Alice Valdal

If You Could Do It Over

May 31, 2023 / / 0 Comments

In its simplest terms, the premise of Matt Haig’s  The Midnight Library is the do-over. In the moment between death and eternity, our protagonist, and some others, have a chance to relive their lives, making different choices. They can undo their mistakes, to atone for harm they caused, see the world as a different person, be a different person. 

It’s an intriguing idea but I’m not inclined to spend much time applying it to my own life. Robert Frost wrote of “the road less travelled by” and the notion has teased the human imagination for years. But, in real life, we don’t get to back up and make another choice. In real life, we move forward, mistakes and all. Regret is a natural emotion, but wallowing in  past sorrows is a recipe for discontent in the present and despair for the future. 

But, while I reject the idea as a real person, as an author it fires my imagination. Every time I put pen to paper, (or fingers to keyboard) in my story, I’m making a choice for the characters–and for everything else, for that matter. 

If I set my story in a small town, I’ve given up the possibility of writing glitz and glamour.  If I set it on a ranch, I’d better be prepared to write about horses and cows and maybe sheep. If the heroine comes from a large family, the hero will have to win their approval. If she is an only child, or an orphan, she’ll be carrying that baggage and the love story will have to reflect that background.

But the real choices for an author come in the actions of my character. If she accepts a job in a foreign country, she will have a different story than if she takes one in the next town. When I decide which action she takes, I’m locking her into that life, even if it is fictional. There is no do-over for the book unless I toss what I’ve written and take a different course.

Authors like to play “what if.” For example, what if Scarlett O’Hara had loved Rhett Butler more than Tara? If she had had a chance for a do-over would she have acted differently? What would that have done to the story? Would you read it? 

In my own book, Her One True Love, the heroine has a choice between two men. That choice will determine the rest of her life. Does she choose to marry the Mountie?  She’ll have a life of adventure. She’ll have to follow him to postings all over the country. She’ll live with the knowledge that he is often in danger. She may become a bit of a sleuth herself helping him with his unsolved cases. Is that the life she wants?

Or, she can marry the preacher. She’ll have a settled life, near her sister. She’ll be the cynosure of the gossips for the rest of her life. She’ll play a major role in her husband’s ministry. She’ll be expected to teach Sunday School, and pour tea, and keep an immaculate house. Is that the life she wants?

As the main character of The Midnight Library discovers, no life is perfect.

But as readers or authors, we get to try out as many as our imaginations can conceive.

What about you, dear reader? Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you’d taken a different road?

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Filling the Well

May 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Julia Cameron lists the “artist’s date” as a building block to nurturing the creative side of oneself. The idea is to “fill the well” or your artist’s soul by going on an excursion by yourself and taking in all the details of the moment. What do you see? What do your hear? What do you smell? What do you remember? All these minutia “fill the well,” supplying a rich source of inspiration for the writer. 

As an introverted-extrovert, or maybe an extroverted-introvert, I relate to the concept of the artist’s date. I thrive on company. I love chatting and learning from others. I also crave quiet and solitude to repair my mind and heart from information overload. 

Ms Cameron says these dates should be taken alone, but on this date, my husband went with me. I needed a driver!  I’d been given a book on “Pioneer Churches” in my area and decided Sunday was a good time to go and explore some of them. As usual, I was more drawn to the graveyards than the church buildings.   

One of the places we visited was a military chapel and graveyard. Some of the gravestones at this site pre-date Canada as a nation. We walked silently among these stones, hushed and reverend as we trod on “holy ground.” There were other visitors, equally respectful. A few had laid flowers–it was Mother’s Day. 

We visited three sites. I soaked up the balm and beauty of these places. The babble and strife of the day-to-day world receded.  I felt the well filling, imagination stirring. I came home with my mind at peace.

On Monday I read an article at Writer Unboxed that filled me with dismay. The writer, David Corbett, explored good intentions and The Road to Hell, a serious discussion of the culture wars happening in society in general and in publishing in particular. The topic is huge and amorphous and thorny and slippery. Thankfully, the comments were mostly thoughtful, with a minimum of snark — a rare event on social media. Still, I felt my peace slipping away. 

