Story: A New Cycle

What follows is an analysis of a Woman's World story with suggestions and observations for people who want to sell stories to WW, peppered with some personal opinion, too. :) If you truly want to get the most from this weekly blog feature, it's best to have your own copy of the story to refer to. (And no, I don't get a kickback for pimping the magazine here!)

Story: A New Cycle, by Wendy Hobday Haugh

Tagline: Meeting Jeremy again felt something like destiny, Ellie thought.

In A Nutshell: A motorcycle shop opens in town. Ellie, owner of a bakery, sends over some muffins to welcome the new business. When the bike shop owner comes into the shop the next day to thank her, she realizes it's a boy she knew in high school. He gave her a ride home once on his motorcycle, and today, offers another ride.

Teaching Points: It's easy to predict that the boy Ellie reminisces about in paragraph seven has to be the owner of the bike shop. Still, I liked how smart Ellie was. She put together the nickname "Bullfrog" with the Jeremy she knew. And she also predicted that he was going to ask her to ride with him. Remember to give your characters some brains. :)

Also, it's a challenge to insert backstory sometimes, like the fact that a character is divorced. Haugh does this neatly in paragraph eight.

Stories usually have a major turning point, where everything suddenly changes direction. It often happens midway. This story is no different. Right about halfway through the tale, Ellie realizes the bike shop owner just might be the motorcycle boy from her past.

Woman's World Standbys: A small town setting