Mari Collier's Blog - Posts Tagged "scifi"
Females in Novels
Romance and mysteries reign supreme for well selling novels. It doesn’t matter if they are contemporary, historical, paranormal, fantasy or some other cross genre as long as the heroine and hero find true love.
I find it difficult to write them. My heroines behave differently; at least differently than the few Romance novels I’ve read. My mother-by-marriage loved them. Sometimes she would insist that my husband and I read them because they were such wonderful books. Lanny completed one. After that he never bothered. I read three or four of them and noticed there seemed to be a formula.
The heroine would have a misunderstanding with the eventual true love. There would be three sexual encounters before they would resolve their differences. The encounters would endanger the heroine or create other problems. I will admit some of the history was well researched, but at other times it was shoddy. No, the ones I read weren’t meant to be alternate history.
This is an excerpt from Before We Leave. It illustrates what I mean about my female characters behaving differently:
Six-year-old Randall was sitting on the fireplace hearth bent over a Dickens’s novel. She really didn’t think he could understand much of it, but was secretly afraid he understood far too much.
Melissa looked at Randall and then at her mother. “Why can’t I go back outside and play with Kendall?”
“Because he plays too rough for a young lady like y’all. Let’s find your colored chalk and y’all can draw something. Maybe Randall will help y’all with your numbers or alphabet.”
Antoinette didn’t think other children learned as rapidly as her first and last born. She wasn’t sure a governess would be sufficient this fall. Miss Ambrose was to return in September. Lorenz had mentioned he would look for a teacher after the drive. One was needed.
Antoinette felt the Rolfe children would benefit as much as her own. It seemed Marty Rolfe was the only one receiving any instruction and that was in the ways of the wild from his grandfather. She shuddered at the thought.
The clatter of hooves, gunfire, men’s shouts and women’s screams interrupted her thoughts. Randall looked up at her, and his eyes widened.
“Mama, do y’all want me to find Pawpaw’s rifle? It’s danger.”
Antoinette looked out the huge front window and saw six horses. Two were heading for the house and four were racing for the barn and bunkhouse area.
“No, come with me both of you!” She picked up Melissa and ran to her bedroom and put Melissa and Randall in the closet.
“Don’t move. Randall, take care your sister. Be still, very, very still. Shh. Don’t come out of there until I say it’s all right!” Her voice was stern, insistent.
There wasn’t time to grab one of the larger guns from the office and she pulled her derringer from her purse and ran to the rocker by the window. From the table beside the rocker, she picked up her embroidery and covered the derringer with the linen scarf she was working on.
Thank goodness the bed is made ran through her mind. She heard the man coming up the porch steps and wished she had had time to be sitting in the parlor. She did not want Randall to come out to protect her. Thank God it was Randall in the closet and not Kendall. Kendall would be arguing with her.
The man didn’t really knock at the door. He kicked against it and walked in. Julia had been in the kitchen, but must have run.
Antoinette walked to the open bedroom door with the linen strewn with a field of pink and blue flowers draped over her right hand and the needle in her left hand.
The man was clad in denims and a dirty, sweat-stained calico shirt. His grey hat was wide brimmed and two guns hung on his hips. Obviously, someone had told him the men were gone. He needed a bath, and Antoinette stilled a gag from the stench of him.
“Hallo, pretty lady. Greet the new man of the house. We’re taking over…”
Antoinette pulled the trigger.
Before We Leave is available at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Before-We-Leave...
Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/befor...
and iBookstore http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/befor...
I find it difficult to write them. My heroines behave differently; at least differently than the few Romance novels I’ve read. My mother-by-marriage loved them. Sometimes she would insist that my husband and I read them because they were such wonderful books. Lanny completed one. After that he never bothered. I read three or four of them and noticed there seemed to be a formula.
The heroine would have a misunderstanding with the eventual true love. There would be three sexual encounters before they would resolve their differences. The encounters would endanger the heroine or create other problems. I will admit some of the history was well researched, but at other times it was shoddy. No, the ones I read weren’t meant to be alternate history.
This is an excerpt from Before We Leave. It illustrates what I mean about my female characters behaving differently:
Six-year-old Randall was sitting on the fireplace hearth bent over a Dickens’s novel. She really didn’t think he could understand much of it, but was secretly afraid he understood far too much.
Melissa looked at Randall and then at her mother. “Why can’t I go back outside and play with Kendall?”
“Because he plays too rough for a young lady like y’all. Let’s find your colored chalk and y’all can draw something. Maybe Randall will help y’all with your numbers or alphabet.”
Antoinette didn’t think other children learned as rapidly as her first and last born. She wasn’t sure a governess would be sufficient this fall. Miss Ambrose was to return in September. Lorenz had mentioned he would look for a teacher after the drive. One was needed.
Antoinette felt the Rolfe children would benefit as much as her own. It seemed Marty Rolfe was the only one receiving any instruction and that was in the ways of the wild from his grandfather. She shuddered at the thought.
The clatter of hooves, gunfire, men’s shouts and women’s screams interrupted her thoughts. Randall looked up at her, and his eyes widened.
“Mama, do y’all want me to find Pawpaw’s rifle? It’s danger.”
Antoinette looked out the huge front window and saw six horses. Two were heading for the house and four were racing for the barn and bunkhouse area.
“No, come with me both of you!” She picked up Melissa and ran to her bedroom and put Melissa and Randall in the closet.
“Don’t move. Randall, take care your sister. Be still, very, very still. Shh. Don’t come out of there until I say it’s all right!” Her voice was stern, insistent.
There wasn’t time to grab one of the larger guns from the office and she pulled her derringer from her purse and ran to the rocker by the window. From the table beside the rocker, she picked up her embroidery and covered the derringer with the linen scarf she was working on.
Thank goodness the bed is made ran through her mind. She heard the man coming up the porch steps and wished she had had time to be sitting in the parlor. She did not want Randall to come out to protect her. Thank God it was Randall in the closet and not Kendall. Kendall would be arguing with her.
The man didn’t really knock at the door. He kicked against it and walked in. Julia had been in the kitchen, but must have run.
Antoinette walked to the open bedroom door with the linen strewn with a field of pink and blue flowers draped over her right hand and the needle in her left hand.
The man was clad in denims and a dirty, sweat-stained calico shirt. His grey hat was wide brimmed and two guns hung on his hips. Obviously, someone had told him the men were gone. He needed a bath, and Antoinette stilled a gag from the stench of him.
“Hallo, pretty lady. Greet the new man of the house. We’re taking over…”
Antoinette pulled the trigger.
Before We Leave is available at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Before-We-Leave...
Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/befor...
and iBookstore http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/befor...