Then I read the next article on the same website, a report on the memorial service for Hilary Mantel at Sourthwark Cathedral. The author, Porter Anderson, spoke of how the architecture and the music eased him away from the hurly-burly of the London Book Fair. His words brought to mind my sojourn among the tombstones on a Sunday afternoon. My mind filled with images of bluebells growing wild, a rabbit nibbling on some grass, a family’s love for a departed parent. My anxiety eased.

The David Corbett article is important. The topic is life-changing for authors and readers. I don’t recommend avoiding the hard topics or hiding away from the issues of our day. There are forest fires raging in my country, there are bombs exploding in Europe and Africa. There are millions of hungry people around the globe. There are families in my home town resorting to food banks. These things are real, and writers need to write about them. It is our job to reflect the world we live in, to try to make sense of it and to point to hope.

The young seaman who died after falling from the rigging of a sailing ship in the 1850’s lived in a completely different world than mine, yet his shipmates erected a stone in his memory. The cared about him. They missed him. They honoured him. 

Love, compassion, connections–these are the stuff of humanity, regardless of the ages. They are also the seeds of story. 

As a writer, I’m glad I took time out to fill the well. That makes me a better writer, and a better contributor to my community. I am grateful to Julia Cameron for giving me “permission” to nurture my own self without feeling guilty or selfish.  I encourage others to do the same.

I admit to an affinity for graveyards, but I doubt many share that quirk. Where do you go to fill your well? What inspires your imagination? What brings peace to your soul?

 

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Mentors

May 5, 2023 / / 2 Comments

romance writers summer picnic

Last week I lost one of my mentors. Vanessa Grant, who wrote for Harlequin in the days when they were the only game in town, passed away. When I first joined the romance writers group in my area, she was a star, a kind and generous star. She gave workshops, shared her wisdom, read and encouraged beginning writers, including me, and welcomed us into the company of authors.

In these days of self-publishing and managing your own career/writing business, it can be easy to feel alone. To think of our writing careers as “self- made.” Perhaps, for some, that is true. But for the majority of us, we have benefited from the advice and encouragement of others. RWA (Romance Writers of America) was born from that desire to share, encourage and engage with romance writers everywhere.  The organization is not the force it was when I joined in the last century but the spirit of camaraderie still pervades the community of romance writers.

In most businesses, other entrepreneurs are seen as rivals. CEO’s seek to get an edge over the competition. But writers in general, and romance writers in particular, invest huge amounts of time and wisdom in helping other writers. The success of one is cheered by all. 

When I first found my local chapter of RWA and met people like Vanessa, I was astonished. They actually spoke to lowly, little, old me. They vowed that “you can do it.” I came home from my first meeting buoyed by their enthusiasm, my head swimming with new knowledge.

Mentors cannot and should not write your book for you, any more than editors do. But kind and generous supporters, like Vanessa, make an enormous difference in the lives they touch. I’m glad I knew her. I strive to be as encouraging. 

Farewell my friend. Your legacy lives on in so many of us.

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5 Reasons to Write for Yourself

April 19, 2023 / / 2 Comments

As though to confirm the question-the-premise wisdom that  I learned in Becca Syme’s workshop,  I am now reading a book that breaks all the “rules” I’ve learned as a genre fiction writer. 

This book was recommended by other writers on a blog I follow so, when I saw it at my local library, I quickly put in a request. It appeared on my shelf in no time, has a pretty cover, and a gardening theme. All things to make me happy and set me up to enjoy the story.

As I read the opening chapter, I was puzzled and then dismayed. The book did not contain any of the elements I’d been told a first chapter had to have. Then, following my initial reaction, I realized the book had many things to teach me about writing. I’m sharing five of those insights with you. .

