But seriously, what am I doing wrong? Similar to my last post, Reexamining the Romantic Hero, which examined my hero Jack, in today’s post I will explore poor Claire’s vapid personality and bland background by taking cues from the book Writing the Great American Romance Novel by Catherine Lanigan. Hopefully Ms. Lanigan can cure Claire’s numerous ills or lack thereof.

First of all Ms. Lanigan states that the story (if it is to be strictly a romance) is about your (or my) heroine falling in love. While we know hero and heroine get together in the end, it’s the process of falling in love, with all its bumps, bruises, ups and downs that should hold the reader captive. Here are the questions I am asking about my heroine, Claire:

1. Is she intelligent and logical? Check. Part of Claire’s evolution in ‘Suicide Rider’ is how she discounts herself in the beginning, but learns by the end of the story, to trust in her own decisions and abilities. She must use her brains and creativity to save her family’s ranch from being purchased by a land development corporation.

2. Does she use intuition? Claire must grow from not listening to her heart to opening herself up to love in the end. Ms. Lanigan states that in order to accomplish that feat, the heroine needs to use her intuition along the way. After evaluating my story, I realize that Claire leapt right into the love part – she obviously knows a good thing when she sees it. Really, though, I told the story too quickly. But that’s me, always in a rush. So, I will alter my story by starting Claire off with a strong dislike for Jack stemming from some (misunderstood, of course) insult or transgression.

3. Does she have compassion? Yes. Claire loves animals and people. Two years ago she moved to the ranch to help and comfort her father as he lay dying of cancer. It was then that she promised to watch over her father’s friends, Cleatis and B.J., two die-hard bachelors who are always getting into one scrape or another.

4. Does she have courage? This is an absolute ‘must’ for any heroine of a romance novel. She must be brave enough to open her heart to love while risking heartbreak should the hero reject her. I haven’t given Claire an interesting past or trauma which would prevent her from opening her heart. Herein lies one of my problems.

5. Is she beautiful? Claire is not a classic beauty. In Jack’s eyes, she is a healthy, wholesome, radiant woman who is frustratingly complex yet naïve and light-hearted. She embodies all that Jack wishes he could be: carefree, optimistic, and genuine. Claire is outdoorsy, loves horseback riding, romance novels and is quick with a smile for anyone walking by.

So far so good. But what’s missing? She still isn’t very interesting to me. She’s your typical run-of-the-mill heroine. Ms. Lanigan lists five tricks for creating the perfect heroine. Let’s see if Claire is there yet:

1. She must be someone that you want to be. Well, first on the list for me would be…is she skinny? Yup. Good because I’ve always wanted to be skinny.

2. Make her your best friend. Hmmm. Obviously I need to work on that one. Can’t go around calling my best friend vapid and bland, can I? How can I develop Claire’s personality into someone I’d want as my best friend? Now I’ve identified a spot where I need to embellish Claire’s personality a bit.

3. She needs to have a sense of humor. Here’s another item Claire and I need to work on. Right now, she’s either too serious or an airhead. I will have to work on this aspect as well.

4. She must believe in true love. Check. She reads romance novels. ‘Nuff said.

5. She must have faults and be human so the reader can empathize. Hmmm. Not there yet either. Boy, no wonder I’m having so many problems with Claire. I think the problem is that she is too perfect – she’s the girl you love to hate in high school. Hey, wait a minute. I had a friend like that once and believe me, she had a few pretty major issues.

I have a lot of brainstorming ahead of me this week. My next mission will be plot outlining – a task I’ve successfully avoided until now.

1. Is Jack compassionate? Yes. He has a ‘Horse Whisperer’-type relationship with all horses and he loves Daisy, Claire’s (my heroine) blonde cocker spaniel.

2. Is Jack strong? Yes. He has fought his way out of poverty and against discrimination to attain a high level of success in salary and lifestyle.

3. Is Jack intelligent? Yes. Having paid his own way through college with scholarships, grants and various jobs, he is now a top Regional Sales Manager for a national full-service company in acquisitions and marketing for developers and home-builders.

4. Is Jack kind? Hmmm. That’s a toughy. Yes, in his own way. He’s stand-offish in the beginning of the story, but warms up in the end due to Claire’s influence.

5. Is Jack loyal? Yes. He doesn’t realize how loyal he is until the end when he understands his original fear of commitment and dread of returning home stemmed from his belief that he’d failed his family when he was younger.

6. Is Jack polite to others? Yes. No matter how awful they are to him. He does swear sometimes, however, when he’s with his brother, Jesse, and they’re fooling around, teasing each other, and doing ‘guy’ things.

Well, I think Jack has passed all the requirements of a romantic hero. However, is he interesting? No. Not yet. Ms. Lanigan lists some tips and tricks in her book on how to make the hero / story more exciting. Let’s see if Jack measures up. Ms. Lanigan states:

1. Your hero’s strengths must be identified at the beginning of the book. Hmmm, not so sure I’ve done that so far, which is probably why some of the critiques I’ve received at this juncture have suggested that my book begins too slowly. I’m considering jumping right to the Suicide Race and have the story take place over the week of the race.

