The protagonist of my novel is not actually the biological father of his eldest son. The boy doesn’t know this, however, and unaware of his true identity, he begins to develop a romantic interest in a young girl with whom he might be related. Trouble.

Today as you are thinking of and celebrating your own fathers, consider who the fathers are in your works-in-progress. What kinds of dads are they? Biological fathers? Step dads? Spiritual fathers? Maybe they’re not dads at all. Consider why this might be and whether or not it matters to your characters.

Or perhaps one of your characters is a father, but he does not know it, as Roland Rhodes is in Kim Church‘s debut novel BYRD, recently published by Dzanc Books.

What secrets are your fictional fathers keeping? What secrets are being kept from them? What’s at stake should these secrets be found out?

Write a scene where one of these secrets might be starting to unravel. Explore the tension between your fictional father and some other character, a child, a lover, or someone else.

Good luck! And Happy Father’s Day.