  1.  You may get a publisher. Jack Bickham says “Don’t describe sunsets.” The book I am currently reading spends pages and pages describing the countryside, the village, the cottage, the food and her car. None of the description moves the story forward.  I’m skimming. Yet this author has a backlist of nineteen books, published by a major publishing house.
  2. It may make for a happier world. Getting characters into trouble and then making it worse is a standard “rule” of genre fiction. “Don’t duck trouble,” is the way Jack Bickham says it, but rejection letters are filled with variations on the same theme. Yet this book raises possible troubles, only to solve them in one conversation or by an act of Divine Intervention. No nightmares here. The author has sold over a million copies of her books and have been nominated for various awards.
  3. It may please your mother. My Bickham reference book has a chapter titled “Don’t worry about what your mother will say.” Yet this book is dedicated to the author’s mother, and she has millions of readers who adore her work.
  4. It may make you happier. Writing is hard work. Trying to write to someone else’s criteria makes it even harder.  Judging by the many books I’ve read that don’t follow “the rules,” I’m convinced that an author’s individual voice and style is the key to creativity — and thence to commercial success. That sounds like blasphemy even in my own ears. You see, I’m a rule follower, so going against what the “experts” recommend is really scary. (Notice I used an adverb. Yikes!”)

  5. It may increase your output. Before I knew the “rules” I wrote for fun and as a personal challenge. I couldn’t wait to get to the keyboard, and snuck in extra minutes during the day to add just a few more sentences. The resulting manuscript pleased me no end. And . . . it sold. I wrote that book quickly, by my standards, and I went around with a grin on my face and an “I’ve got a secret” vibe in my soul.

The statistics on book sales are discouraging to say the least. Of the millions of books published on Amazon and other self-publishing platforms, 90% sell less than 100 copies. Even with traditional publishers, 86% of published books sell less than 5000 copies, the break even point for the industry.

The aim of this blog is not to make you quit writing. My purpose is to encourage you to write your stories in a way that works best for you. With the dismal outlook on sales, it is vital to a writer’s mental health that she enjoy the process. If making a lot of sales is your only motivator, chances are pretty high that you will be disappointed. But, if writing for love, writing for fun, writing for intellectual challenge, writing because you’ve a story that must be told, then go for it. Write your story, your way and be glad. And, who knows, you may make it big.

 

P.S. The cat picture at the top of this post has nothing to do with the subject matter but she makes me happy so I’m sharing her image with you.

 

 

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After HEA

April 5, 2023 / / 2 Comments

I went to the theatre last weekend. It wasn’t easy. Our journey involved ferries, buses, Sky Train, a taxi and  lots of shoe leather. We went because a relative of mine had a lead role, and I always encourage my family members, especially in artistic endeavours.

The play was “Into the Woods.”  It’s a musical with words and music by Stephen Sondheim. The plot (?) is a mishmash of fairy tales. We had Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stock, Rapunzel and a cameo appearance of Sleeping Beauty and the Three Little Pigs, and a very odd cow. And, or course, there was a witch — and giants.

By the end of a long first act, Cinderella had gone off with her prince. Rapunzel had escaped the tower. Jack had climbed the beanstalk, found a goose that laid the golden egg and cut down the beanstalk, killing the giant.  Little Red Riding Hood had found her grandmother, killed the wolf and now wore his skin as a new cloak. The baker and his wife had fulfilled their quest and and the witch had lost her powers. The story had reached the Happily Ever After point. The music played like a finale and I wondered if there was mistake in the programme. Surely, the play was over.

But wait — there was a second act. These scenes concerned what happened after happily ever after.  In Act II we learned that Rapunzel had only escaped one prison to end up in another. Jack and his mother still did not get along even though the goose kept them supplied with funds. The longed for baby cried a lot and his parents argued about who should take care of him. Finally, the Prince turned out to be a faithless husband. When Cinderella called him out, he remarked that he’d “been made charming, not sincere.”

What’s more, the slain giant’s wife now stalked the village, bent on revenge. Several principle characters died. At the beginning of the play the voice-over warned of violence and death in the upcoming production but I wasn’t worried. Fairy tales are usually violent. The innocent suffer, then the villains are killed. It is standard stuff. I was surprised when my relative’s character met an untimely end. 😲

Act II, after the HEA, showed the characters learning life lessons. They grew in self-knowledge, in power and purpose. They faced the consequences of their decisions. They had left the world of childhood behind.

