Create a "North Star" for your characters. For Adeline and Emil Martel, it was the dream of a land where they could farm in peace. Every chapter of your draft should test this hope but never quite extinguish it. 4. A Sample "Story Starter" in this Style:

The novel (El Último Valle Verde) by Mark Sullivan is a powerful piece of historical fiction based on the true story of the Martel family. If you are looking to draft a story inspired by its themes or style, 1. The Core Conflict: Survival vs. Morality

Sullivan uses the environment as a character. Whether it's the frozen plains of Ukraine or the dangerous mountain passes of the Alps, the "Green Valley" represents a lost Eden or a promised land.

Set your story during a massive upheaval (like the Martels fleeing the Soviet advance in 1944).

"The horizon was no longer a line of earth and sky, but a bruised purple smear of smoke. Adeline didn't look back at the farmhouse; the charred remains of her past were already settling into the mud. She gripped the wagon's handle until her knuckles turned white, her eyes fixed on the jagged peaks to the West. Somewhere beyond the thunder of the front lines lay a valley where the grass didn't taste of ash. She had promised the children a home, and she would walk through the center of the fire to find it." Looking for the EPUB?

Your protagonists must choose between two "evils." In Sullivan’s book, the Martels have to decide whether to live under Stalin’s regime or follow the retreating Nazis to the West.