This month's Round Robin blog hop addresses emotional pain for your protagonists--how do we help them cope and heal?
I read another blog recently that asked where all of the unlikable heroines are, since unlikable heroes are often standard issue for romances. I pointed out that I've written at least 4 heroines that I've been told in reviews are "unlikable and unrelatable." But all are acting out the emotional pain they carry with them. And in each of the books, the love they find with a good man helps them to heal. Cliché? Yes. But also a great way to bond two characters together, to heal them both.
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I read another blog recently that asked where all of the unlikable heroines are, since unlikable heroes are often standard issue for romances. I pointed out that I've written at least 4 heroines that I've been told in reviews are "unlikable and unrelatable." But all are acting out the emotional pain they carry with them. And in each of the books, the love they find with a good man helps them to heal. Cliché? Yes. But also a great way to bond two characters together, to heal them both.
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Click for buy links In this, the 5th in my Reyes Family Romances, Catalina is a very sexual woman. She's a player, who sees no need to settle down with one man. Her boss's boss, the man who owns the paper she writes for, uses her talents to smear those he wants discredited. He tells her he'll ensure she never gets another writing job if she doesn't write what he demands. This time he wants the analyst his son saw to be destroyed, and he doesn't care if she has to make things up. The analyst is blind, so Catalina is at first at a loss, since he can't see how sexy she is. But she manages to seduce him, in a scene that some reviewers have found offensive. During the rest of the story, they fall in love, but doctor/patient restrictions demand they keep their hands to themselves. Catalina's emotional pain builds as she realizes how much she's grown to care for the doctor, and how many lies she'll have to tell, since he really is a decent man. So she writes 2 different articles, and agonizes over which one to submit--the one her boss wants? Or the one in which she wrote about the man she's fallen deeply in love with? And what will happen when the analyst finds out why she's been coming to see him? Is it worth risking any future employment, when he might not understand?
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Click for buy links. In Only One Man Will Do, Alexandra is the elder of two daughters, and the one her father trained to take over his marketing firm when he retired to enjoy golfing, and his trophy wife. What he doesn't realize is how much pain he caused to Alexandra when he dumped her mother for a younger woman. She's determined to never be at the mercy of any man--like her mother, who still loves her dad. She runs the firm successfully during the week, but on weekends, she heads a biker gang that involves a few women, but lots of men that Alexandra hand-picked, using more than her hands! When an ex-KGB agent decides to try to tame her, sparks fly. Can he convince her that she only needs one man, as long as it's him? And how will the rest of the men in the gang feel about that?
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Click for buy links. In Her Last Resort, Stella has to kill a young man in the first chapter! She's a retired CIA agent, who wants to leave her past behind her. But someone is sending would-be-agents after her, and she's tired of all of the killing she keeps having to do. When her estranged adult daughter, a famous movie star, wants her to join her for a week at a cabin in northern Minnesota, she arrives by circuitous travelling arrangements, hoping that no one will follow her. Her pain stems from the divorce so long ago, when her then-husband forced her to choose between her family and her job. But the circumstances didn't allow her to make any other choice. Her son refuses to talk to her, and she hopes for a chance with her daughter. Luckily, the owner of the resort they stay at is a retired KGB agent, and many of his relatives that he's sponsored into the USA also have specialized skills. He can help Stella--if she'll let him. But can she learn to trust a man again?
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Click for buy links. Prophecy of the Mayan Undead is a compilation of the two books I originally published. Now it's a long saga. The second part involves a Chinese national female, Niu Ying, who was born during the early days of the Chinese revolution of the mid-20th century, when the 1-child rule was newly in effect. Her parents wanted to try for a son, so they sold her to the state. She's brilliant, so she was educated, but was always treated harshly by her misogynistic male colleagues who made her life hell. Then a powerful vampire decided to add her to his employees, and brought her brutally across to the undead existence--which has actually been even worse than her life was! So when she meets a blue-skinned, furry alien, who tries to get her to embrace her humanity, she's not sure she wants to, since all it's ever brought her is pain. This story is set against the backdrop of the return of another alien race, who intends to capture and take more humans to their planet as slaves. Can they be stopped?
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As I've said in previous blogs, I don't like to write the same story over and over again. I get bored easily. In fact, when I enjoy a book by a new author, I will go check out the website. If it seems that this is the only plot the author uses, and all books will essentially be the same story with different names and places, then I don't ever read that author again. Of course, this means you never know what you'll get when you read one of my books. But you will get strong heroines, equally strong--usually beta heroes, and steamy sex scenes that will cement the relationship between them. That is always the same. Everything else will be different with each book.
Viva la Difference!
To find out what other authors have to say on this subject, hop to the next blog. Enjoy!
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-2W9
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
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As I've said in previous blogs, I don't like to write the same story over and over again. I get bored easily. In fact, when I enjoy a book by a new author, I will go check out the website. If it seems that this is the only plot the author uses, and all books will essentially be the same story with different names and places, then I don't ever read that author again. Of course, this means you never know what you'll get when you read one of my books. But you will get strong heroines, equally strong--usually beta heroes, and steamy sex scenes that will cement the relationship between them. That is always the same. Everything else will be different with each book.
Viva la Difference!
To find out what other authors have to say on this subject, hop to the next blog. Enjoy!
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-2W9
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