In romance, HEA is the normal ending of a story. It’s what readers expect. It’s what successful writers deliver. But what if we didn’t stop there?

Some authors add an epilogue to confirm the HEA. Some, like Gone With the Wind, destroy the HEA, so not a romance in the modern sense of the genre.  Some may start the story after an arranged marriage, so we have the wedding, (happy moment) but we still have to get the characters to fall in love with each other in order to achieve a true “happily ever after.”

The play was thought-provoking both on a moral basis and as an example of story craft. It made me think beyond the HEA that is the standard in our genre.

I still won’t kill off the heroine at the end of the book, but I can push my characters to grow before the HEA.  if I demand that they put away childish thinking, that they give up harmful beliefs, that they suffer the consequences of bad decisions, while still seeking romantic love,  then the reward of a happy ending will be all the stronger.

Into the Woods was great fun. I laughed a lot. I loved seeing my great-niece on stage. It also made me consider just what constitutes a happy ending and how to make it better.

 

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Play to your Strengths

March 22, 2023 / / 4 Comments

Becca Syme

Thanks to Zoom, I was able to attend a very interesting workshop by Becca Syme. The workshop was sponsored by my local romance authors group and I nearly didn’t attend. I find Zoom more frustrating than helpful most of the time, but, at the last minute, decided to check in, from home, just to see what was happening. Am I glad I did!

The workshop was titled “11 Myths about Writing and Why you should Stop Believing them Right Now.” 

Eleven myths seemed like a lot to me but that’s how many she had, including those time-honoured ones like “you should write every day,” and “you should write an outline in order to write faster.”  

Using something called the Clifton Strengths Test, she used personality profiles to challenge these “shoulds.”  She used only five major predictors. There are many others if you take the complete test. The ones she used are

  • Introverted vs extroverted
  • Momentum Producing vs Momentum Resistant
  • Prediction Comfortable vs Prediction Resistant
  • Responsive Controlling Environment vs Responsive Necessary Environment

These are not either/or characteristics. Rather, they are opposite ends of a continuum.  Since I never fall into a single category whether it’s choosing my best colours or finding my best diet types, learning that I could be somewhere in between for this exercise filled me with relief. When Becca went on to explain that not everyone benefits from writing an outline, and that “word count” isn’t the only measure of productivity, I danced around the room. 

I am very good at filling in charts, answering plot questions and writing an outline. Unfortunately, when I write the story, it bears hardly any resemblance to the outline. I rarely admit that fact because I believe the myth about writing an outline. If I can’t do that then, I’m a fraud, or as Becca puts it I. AM. WRONG.  However, if I stop believing that myth I am no longer wrong, I just have different strengths. Now, there’s a bit of good news!

I’ve been watching the national curling championships in Canada and now the Women’s world curling championships. Under the current rules, teams have so many minutes of “thinking time,” instead of a total time allotment for the game. In other words, the rule makers know that “thinking” is a key component of the game.  I’m one of those writers for whom “thinking time” is every bit as important as fingers on the keyboard. In fact, I “thought” this blog long before I came to the computer. For me, clearing my timetable so I can show up at the keyboard is only part of the equation. More importantly, I need to clear my mind so I can think about the story. I can do that while taking a walk, making the bed or weeding the flowerbed.

To be fair, at every writing workshop I’ve attended, the presenter has prefaced his remarks with the caveat, “this is what I do. It may not work for you.” Then he goes on to lay out a very orderly, rules-based method for producing lots of saleable words. I understand that. It is much easier to teach a “system” than to stand in front of a roomful of hopeful writers and say “I don’t know how you should write.” Ms Syme is the only one I’ve heard present an entire workshop on finding one’s own strengths and methods. 

I can’t claim to have put her wisdom into practice yet — it has been a very busy time in my life — but I’ve been happier. I’ve stopped wearing the cloak of I. AM. WRONG.

If you have a chance, I highly recommend Becca Syme’s workshops.

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Before and After

March 8, 2023 / / 2 Comments

 

The beauty industry is rife with before and after pictures. Their aim is to show potential customers the benefit of some product or treatment, hence the “after” picture is far more appealing than the “before” picture.

