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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Illogical heroines

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
To enter, go to the blog links below and post a comment there.
What a Girl Wants by Kristin Billerbeck
If the Shoe Fits by Marilynn Griffith

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Too Stupid to Live:

What is it with Too Stupid to Live heroines? I read THREE Regency historical romances, and for two of them, I couldn’t get past chapter two before putting the book down.

For the third book, I lasted until about halfway when a perfectly logical heroine suddenly turned loco and ran away for a completely idiotic reason.

I know that people don’t always act in a logical manner, but a good writer should be able to convince the reader about the heroine’s motivations even if she embarks on not the most intelligent course of action.

Read any TSTL heroines lately?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Even worse than reading about a heroine who is TSTL is writing one! While reading over a short story I had written once I realized that my heroine was AWFUL! Like one of those women in a scary movie that you can't help but yell at because she's TSTL! And eventually you're just telling the killer to hurry up and do away with her. Yep, I've written one of those women. ~hangs head in shame~
Thu Jan 25, 05:11:00 AM 2007
Anonymous said…
What about a goofy, wanting to prove herself heroine that is constantly getting herself in trouble? I mean, she comes around in the end, but does that make her TSTL? Or can we laugh along with her?
Thu Jan 25, 07:47:00 AM 2007
Georgiana Daniels said…
Like Anonymous, I, too, have written that heroine--who was anything but a heroine. Sadly, I killed off her husband (who was the only character a reader would root for) about halfway through the book. Of course, this book was my first and was not worth the paper I printed it on.

Thankfully I've gotten over the phobe of putting down a bad book. THere's too many good books out there to waste time with the TSTL crew.
Thu Jan 25, 10:06:00 PM 2007
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