I attended an online conference a couple of weeks ago at which someone brought up the concept of the ID List. This is a term coined by author/psychology professor Jennifer Lynn Barnes (those who’ve followed me since the early Enchanted, Inc. days may remember me featuring her as part of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit blog tours), and it refers to the list of things that your brain wants, whether or not they’re good. In fiction, these are the things that make something an autobuy/read/watch if you see them in a book, TV show, or movie description. Or they’re the little elements that make your brain light up as you’re reading or watching.

The idea is that you as a writer can maintain and convey your passion for your work by being sure to include items from your list in everything you write. Jennifer also says she finds she gets better response from her marketing when she lists these things than when she gives a description of the book. The people who also love those things have a gut reaction to hearing about them. They can be tropes, but they can also be plot elements, settings, moments, character types, and activities.

So, I started playing around with making my list the other night when I was at a band concert in the park (I noticed the number of people playing on their phones during these concerts and decided it wouldn’t be any more rude for me to bring a pen and notebook and journal, brainstorm, or do other work during the concert).

The first item on my list had to be that romantic road trip thing I’m always talking about, in which two people have to travel together, usually because of some mutually beneficial arrangement that forces them to overcome their reluctance to get stuck with each other. Along the way they develop respect, then friendship, then maybe love as they face obstacles together. I first realized how strongly I react to this sort of thing when I was watching a Fantasy Cheese movie, and the moment they made an agreement to travel together I stopped the movie and went to make popcorn because I knew I was going to love it, even if it was cheesy and had terrible special effects.

I realized while making my list that the Rydding Village books are pretty much pure ID List for me. To a large extent, that was why I started writing them. I was a bit burned out and maybe even in a very minor depression, so I started throwing a lot of things I love into a story idea. There’s tea, for one thing. Friends sitting around and having tea. Conversations around a kitchen table. Bread and cheese. Town festivals. Bonfires. Dancing. On more of a trope level, I love stories about starting over and rebuilding a life, and I love the particular flavor of amnesia story that I call “who would you be if you didn’t know who you were?” There are a few more, but they’re spoilery for the book or the series.

Bonfires seem to show up a lot. I love a good bonfire or camp fire. I love the smell of wood smoke, and I’m mesmerized by watching the flames. The main reason I have any desire to go camping is to sit by a campfire. I was excited when I bought this house and found that there’s a campfire ring in the back yard, so I could get what I want out of camping while having indoor plumbing and sleeping in my own bed. I haven’t used it yet (at the moment, it’s full of tall grass, raspberry bushes, and English ivy, plus we’re in a drought, so fires are restricted), but I hope to get it cleared out enough to use at least once this fall (I found a stash of firewood in the shed). I have a small tabletop fire pit/stove that I also haven’t used. I just need to find an evening when it’s nice outside, not too windy, and I have the time to just sit outside. In the meantime, I have a big wooden wick candle in a campfire scent, so it crackles and flickers like a fire and gives a hint of the smell. But I definitely write fires into my books and incorporate them into the rituals of the village.

I have actually started a book using that journey trope. I’m just not happy with it yet. I love the first half, but then it seems to fall apart at the midpoint, and I definitely don’t stick the landing, so that book is resting until I can look at it with fresh eyes and maybe replot it.

Making that list has given me ideas for more things to throw into my books to make them more fun for me to write, and maybe more fun for readers.