Lately, I’ve noticed conversations containing the before/after phrase,  not in regards to a beauty treatment, but in relation to COVID-19. The pandemic created a great slash through the normal progression of our lives. We have “before,” when families and friends gathered for celebration and sorrow. When the only consideration in creating a guest list was the size of the table. Babies were born and grandparents, aunts and uncles flocked to the nursery to greet the new arrival. In times of loss, the bereaved drew strength from the mourners who assembled to comfort them. We didn’t think twice about being present in a group.

COVID changed all that. Some grandparents didn’t cuddle a newborn until the babe had become a toddler. Families grieved in isolation, unable to hold the hand of a loved one as they passed from this life. Our new guest lists may exclude the unvaccinated. Remember when banks had signs outside requiring customers to remove sunglasses and caps before entering the building? Now we see a masked man in a bank and shrug.

Most pandemic related restrictions have been removed now, but our behaviour has not returned to the “before” times. I doubt it ever will. 

From a personal and social point of view the effects of the pandemic are significant, leaving us more cautious, suspicious of our fellowmen. We must navigate a new “normal” and the journey  is uncomfortable and awkward.

From a writer’s point of view, the experience of the pandemic gives us a whole range of new responses for character-building. If a good story starts at a turning point, we have loads of examples from our daily lives to show what happens when a character hits a crossroads. Does she defy the risks and go out and party with strangers? Does she withdraw into her cocoon and miss out on the rest of life? Does she feel her way back into the life she had before, or does she close the door on those times and start over?

In my wip, the heroine is a widow. She behaves like a new widow, even though she lost her husband five years before the story began. That is because she has decided to withdraw — from friends and neighbours, from community, from organizations — from everything that gave her life meaning before her sudden change in circumstances.

Since the pandemic, I can look around me and see that response in real life. I know people who have stopped coming to church, have stopped going to the grocery story, have given up on movies or concerts, have cut themselves off from personal contact with anyone outside their household. I can use my observation of these people to give more depth to my protagonist

In my story the heroine is jolted out of her half-life by events — it would be a boring story if she wasn’t — and I can witness the same thing around me as people venture into society once more.  Some are cautious, wearing masks in every indoor setting. Some are being social, but only with a few close friends. Some are racing full-throttle into crowds of strangers.  More grist for the story-teller’s mill.

Regardless of how people respond to the post-COVID world (actually, the virus is still around, it’s just the restrictions that have changed) no one has been untouched by it. We all have this wide chasm, an empty place in our lives, from when the pandemic was at it’s worst. We date our memories as pre-pandemic or after. It’s as though we have had two lives.

One ended in March of 2020. 

As writers, this is familiar ground. Our stories are about change.  Page one is “before,” and the end is “after.” We can give our characters successes and defeats. We can make them victims of circumstances, or we can make them masters of their own lives. In fiction, we can make it up as we go along. That’s the joy of writing, The question is, how will we manage in real life?

In March of 2023 we begin the second part of our own story.

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Name that Character

February 22, 2023 / / 4 Comments

I’ve been wrestling with my wip lately and I think I’m losing. I started the story with such enthusiasm, I thought the words would just fly onto the page. You’d think by now I would know that never happens. 🙁

Part of my problem is the heroine’s name. I know, it’s just a name, get on and write the story. But names matter. If I don’t feel the name reflects the character’s personality, I can’t relate to her, even though she is my own creation. As I was struggling with my heroine’s name I came across a great article at Writer Unboxed, about the power of names. You can read the whole article here.

I had to chuckle at the writer’s aversion to certain names based on life experiences.  I was tormented in school by a fellow named Guy. I could never use that name for a hero in a book, although he could probably show up as a villain. 

Personal bias aside, I want my heroine to have a name that will resonate with readers. It needs to be unique but no so far out that no one will believe it on a fifty year old widow. I’m writing what I hope is a “seasoned” romance. This is a new genre for me and I’m still finding my way. My historical novels used lovely old-fashioned names like Emma, Louisa and Lottie. I connected with those characters immediately and their names fell upon them naturally. They fit so well with long skirts and sturdy boots, and strong-minded women.

