- Joined
- Jun 5, 2005
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- Hiding in my writing cave
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- www.cathyclamp.com
Well, here I am, 3/4 of the way through the book that was due back on January 3rd (which I have until the 15th to complete now. Whew!) and it’s just now occurred to me that that there really isn’t much romantic conflict between the H/h. Oh, there’s plenty of action, lots of external tension, and I’ve got the lust going just fine. But these characters don’t feel, in my head, particularly angsty. They’re just normal folk (despite having magic abilities) and their individual jobs are really important to them, so there’s never been much time for romance. It’s not that they’re ANTI-romance, it’s just never occurred to them. But now they see each other and they like each other and they want to start something—despite the weird and scary things happening around them. They've figured out that working together as a team is working just fine.
But are just the normal worries about getting too attached to someone you just met enough conflict? Is there room on the shelf for a pair of well-adjusted people falling in love without crazy ex-boyfriends and materialistic current girlfriends picking at them? Is there space for people who don’t fret about the past, and look forward to the future and aren’t bothered by society’s image of their looks, hair color or current dress size? Sigh…
Cie tells me that well-adjusted families are . . . well, boring, even though an awful lot of people have them. Disfunctional families give book spice, so do I go back to chapter 1 and give the heroine a crack-addicted mother who abandoned them, so she feels properly abandoned and doesn’t want to love anyone who will leave her again? Do I make the hero someone who always chooses women who take advantage of him (whether emotionally or cleaning out his bank account?)
Three-fourths done, and now it feels completely UNDONE.
Sure, they’re fixes that can be made in editing, and maybe that’s what I should do. Send it in, pick a few random “angst-nesses” and send them along for the ride—letting the editor pick her favorite.
The trouble is, I LIKE them this way, so it feels like it’s not fair that the book could suffer. They’re nice people. They’re sort of half-Beta, with totally kick-butt Alpha moments. They’re tough, but can bend. They’re reasonable and nice but are strong leaders that people will follow because they believe in them. Magically powerful but with a strong sense of ethics.
So where do I go from here? I hate to change the direction this late because it’s going to effectively change HOW they deal with the villain. It’ll change their entire approach to the problem and the plot is swimming along quite nicely, thank you. Sigh, a second time.
But, this is our first stand alone novel, and I want it to ROCK. The plot does, but is a romance somehow lacking without angst? There’s no second book to fix the mistakes, like in a series. No way to say, “Oops! Yeah, about that conflict…” to the reader.
I’m open to thoughts about how any of the rest of you have handled this, or if I’m unique in this problem. Thanks for listening to my rant. Guess I’ll get back to the keyboard and try to get it done as I envision it now.
But are just the normal worries about getting too attached to someone you just met enough conflict? Is there room on the shelf for a pair of well-adjusted people falling in love without crazy ex-boyfriends and materialistic current girlfriends picking at them? Is there space for people who don’t fret about the past, and look forward to the future and aren’t bothered by society’s image of their looks, hair color or current dress size? Sigh…
Cie tells me that well-adjusted families are . . . well, boring, even though an awful lot of people have them. Disfunctional families give book spice, so do I go back to chapter 1 and give the heroine a crack-addicted mother who abandoned them, so she feels properly abandoned and doesn’t want to love anyone who will leave her again? Do I make the hero someone who always chooses women who take advantage of him (whether emotionally or cleaning out his bank account?)
Three-fourths done, and now it feels completely UNDONE.
Sure, they’re fixes that can be made in editing, and maybe that’s what I should do. Send it in, pick a few random “angst-nesses” and send them along for the ride—letting the editor pick her favorite.The trouble is, I LIKE them this way, so it feels like it’s not fair that the book could suffer. They’re nice people. They’re sort of half-Beta, with totally kick-butt Alpha moments. They’re tough, but can bend. They’re reasonable and nice but are strong leaders that people will follow because they believe in them. Magically powerful but with a strong sense of ethics.
So where do I go from here? I hate to change the direction this late because it’s going to effectively change HOW they deal with the villain. It’ll change their entire approach to the problem and the plot is swimming along quite nicely, thank you. Sigh, a second time.
But, this is our first stand alone novel, and I want it to ROCK. The plot does, but is a romance somehow lacking without angst? There’s no second book to fix the mistakes, like in a series. No way to say, “Oops! Yeah, about that conflict…” to the reader.
I’m open to thoughts about how any of the rest of you have handled this, or if I’m unique in this problem. Thanks for listening to my rant. Guess I’ll get back to the keyboard and try to get it done as I envision it now.
