Romance
Anne M. Marble, Associate Editor, Romance
Issue #1: 01/01/01
Making
Histories
By J.S. Burke
Women
and Childbearing
in Fantasy
By Bryn Neuenschwander
Matching
Your Money to Your World
By Ron Brown
Capturing
Time for the Muse
By Vicki McElfresh
In
Praise of Praise:
A Second Look at Critiquing
By Lazette Gifford
Fantasy:
Building
a Better Beast
By Sarah Jane Elliott
Horror:
State
of the Horror Genre
By Ron Brown
Poetry:
Poetry
and Everyday Life
By Jennifer St.
Clair Bush
Romance:
Your
Characters Are
Not Puppets
By Anne M. Marble
Science Fiction:
Are We
Going Somewhere
Nice?
By Bob Billing
Stage & Screen:
The
Promise of Premise
By Robin Catesby
Suspense & Mystery:
The
Motives of Villains
and Heroes in Suspense Fiction
By Shane P. Carr
Young Adult & Children:
The
Gulf
By Justin
Stanchfield
Young Writer's Scene:
Five
Practical Tips for Young Writers
By Beth Adele Long
Book Reviews
Web Site Reviews
How
Critique Circles Work
By Jim Mills
Doggerel Contest Winner
News from Forward Motion
There are characters in fiction so real, so palpable, that we can reach out and touch them our whole lives. See them, hear them, sometimes even smell them. They have a solidity and humanity that calls up answering emotions in us, and we know we would have been much poorer if we'd never met them.
Nancy
Kress
Dynamic Characters
©1998
Writer's Digest Books
ISBN: 0-89879-815-9
Your Characters Are Not Puppets
By Anne M. Marble
©2001,
Anne M. Marble
When
your heroine behaves a certain way, your readers shouldn't mutter,
"She went through that doorway only because that's what the author
told her to do." We’ve all read books where the characters acted
illogically. Don’t you hate it when you feel as if the author is a
puppeteer, pulling strings to make characters behave in unbelievable
ways simply to propel the plot forward?
Many
of the biggest problems in romance novels stem from illogical
characters. Plot and characters depend on each other to function. Yet
many romance writers forget this. When they want the plot to go a
certain way, they force characters to do something that goes against the
grain. This might make the writing process easier, but it will make it
harder to sell your book.
The
Silly Big Misunderstanding Plot
"Admit it, Jane! You were hugging your lover."
"Rafe, that wasn't my lover. That was my beloved stepbrother!"
If that exchange sounds familiar to you, then you've come across the silly big misunderstanding plot (SBMP). This type of plot is particularly notorious in romance. It is found in everything from historicals to Harlequin Presents.
Some writers can take a big misunderstanding plot and make it into a powerful, emotional drama. In the wrong hands, however, this plot can easily become absurd. The characters act like marionettes, not like real people.
What are the signs of a silly big misunderstanding? A crisis that could be solved with a few minutes of talking, and characters who have no logical reason to keep the information from each other.
The silly misunderstanding can be sustained only through illogical behavior with coincidences thrown in to boot. The hero walks in just in time to see some jerk manhandling the heroine. While a normal person would realize the woman was being harassed, the hero decides she must be a tramp. To make matters worse, the heroine becomes so angry with the hero for being distrustful that instead of telling him the truth, she pretends that she was having an affair. Oh, brother!
Let's create our own SBMP. Linda is a best-selling novelist who is traveling incognito while on vacation. Sam is a famous publisher who meets her during this vacation. Later, when Linda tells him that she is a writer, he assumes she was after him only because of his position, and he calls her every name in the book. She stalks off, upset, angry, perturbed... (She had a thesaurus in her luggage.)
This plot stinks. Why? Because the characters don't behave like real people; instead, they behave like marionettes strapped inside a bad plot.
Let's try to make it work by providing motivations. Why would a best-selling author lie about her identity? Let’s try this plot for size. Linda is an agoraphobic. She travels under an assumed identity to avoid crowds. Because she is embarrassed by her condition, she doesn’t tell Sam. Next, why would Sam be so distrustful? Maybe he recently divorced his wife after learning she married him because of his position. This plot still needs a lot of work, but at least it doesn't need a defibrillator.
How can you make a big misunderstanding plot work? Give your characters logical reasons to hide information. Don’t rely on coincidences. Most of all, don't make readers feel as though your characters acted this way only because the book had to be 250 pages long rather than 10.
Too
Stupid To Live Heroines
Jennie knows outlaws are hiding in the hills surrounding the cabin. The
hero has warned her against leaving the cabin until he catches the
outlaws. But Jennie needs to milk the cows. Besides, she can take care
of herself. So Jennie picks up her shotgun and goes outside. Only when
the villain spots her does she realize... she forgot to load her gun!
What's
wrong with this picture? This is exciting, isn't it? After all, Jennie
is about to confront the bad guys. Surely this is suspenseful.
Except
for one major thing: The suspense wasn’t created by a logical
unfolding of events. It was generated because Jennie acted like a silly
twit.
How
can this plot be fixed? We want Jennie to confront the bad guys. Still,
we don't want this confrontation coming about because she did something
inane. We need a logical reason for Jennie to go outside. Why not force
her to rush outside to save her daughter? Even better, why not force
that confrontation when she has to save the hero from the bad guys?
Distrustful
Heroes
Some
heroes act as if they should be in counseling instead of in a novel. For
example, I read a romance novel about a hero who decided the heroine
must be loose because she wrote sexy romance novels. He had no real
evidence other than seeing her come home late a few times. It’s one
thing to create conflict between your main characters. It’s another to
make the hero act as if he’s on another planet.
Heroes
who are tortured by their past are often popular with readers. Heroes
who are distrustful because of their past are a thing of the past. If
you think you can make this kind of character succeed, however, go for
it. Whatever you do, give him a background that explains his distrust.
Also,
make sure the heroine’s responses make sense. How would you react if
your attractive neighbor decided you were a tramp simply because you
were a romance writer? Right. Your heroine shouldn’t grin and bear it
unless you have established a good reason for her to act like a doormat.
If
the characters become embroiled in distrust, their relationship
shouldn’t proceed as if it were normal. Eventually, they should repair
their relationship, but this part shouldn’t be too easy. This is an
important part of the plot and is often ignored. Don’t relegate the
hero’s healing process to the final chapter.
A
Final Warning
You've probably seen these mistakes in novels by best-selling authors. Don't think that gives you an excuse for getting away with them in your novels. You haven’t built a loyal readership yet.