I don’t want my heroine to sound as though she comes from another era. I don’t want her to sound too grandmotherly. I don’t want to attach too youthful a name to an older heroine. Of course, our reactions to names are purely subjective but there are guidelines. Jo Beverley used to advise using hard consonants in a hero’s name, to give the impression of strength. Jack, Devon, and Zeke are examples of strong names. Jo would also consider who the name looked on the page, choosing Karl instead of Carl, because the K had more presence.

The name needs to fit my character. When Raquel Welch died there were a number of news stories about her but the one that made me laugh was the tale of a movie mogul who thought her name too exotic and suggested she change it  – – – to Debbie. As Raquel told the story on late-night TV she pulled a face and said, “Do I look like a Debbie?” The answer was patently “no.” Ms Welch was marketed as a sex symbol, an exotic, someone with jungle – like appeal.Raquel suited that image perfectly.

My character is a middle-aged woman, wallowing in her widowhood, keeping the world at arm’s length. The reader must see her vulnerability beneath the “I’m fine,” mask. She is currently named Carrie. It’s a good name, popular at the time my heroine would have been born, but it sounds juvenile in my ear. Not only that, it is  the name Stephen King used for a very disturbed teenager! Not the association I want.

What about Karla? Or Kerry? Changing the C to K creates a whole other personality. I’ve just done a Google search and neither of those names pulls up a negative or famous connection. 

What do you think, dear reader. Is a fifty-year old market gardener named Kerry believable? Relatable?

Please share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to read them.

 

 

 

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Is It My Story to Tell?

February 8, 2023 / / 0 Comments

    My to-be-read pile has reached such towering proportions I’ve had to break it into two  edifices. The collection includes books I’ve chosen myself, books I received as gifts at Christmas, and books chosen by my book club. Topics range from the science of climate change to a Gothic fantasy to a YA mystery. That’s the joy of reading books others have chosen. I’m not a science geek so would have passed over the climate change book, yet I find it fascinating , and actually easy to read.

     Gothic and fantasy are not my first choices, but this gift introduced me to a writer of amazing skill and imagination. It opened my eyes to a subject I have long ignored.

     There is a lovely gentle read from an author I love. I’ve opened that one today and consider it my reward for persevering through the tough ones.

     One of my book club choices  provoked controversy upon its release over the question of cultural appropriation. Unless you’ve been living on a desert island with no internet, the topic of cultural appropriation has crossed your consciousness. I’ve heard people get really worked up about the topic but I could not understand what all the fuss was about. Isn’t fiction supposed to show us other cultures, other ways of being, other realities? Can’t a woman write from a male point of view? or a child’s or even a cat’s? It happens all the time.

     The argument that you don’t have to be a murderer to write a mystery seems obvious. I write historical fiction but I am not a pioneer. I’ve never lived without running water or electricity. Yet I feel I have every right to tell those stories. My forebears were pioneers. Their story is part of my history. It is their cultural legacy to me. I research the times and places to be as accurate as possible, but I believe these are my stories to tell.

     Wouldn’t the same research-based approach allow me to tell a story from another culture, another race?

     Now that I’ve read this controversial book, I can appreciate the furore.  Although the protagonist of the book in question is non-white, I never really identified her as such. As I read, I felt as though she was a middle-class, white woman looking through a picture window at a story unfolding before her. The protagonist was in peril but the narrator was safe.

     When I read Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, I had a very different experience. I was terrified for every page of the book. If I read before bed, I’d have nightmares.  Hannah never lived in Nazi-occupied France, but she told an authentic story.

     Authenticity is, I believe, at the heart of the cultural appropriation debate.  For someone who has never been beset by bullies because of the colour of her skin, or her style of dress, to tell the story of someone who lives with that reality every day, is a herculean task. It may be possible, in the hands of a very skilled writer, dedicated to uncovering the nuances and subtleties of a different culture and layering them onto her characters. Such a book would be very hard to write. In the case of my book club choice, that author missed the mark.