2. Readers like contemporary heroes to be financially successful. Check. Jack drives a Porsche, lives in a condo overlooking Elliot Bay and has a high-powered job for a leading national corporation. However, since he is ambitious, I also have to find a way to make that part of his dilemma when dealing with Claire and Jesse, his brother.

3. Your hero shouldn’t have to share the stage. Check. Jack doesn’t play second to Claire. His story is just as important as hers so I switch between both points of view.

4. A real hero has to face his demons. Jack must face his demons when he is forced to compete in his brother’s stead. Will he fail his family again? When he is forced to decide between helping his company or helping Claire, he will have decide whether he is willing to commit to her.

5.  Even heroes make mistakes. Check. Jack will attempt to acquire Claire’s ranch for his company. Due to his anger and obstinacy, he will play an important role in a tragic accident.

Finally, Ms. Lanigan adds that romance readers “want their heroes to have some muscles.” Well, Jack is certainly fit and disciplined about his diet and exercise. He is handsome in a dark haunting sort of way. His face is round, his cheekbones are high. His straight shoulder-length hair is the shiny blackness of a raven’s wing, parted in the center and pulled back into a single ponytail. He is partial to wearing the color black. However, he cares not one iota how he looks, even though he is sleek and cunning like a black panther.

You show signs of strength, Little One. But secretly we know it partners with a sadness, a longing to be honored for who we are deep inside. We tell ourselves the external illusion is not important.

You attempt to shine in other ways when compared to your Venus-like, talented older sister. My heart and soul call to you. I cry out, “Don’t give up. Keep fighting for yourself. You are stronger, you are smarter and you will win at the end of the day when we grow old and beauty no longer matters.”

You are funny, insightful, and obsessed with sweets. You are unwittingly armoring yourself with the thick outer skin that is required to shield yourself from the arrows of disdain, the looks of half-acceptance which fall short of the proclamations of love which you desire.

I love you, Little One. Your road ahead will be very long and hard, indeed. Partly because you will make it hard for yourself by fighting this battle against society’s biases that you cannot win. It is through the act of fighting that you win, because it will make you stronger and smarter.

So trust me when I tell you that it never gets easier. Even if you acquire many admirers, you will always wonder whether they adore you for whom you really are – a chubby little girl who yearns to be cherished as the delightful person who resides deep within.

I see you, and yes, you are resourceful, tenacious and gorgeous.

I love you.

I am new to the Suspense/Thriller genre. I had read about this author in the back of Stephen King’s book, “On Writing.”


The main character was very interesting and the plot well-planned. The only issue I had with the book was Mr. Abrahams emphasized the naivetee of the character well after he had left prison. It was sometimes difficult to reconcile his tough actions with his “Dudley Do-Right” decisions.


I liked the book in spite of that flaw. So, if you are a Suspense/Thriller fan, I highly recommend this book. It was written for intelligent people and the plot will not fail you.



View all my reviews

That’s my excuse, anyway, when I put aside my WIP for a day and venture down a different avenue. I like to read one-off books like ManWords: Real Words for Real Men or Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives.

Why? Because they’re belly-busting and groove-restoring! Books like these also stimulate my imagination which helps  when I’m stuck on a plot point.

I also like to practice writing a few lines of poetry. It’s not only wicked cool to see what will come out on paper, but it refreshes the beat or rhythm in my novel writing.

Here’s a sample of an unpolished piece of prose I wrote the other day with one of those refrigerator magnet poetry kits:

Wind and rain and mist
Shadow our garden
As languid death sleeps where
My sweet girl lies dreaming

Okay so it’s not going to win any awards, but it was fun to write. Plus you never know when you’ll come up with something immutably brilliant, a jewel-in-the-imperial-crown or a keeper.

Cheers!

I promised my friend that not only would I write a superior novel, but I would revise, finish and publish it all by the end of the year. If that’s not enough to bring a smirk to your face, I also told her I was going to win The RITA award with this mythological wonder!

Before I began my journey, I was one of those people. Yes, the ones that don’t really understand just how long it takes to write 80,000 words.

Now I am a changed person. I am officially ‘enlightened’ as I am 16,000 words into the second version of my manuscript, a little over six months from my initial declaration.

In other words, I am no where near finishing my book, let alone winning a RITA! If I ever do win a RITA (fingers crossed) boy will I have a story to tell at the podium.

Cheers!

I haven’t decided yet whether to write a brief synopsis of the story here in my blog or let my readers try to figure it out based on my bulletin board on Pinterest. It could prove to be an interesting experiment if I decide on the latter.

“Suicide Hill is steep, the horses are strong, and the river is deep.”