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This topic showed up on another forum I belong to, and it's a good one for romance writers to think about (and, frankly, it's time to liven up this room a bit! LOL!)
"Too stupid to live" heros and heroines (TSTL)
This is the hero who is an admitted wuss with no marketable skills but a title and/or money, who decides to wander down to the bad side of town "for the fun of it." He doesn't tell anyone where he's going. He winds up drugged, beaten up and robbed, or possibly kidnapped (and is SURPRISED! )
One example of a TSTL heroine was the blonde on Hitchcock's "The Birds". KNOWING that murderous birds are rampaging around town, they hole up in the house and try to wait it out. But NO! Wait! The heroine hears a strange noise in the attic (which must be a completely innocent noise, right?) and goes up the stairs and then . . . SHUTS THE FREAKING DOOR BEHIND HER!! AARGH! Again, she is SURPRISED to be attacked.
So, how does one put a hero or heroine in danger without getting a TSTL reaction from the readers? If you make the characters TOO strong, and TOO capable, do you then have to ramp up the villain as well? What does it take NOT to cross the line? Can a writer have both a sympathetic character AND an action plot where the person is in danger and requires the assistance of the other person but keep the people smart?
Thoughts, comments and views welcome!
"Too stupid to live" heros and heroines (TSTL)
This is the hero who is an admitted wuss with no marketable skills but a title and/or money, who decides to wander down to the bad side of town "for the fun of it." He doesn't tell anyone where he's going. He winds up drugged, beaten up and robbed, or possibly kidnapped (and is SURPRISED! )
One example of a TSTL heroine was the blonde on Hitchcock's "The Birds". KNOWING that murderous birds are rampaging around town, they hole up in the house and try to wait it out. But NO! Wait! The heroine hears a strange noise in the attic (which must be a completely innocent noise, right?) and goes up the stairs and then . . . SHUTS THE FREAKING DOOR BEHIND HER!! AARGH! Again, she is SURPRISED to be attacked.
So, how does one put a hero or heroine in danger without getting a TSTL reaction from the readers? If you make the characters TOO strong, and TOO capable, do you then have to ramp up the villain as well? What does it take NOT to cross the line? Can a writer have both a sympathetic character AND an action plot where the person is in danger and requires the assistance of the other person but keep the people smart?
Thoughts, comments and views welcome!