     The variety in my “to-be-read” pile, is a gift. It demonstrates the wonder of books, how they stretch our minds, challenge our prejudices, and bring joy and comfort. Even when they fall short, they can teach valuable lessons.  The old adage of “write what you know,” I now understand can mean, “is this your story to tell?”

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The Trouble with Tropes

January 25, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Cruising through the internet last week I came upon a conversation between highly successful romance authors looking for recommendations for romance novels. Many complained that they were bored with the same old tropes played over and over again. As readers, they wanted something  fresh to grab their attention and keep them turning pages past their bedtime.

There were many responses along a similar vein and the recommendations seemed to be for re-reading old favourites. As a romance author I found the discussion interesting and worrisome.

To trope or not to trope. Readers have certain expectations of romance novels. If an author doesn’t meet those expectations, the book is likely to flop. Yet meeting those expectations results in reruns of the same old themes — and bored and disgruntled readers. 

What is a writer to do?

Here are five top tropes in romance along with some suggestions for freshening them up.

  1. Spunky heroine.  The belief is no one wants to read about wimps. Heroine’s must be proactive, kick-ass, goal-oriented, tough . . . you get the picture. And yet, fairy tale heroines beloved of romance authors are often placid and reactive. Cinderella needs her fairy godmother to get her to the ball. She needs prince charming to rescue her after the ball. So, perhaps there is hope for a “non-spunky” main character. I read one book recently where the heroine irritated me no end because she wouldn’t stand up for herself, yet, in the end, she did grow and find love and she “rescued” herself. What kept me turning the pages was the author’s voice, the engaging cast of secondary characters, and the setting.  If you are really tired of writing about or reading about the perky, spunky female, you can go a different route, but you need skill to pull it off.                                                                                                                                                           
  2. Jilted at the altar. This one incorporates the “cute meet” beloved of romance readers too. Usually the bride, or groom, left standing alone meets the perfect mate while picking up the pieces of the disastrous day. I just read a book that began that way. I yawned, but kept reading. I liked the heroine’s voice. However, the book exceeded expectations as the story delved deeply into family relations, small town castes, and an old mystery. So the trope was useful to hook the reader, but it did not determine the entire story.                                                                                                                                                                        
  3. Proximity.  This is the one where the two main characters are snowed in by themselves in a remote cabin, or stranded on an island, or locked in an old castle. There are many variations but the point is they are together and cannot get away from each other. In the world of tropes this must lead to romance.  But what if it doesn’t? What if enforced proximity exposes a nose-picker, or a soup-slurper, or a bully, or a whiner? Perhaps this trope could be used to separate a couple who were romantically inclined at the beginning of the story and can’t put enough distance between themselves when they are finally able to escape? I haven’t read a book like this yet but there must be one out there somewhere. I think if would make a great comedy.                                                                                                                                                                     
  4. Marriage of Convenience.  I admit that this is one of my favourites, especially in historical romance and especially when handled deftly — witness Georgette Heyer. Inevitably the pretend couple ends by falling in love and turning their fake marriage into the real thing. What would happen if they didn’t? What if her old sweetheart, left for dead at Waterloo, returns, alive and well? How does she get out of her “convenient” marriage? Walking away is a possibility in contemporary romances, but for a regency lady to desert her husband and still have a happily-ever-after? Again, such a story would challenge the author but it might satisfy the reader who is tired of same-old, same-old.                                                                                                                                                                             
  5.    Billionaires/celebrity/royalty.  I don’t like this one very much. The characters are too unbelievable for me. The billionaire who never seems to work, the celebrity who misbehaves, the royal who doesn’t understand protocol . . . I’m apt to throw the book at the wall. But it is a trope that is adored by many readers. So, how to make it work?  Be realistic.  If you put a public figure in your story, give them something worthwhile to do. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, let me judge them by their character, not their bank account. Celebrities often spend a lot of time helping charities, or advocating for the poor or hungry or traumatised.  A person who expects adoration because of his wealth or social status isn’t “hero”material. If he loses all his money, will the reader still love him? I’d read that story.

So, dear reader, what are your favourite tropes? Can you recommend a romance that turns an old faithful on its head and sends that author to the top of your reading list? Please share in the comments section. (click the button under the post title.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

 

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