My Heroes and Heroines are NOT Cooperating!!!
Okay, so here is the story--they've fallen in love from day one. Or...maybe not that early. But close enough. I mean, I've got to write at least 90,000 words! And they can't fall in love like that. No way. It won't work. Readers will be disappointed. Right?
Sure they will. It's disappointing to me, and I'm supposed to be thrilled with their progress. All the great internal conflict. They can't, they can't, they can't, then don't want to, they...well, maybe. No. Yes. No. Maybe...yes! They can't. And ahhh, they did.
See? It's that easy! Truly. So get it together folks. Play a little harder to get. Or a LOT harder to get. Yes, you can lust after each other. That's perfectly acceptable. Desirable. Really wanted! But no: I want you now, forever, and forever, and forever from page one.
Unless...did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the characters are ripped apart just as they're ready to make that commitment.
So what do we need? Not external conflict. Oh, sure, that's important to the story. But for the romance element it's not the external conflict that drives the story.
How many have read a romance where the hero and heroine are making out and it's just really getting good when the phone rings? No, no, no! That's a writer cop out. Why? Because there's no emotion going on between the hero and heroine. Frustration at the external intrusion, but not between the hero and heroine.
Unless...oh, yeah, did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the internal problem between the hero and heroine include that the he or she is a workaholic, and no matter what, has to answer the phone. Then it's an internal issue. Even for an intimate moment like this, he/she won't give up the call to duty. Yeah, maybe it's really important. But you know what? It's ALWAYS important. But is the relationship between them THAT important? The choice has to be made. Choices. Tough choices. That's what it is all about.
So in that case it works. It's part of the internal makings of the hero/heroine. It's what can come between them.
I'm working on two Highland stories and Silence of the Wolf and guess what? All the characters are not cooperating. Not with me. With each other, they're doing great. I can't have it! Readers can't have it! We have to have a drastic change.
Ever watch the Twilight Zone? I'm going to have to pull some strings. I've got to step in and thrown in some emotional monkey wrenches. These Highlanders and wolves are not going to want to get emotionally involved with each other.
Do I feel like an evil puppet master? Yes.
Really, I mean if they're happy, they're happy. Why should I mess with their lives? What gives me the right?
First of all, someone's got to do it if anyone wants to read their story.
Ever know of the perfectly lovely couple and their perfectly lovely family and how everyone is perfectly happy? First off, I hate them. Think, Stepford Wives and there needs to be an uprising.
Second, even if these people exist, NO one wants to read about them. :)
So if these characters want their stories told, they're just going to have to get with the program.
I just watched The Hunger Games and really enjoyed it. The hero and heroine had to kill each other. Like in The Highlander, there could be only one. Perfect for conflict. They might care about each other. They might be falling in love. But in the end, their job was to survive.
Was there a puppet master? Absolutely. When things looked to be going too well, or not, the puppet master stepped in. But in reality, we want the characters to be their own people. We want the issues to be deeply buried in them. So I'm not going to just throw some external issues at them to get them to cooperate. It won't work. I've got to dig into the psyche and give them some past history that will cause them to back off--from each other. They might be great at what they do...but when it comes to the hero and heroine relationship, it sucks. They don't want each other...but they do. The push/pull of the relationship!
In Forbidden Love, the heroine, a huntress, has the hero, a vampire, on her terminal list! What could be better?
[image error] nookbook
Huntress Alena MacLeod is given a mission: work undercover to discover a rogue vampire’s secretive work, then terminate him.
Ephraim MacNeill, aka Sutton Bastrop, knows Alena is his Elizabeth MacLeod from an earlier time, and he’s determined to return to the past and right all the wrongs to end the curse placed on the love of his life before it’s too late—again.
Together, they must risk all to stop a war between a newly formed Brotherhood of rogue vampires, tired of the status quo, and the League of Hunters, who have ruled for centuries over the vampires—both changed during the Black Death—some of the survivors becoming vampires, and others hunters of the same.
***************
In this story, she has the mission to kill him. He has the goal of convincing her that she has always loved him and turn her back on her own people. Lots of touch choices. And it works.
