The other day I had to run my 11 year old somewhere. When I jumped in the car I glanced in the rear-view mirror and said, “Drat! I don’t even have any make-up on yet!” My son looked over at me and replied, “Mom, you are just as pretty without your make-up.”
I posted this precious bit of conversation on my FaceBook account, warning all parents of 11 year old girls that this boy was on his way - and promptly received an offer of arranged marriage between my son and someone’s daughter.
When I told my son about the offer, he refused, for some strange reason - even when his dad promised him we’d allow at least 2 weeks for him to get to know the girl before the wedding.
Now let’s look at this situation in light of romance, which is, after all, what this blog is about.
If you have your two main characters in a similar situation and the girl comments that she doesn’t even have any make-up on yet, you can take your story in one of several ways.
If you want the story to turn mushy, you have the hero tell her just what my son told me.
If you want the situation to turn tense, he might say, “Yeah. You don’t want to scare the natives.”
If you want to raise a little jealousy you have him comment casually that he’s never seen so-and-so without her make-up on and he bets she’d look just as good without it on as she does with it.
Okay, so here’s a little exercise for you:
“Come on. We need to go.” Brad held the door open for Kara.
Kara snagged her purse and coat from the hall-tree and glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the entry table. “Oh! Drat! I don’t even have any make-up on yet.”
Finish that scene with one sentence of dialogue from Brad. Give us the emotion you would attempt to invoke and then his line of dialogue. Like this:
Jealousy.
Brad stared out across the lawn, suddenly seeming to have forgotten her presence. “I’ve never seen Sophia without make-up on. Do you think she’s just as pretty without it as she is with it?”
Nothing frustrates me more, as a romance reader, than to pick up a book where the hero is a whiney wimp. Give those heroes some morals and admirable qualities and I will stick with the book all the way to the end. But I’ve put down more than one book because I didn’t like the hero.
The heroes in your romance books need to be people others can look up to. That is, after all, the definition of a hero.
a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2.
a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
Let me tell you about my real life hero - someone your characters could emulate and be the better for it.
Last night I woke up at about 1am with the stomach flu. It wasn’t pretty. Not even close.
My Hunky Hero crawled out of bed this morning 30 minutes before his normal time so that he could run to the store and buy me some Sprite before waking up the kids. He then got all 4 kids up, breakfasted, and out the door on time. PLUS he did a load of dishes. All while leaving the bedroom door shut so that I wouldn’t be disturbed.
Make your heroes like that and you will have readers swooning over your books! I know I am.
Today I’m happy to introduce you to my friend and blogging partner from over at AuthorCulture, K. M. Weiland. I’m excited to have her here today. I’ve always loved books about knights and the crusades, so I was especially excited to learn a little more about Behold the Dawn. A lot of research went into creating an authentic atmosphere for this book.
What is one practice that was very common in Annan’s day that you are ever so thankful no longer exists?
Oh gosh, can I check “all of the above”? Much as I love the Middle Ages, I’m exceedingly happy I don’t have to live in them! The horrific ignorance and corruption of the church, including the prevalence of “holy hermits” (some of whom thought they best served God by livingi n the desert on top of a pole!), flagellation as a form of worship, the belief in the power of saints and shrines and pilgrimages… yep, I’m glad all those things aren’t with us anymore!
In researching weapons, was there one in particular that made you cringe in horror at the harm it could do?
Warfare at that time wasn’t about precision; it was all strength and fury—and as a result the victim wasn’t likely to die quick and easy. Injuries were often horrific, and, of course, medicine at that time was completely unable to minister to sufferers. People died long and slow and messy. Maces, claymores, flails, war hammers, crossbows—they’re all horrifying in the damage they’re capable of. One weapon that particularly stuck with was the caltrop, a predecessor of the land mind in some ways. Basically, it was a giant jack (the old children’s toy) that was thrown onto the field of battle. Men or horses running across the field would step on the caltrop and cripple themselves.
What one practice was in vogue back then that you kind of wish we still had around today?
I don’t know if I’d want it around all the time, but I wouldn’t mind the occasional opportunity to get all duded up in the costumes of the period.
Was there a bit of research that first brought Annan to life for you? Or did you have his character in mind and then anchor him in the center of your research?
I didn’t officially begin researching until I had the entire story outlined. But it was a bit of inadvertent research that inspired his character. I happened to glance at a children’s book about William Marshall, the “greatest knight who ever lived,” one of the most famous fighters in the condemned tourney competitions. He fought his way to glory and ended up as an English statesmen. I was captivated by the whole idea of the bloody, brutal tourney games—and Marshall’s eventual journey to the Holy Land to seek absolution.
Tell us a little bit about the lady of the story.
Lady Mairead enters the story as the wife of Lord William, Earl of Keaton, an old friend of Annan’s. He married her to save her from her enemies, and she flees with him to the Crusade, where he is mortally wounded. Despite the tragedies she’s suffered, Mairead holds fast to a simple faith and a natural optimism. But she has struggled with prejudices all her life and tends to make hasty judgments about others.
Which one character in the book would you say is most like you? Least?
None of the characters are based on me, but I suppose I identify most with Annan: his disapproval of naïveté, his deep but often hidden emotional core, his sense of justice. I hope the villainous Norman Hugh de Guerrant is least like me!
The Tournaments were very dangerous. What made knights choose to fight in the Tourneys? And particularly Annan – why has he chosen that lifestyle?
Fighting was like breathing for men in the Middle Ages. At that time, a man’s education was warfare. Reading and writing were considered extraneous; fighting was vital. The tourneys were a natural extension of the social immersion in violence. If everyone was going to fight anyway, why not fight for money and glory? For second-born sons like Annan, who would receive no inheritance from their families, the tourneys were an opportunity to make their own fortunes. However, Annan’s personal decision to join the tourneys was largely an attempt to flee from the sins of his past. He thought he could go out in a blaze of glory in the tournaments; he never expected to live for sixteen more years.
What was your favorite part of writing this story? Least?
The beginning was torture—as beginnings usually are for me. I must have written it half a dozen times, pulling my hair out and shoving back overwhelming doubts the whole way. But once I got past about the fifty-page mark, everything fell into place. The story just flew from that point on—and I was just along for the ride!
What message did you feel God was speaking to you while you were writing and editing this book?
It’s ironic (or maybe not!) how often God takes the themes I’m writing about and puts them to work in my own life at that same time. The theme of Behold the Dawn is finding the new beginning in each day. Life was a bit chaotic while I was writing Behold and I really did have to learn to take each day as it came. At one point, I was even questioning whether writing was something I was supposed to be pursuing at all. I just had to keep giving my writing to Him on a daily basis. And, day by day, He kept giving it back to me!
So, what now? Next project? Published when?
I have several projects in the works. I have a completed fantasy, Dreamers Come (about a man who discovers that his dreams are really memories of another world) waiting for another round of edits. I also just started outlining my next project, a historical novel called The Deepest Breath about the passion, betrayal, and vengeance that dog two men and the woman they both love through the trenches of World War I, corruption in colonial Kenya, and the criminal underbelly of London. And I’m also working on a fun co-writing project that asks, “What if Robin Hood met Sleeping Beauty?” Dreamers is on deck for publication, but it’ll be a year or two yet before it’s released.
Thanks so much Katie for visiting with us today. Do you have any questions of your own for Katie? Feel free to ask them in the comments. I know she’ll be dropping by and can answer them for you.
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Do you have any questions of your own for Katie? Feel free to ask them in the comments. I know she’ll be dropping by and can answer them for you.
