Tricksy Characters
I have reached that point of my WIP. You know *that* point. I’m talking to myself. I’m not sleeping. I’m clutching my iPad to my chest and hissing, “My precccciousssssss” at innocent passersby. In short, I’m almost finished.
I wrote the black moment yesterday and it was HARD. It made me emotional. I had to open and close pages several times and retreat momentarily to the comfort of twitter to stave off the weepies.
Usually, once I get to the black moment it’s all gravy. I already know how to resolve it. I already know who has to grovel, what has to be said and exactly how that last line will go.
*sigh*
Not so. Not with these two. I have very tricksy characters. My heroine is much farther along on her journey than the hero. She’s conquered the worst of her demons, with a little help from the hero and she’s ready to move forward with her life. She’s ready for her HEA.
But he’s not. It’s not just a matter of him being stubborn, he’s truly not there yet. He has to make peace with himself, with something he did in his past that was just plain wrong. He made a big mistake, he hurt the people who loved him the most, and he truly believes that that act was evidence of his true character. eek.
My heroine has thrown down the gauntlet now. She’s told my hero how she feels, and now it’s up to him to realize that he is a good man. The man that she sees.
Again, eek. And also *bites nails*.
I’m absolutely certain I’ll be doing a little bit of surgery on this book once I type The End, because as I’ve gone in deeper and deeper, the characters have sort of evolved and changed and with it, they have changed where I thought I would end up.
They’re going to have to fight for their Happily Ever After. But ultimately, isn’t that the best way? Because when they fight that hard to have something, you know they’re going to hold onto it.
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The best HEAs are when you feel the couple could never have been together as the people they were at the beginning of the book.
Yes! Julia, that’s brilliant, and SO true. I want to write it down because you just nailed it so wonderfully there. They have to go on the journey, and I really love it when I feel they are better people because they have each other. :}
Love that picture of Gollum! What a great quote, Julia. I’m gonna nick that as well. Having my own tricksy characters at the moment, I can understand your pain, Maisey. Oh and your hero may be tricksy but he’s pretty damn sexxxayyy!
I like Julia’s quote too. I love a good Gollum reference and it sounds like another winner Maisey! I just can’t wait 🙂
My dad was a real literature snob and when I started reading romance at about 11-12yo, he gave me his copy of Pride and Prejudice. That was the thing that made me fall in love with that book: Lizzie and Darcy don’t fall in love so much as discover themselves by falling in love. I’ve reread it pretty much annually the last two decades.