So I'm off to cause some real trouble for a bunch of heroes and heroines. They won't be really happy with me or with their h/h. But that's just the way it's got to be.
Wish me luck!
Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com
Sure they will. It's disappointing to me, and I'm supposed to be thrilled with their progress. All the great internal conflict. They can't, they can't, they can't, then don't want to, they...well, maybe. No. Yes. No. Maybe...yes! They can't. And ahhh, they did.
See? It's that easy! Truly. So get it together folks. Play a little harder to get. Or a LOT harder to get. Yes, you can lust after each other. That's perfectly acceptable. Desirable. Really wanted! But no: I want you now, forever, and forever, and forever from page one.
Unless...did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the characters are ripped apart just as they're ready to make that commitment.
So what do we need? Not external conflict. Oh, sure, that's important to the story. But for the romance element it's not the external conflict that drives the story.
How many have read a romance where the hero and heroine are making out and it's just really getting good when the phone rings? No, no, no! That's a writer cop out. Why? Because there's no emotion going on between the hero and heroine. Frustration at the external intrusion, but not between the hero and heroine.
Unless...oh, yeah, did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the internal problem between the hero and heroine include that the he or she is a workaholic, and no matter what, has to answer the phone. Then it's an internal issue. Even for an intimate moment like this, he/she won't give up the call to duty. Yeah, maybe it's really important. But you know what? It's ALWAYS important. But is the relationship between them THAT important? The choice has to be made. Choices. Tough choices. That's what it is all about.
So in that case it works. It's part of the internal makings of the hero/heroine. It's what can come between them.
I'm working on two Highland stories and Silence of the Wolf and guess what? All the characters are not cooperating. Not with me. With each other, they're doing great. I can't have it! Readers can't have it! We have to have a drastic change.
Ever watch the Twilight Zone? I'm going to have to pull some strings. I've got to step in and thrown in some emotional monkey wrenches. These Highlanders and wolves are not going to want to get emotionally involved with each other.
Do I feel like an evil puppet master? Yes.
Really, I mean if they're happy, they're happy. Why should I mess with their lives? What gives me the right?
First of all, someone's got to do it if anyone wants to read their story.
Ever know of the perfectly lovely couple and their perfectly lovely family and how everyone is perfectly happy? First off, I hate them. Think, Stepford Wives and there needs to be an uprising.
Second, even if these people exist, NO one wants to read about them. :)
So if these characters want their stories told, they're just going to have to get with the program.
I just watched The Hunger Games and really enjoyed it. The hero and heroine had to kill each other. Like in The Highlander, there could be only one. Perfect for conflict. They might care about each other. They might be falling in love. But in the end, their job was to survive.
Was there a puppet master? Absolutely. When things looked to be going too well, or not, the puppet master stepped in. But in reality, we want the characters to be their own people. We want the issues to be deeply buried in them. So I'm not going to just throw some external issues at them to get them to cooperate. It won't work. I've got to dig into the psyche and give them some past history that will cause them to back off--from each other. They might be great at what they do...but when it comes to the hero and heroine relationship, it sucks. They don't want each other...but they do. The push/pull of the relationship!
In Forbidden Love, the heroine, a huntress, has the hero, a vampire, on her terminal list! What could be better?
[image error] nookbook
Huntress Alena MacLeod is given a mission: work undercover to discover a rogue vampire’s secretive work, then terminate him.
Ephraim MacNeill, aka Sutton Bastrop, knows Alena is his Elizabeth MacLeod from an earlier time, and he’s determined to return to the past and right all the wrongs to end the curse placed on the love of his life before it’s too late—again.
Together, they must risk all to stop a war between a newly formed Brotherhood of rogue vampires, tired of the status quo, and the League of Hunters, who have ruled for centuries over the vampires—both changed during the Black Death—some of the survivors becoming vampires, and others hunters of the same.
***************
In this story, she has the mission to kill him. He has the goal of convincing her that she has always loved him and turn her back on her own people. Lots of touch choices. And it works.
So I'm off to cause some real trouble for a bunch of heroes and heroines. They won't be really happy with me or with their h/h. But that's just the way it's got to be.
Wish me luck!
Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com
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