Day 18 & 19: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

I THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD'VE HAD ENOUGH OF SILLY LOVE SONGS!

Today, two of my very favorite couples in XIII finally saw their "love at first sight" moments, though neither couple knew such a moment had just passed them by. Oddly enough, my favorite love story is not that of the hero and his oracle lover, but rather is that of his younger sister and her dangerous envoy from the west. Reason?

The sister and the envoy are so incredibly different. Age, race, religion, beliefs, even suspicion of murder - all stand between these two and blood and death follow like a pack of wolves. Sure, my protagonist and his lady have a love of tremendous awesomeness, but their bittersweet story is not, nor intended to be, as much of a hurricane-romance as that of his sister and her envoy.

BUT I LOOK AROUND ME AND SEE IT ISN'T SO!

I guess one of the things I've been working on is subtlety in plot, character and romantic development. The first two have helped take care of themselves, while the issue of romantic subtlety has raised its ugly old head and caused me trouble. So here's what I figure:

1. FLOWERY LANGUAGE IS A SILLY PLACE! RUN AWAY! - Here's the thing. No way will a couple describe each other in (full-of-evil) flowery-love-terms on their first meeting. Usually, the scene will pass in a thundering rush, with the characters focused on their original goal. Only later will each realize they are thinking of the other. I try to have them recall small, seemingly insignificant details they found charming/annoying etc. This cuts down on the potential for cheesiness/syrup-ness in any love story.

2. LAY YOUR LINES LIKE A NINJA - I try to lay hints of a romance fairly early on in the story. These don't need to be signs that scream, "Their romance is very fracking nigh!" These hints need to be unnoticeable, possibly forgettable. When I decide to reveal that a couple is in the loves, I want the reader to be pleasantly surprised and to smile, not to feel that the romance was unheralded or an unplanned cop-out.

3. WOAH, WOAH, FEELINGS - Sure, my characters have feelings. But usually my scenes are written from a very limited third person POV, which means I can record only one character's emotions at once. Sure, the POV character can notice the other's facial expressions and interpret her feelings. By limiting POVs, I also limit the amount of cheese/syrup from my romance story lines. The reader is not overwhelmed by being dragged between two characters' POVs. He is able to be content and enjoy the story at a safe vantage point from a designated POV.

WE COULD BE HEROES, FOREVER AND EVER!

I found this animation clip courtesy of a great and valiant friend named Jocelyn Howard. She knows of my enduring love of all things comicbook. So this fit. For those of you who have read Astrocity, you know how delightful this style of storytelling and drawing can be when done well. If you want, visit Chris Applehans' Site and look around. It's impressive.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Yesterday, I read through the entirety of The Road, a book by Cormac McCarthy which won the Pulitzer for Fiction. That's right. I read the whole book in one day, if that gives you any measure of how powerful the story is. The book follows a father and his child struggling to survive a nuclear holocaust in a dead world. As a novel, it was incredibly beautiful and touching, but some scenes were so entirely disturbing, cruel and completely awful, I still feel sort of distraught. A few details about the story, including the tone of the end, considering the post-apocalyptic genre, irked me. But it didn't irk me enough: I would definitely recommend The Road for McCarthy's portrayal of human nature and the relationship between father and son. Definitely give it a look-see.

WHERE EAGLES FLY, ON A MOUNTAIN HIGH!

Our blog, Written (R)evolutions has launched! A group of writers, artists and true believers have come together to discuss and create fiction of the fringe nature: fantasy, science fiction, horror, macabre, apocalyptica, cyberpunk and other whimsical and terrifying sundries! Visit us and tell us what you think!

That's all I got.
So say we all.
Bri