(I know my topic here is somewhat geared toward romance, but I sort of wanted a broad look at it, so I'm posting it here if that's OK. I am very interested in romance writers' input though.)
I know how important it is for the protagonist to be the one to act and make choices at the climax. What I'm trying to figure out is: if the story is a romance, is the choice to get together with/commit to the love-interest enough? Does there need to be more? Another principle I've absorbed is that the choice the protagonist makes--specifically at the climax, at the end of the line--needs to be true change, something that can't be taken back. I'm not sure how that works either... what sort of commitment takes it to that level, or whether I shouldn't be thinking of the romantic commitment as the change--whether there must be an internal (or external?) change that goes hand-in-hand with it that feels irreversible.
I have some gender-specific wonderings about this too. Here's where they start: I'm using principles I learned from Storygrid.com that state that all love stories need (in some order & very broadly interpreted) these scenes: Lovers Meet, First Kiss/Intimate Connection of some kind, Confession of Love, Breaking Point, All is Lost, Proof of Love, Lovers Reunite. The example the Story Grid people use for Proof of Love: in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy secretly spends a fortune to preserve Elizabeth's family from social disgrace and Elizabeth finds out. His genuine effort to conceal it makes clear he didn't do it to win her over but only to protect her. That makes it genuine proof of love.
I have something... not at all similar, but containing similar dynamics. My heroine broke it off with my hero due to his vengefulness and his inability to stand up to his family, who turn him back toward that vengefulness when he begins to turn away from it. In the climax, I plan for him to make a public reversal of his wish for vengeance while on the witness stand in court, provoking his watching family's anger. She recognizes that he's genuinely changed and has the courage to make it stick now, so she chooses to reconcile with him.
So this gives me a climax where the hero makes a choice that influences events and heralds a deep change in him, and the heroine makes a choice... to have him in her life. Is this enough? Is this a bad gender disparity? (I guess the model I started with has a built-in gender dynamic. Which can be reversed, but we all know it started with the idea that the man proves his love to the woman.) Or is it normal, because her choice is really as momentous as his?? I don't knoooow...
(I've tossed around some ideas to make her active in influencing the court case as well—its outcome matters to her, she's a witness too but her testimony's quite straightforward, I've pictured her on a mission to find a key witness who's missing… I've even considered setting things up so she has to save his butt from the hostility his actions rouse... but I worry it feels contrived, visibly stuck on there to give her something to do. It's not a fundamental act like his public choice is for him. She does have moments that are fundamental like that... they just come earlier.)
I know how important it is for the protagonist to be the one to act and make choices at the climax. What I'm trying to figure out is: if the story is a romance, is the choice to get together with/commit to the love-interest enough? Does there need to be more? Another principle I've absorbed is that the choice the protagonist makes--specifically at the climax, at the end of the line--needs to be true change, something that can't be taken back. I'm not sure how that works either... what sort of commitment takes it to that level, or whether I shouldn't be thinking of the romantic commitment as the change--whether there must be an internal (or external?) change that goes hand-in-hand with it that feels irreversible.
I have some gender-specific wonderings about this too. Here's where they start: I'm using principles I learned from Storygrid.com that state that all love stories need (in some order & very broadly interpreted) these scenes: Lovers Meet, First Kiss/Intimate Connection of some kind, Confession of Love, Breaking Point, All is Lost, Proof of Love, Lovers Reunite. The example the Story Grid people use for Proof of Love: in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy secretly spends a fortune to preserve Elizabeth's family from social disgrace and Elizabeth finds out. His genuine effort to conceal it makes clear he didn't do it to win her over but only to protect her. That makes it genuine proof of love.
I have something... not at all similar, but containing similar dynamics. My heroine broke it off with my hero due to his vengefulness and his inability to stand up to his family, who turn him back toward that vengefulness when he begins to turn away from it. In the climax, I plan for him to make a public reversal of his wish for vengeance while on the witness stand in court, provoking his watching family's anger. She recognizes that he's genuinely changed and has the courage to make it stick now, so she chooses to reconcile with him.
So this gives me a climax where the hero makes a choice that influences events and heralds a deep change in him, and the heroine makes a choice... to have him in her life. Is this enough? Is this a bad gender disparity? (I guess the model I started with has a built-in gender dynamic. Which can be reversed, but we all know it started with the idea that the man proves his love to the woman.) Or is it normal, because her choice is really as momentous as his?? I don't knoooow...
(I've tossed around some ideas to make her active in influencing the court case as well—its outcome matters to her, she's a witness too but her testimony's quite straightforward, I've pictured her on a mission to find a key witness who's missing… I've even considered setting things up so she has to save his butt from the hostility his actions rouse... but I worry it feels contrived, visibly stuck on there to give her something to do. It's not a fundamental act like his public choice is for him. She does have moments that are fundamental like that... they just come earlier.)
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