regular customer, and vice versa. While Steve is away on business, both realize that they want to take the next step, and when he returns, they do.

Teaching Points:
1. This story is unusual in the fact that it goes back and forth between POVs three times. Most of the time, WW stories remain in one point of view. Just goes to show you that they will accept stuff that goes against the norm.

2. WW characters tend to be less aggressive than those in your contemporary romance novel. The audience may be the same audience, but with different expectations. Here, the heroes and heroines are more shy and "traditional."

For example, in this story Carrie is "brave" when she actually speaks with Steve. Steve wishes he'd had the courage to ask Carrie out. This hesitancy also allows you as the writer to show character growth.

In My Humble Opinion: I think the second point of view change could have been smoother if Ms. Giroux had let us know Steve was in Phoenix right away, instead of in the third sentence in that paragraph.