The course of true love never did
run smooth ~ William Shakespeare
And let’s hope it never does.
Think about it. If true love did run smooth, it would provide a straight shot
from boy meets girl to boy and girl live happily ever after. If that happened,
where in the world would most of us romance writers be?
Manuscripts would be sooooo much
shorter. And not nearly as pretty.
“Hello. How are you?”
“Fine, thanks, and you?”“I’m good. Thanks for asking.”
“By the way, you’re kind of cute.”
“You are too.”
“I love you.”
“I feel the same way, too.”
“Marry me.”
“I’d love to.”
Okay, so maybe manuscripts would
be pretty in the aesthetic sense. They sure wouldn’t be very interesting. If true love did run smooth, there’d
be no angst, no suffering (both external and internal) no drama, no coming to
realize moment, no growth of characters. No sacrifice for love. No tension. No
attraction-revulsion; attraction-acceptance (albeit grudging);
attraction-attraction.
Oh, we could probably get some conflict
mileage out of evil family members (especially those of the step variety) but
that’s about all.
If true love did run smooth day after
day after day after day, there’d be no spurned lovers, no women scorned. None
of our beloved tropes to adhere to. No constantly thwarted goals for our protagonists to strive for. Also, there’d be no need for (gasp!) the Big Black Moment.
All of our collective writing
lives would be so much different. We probably wouldn’t even need critique
partners. Yikes!
In her column here on the second
of this month, fellow Rose and my personal critique partner, Jannine, talked
about the joys of working in close collaboration with someone. (Yeah, I
couldn’t let that one go without comment, now could I?)
From the CP perspective, the need
to work together to generate success would go right out the window. There’d be no brainstorming sessions about
character motivation, or the lack thereof. No discussions about conflict - good,
bad or indifferent.
Indulge me in a shout out here, please. Here's to the good times, Jannine! Thank you. Now to continue.
Indulge me in a shout out here, please. Here's to the good times, Jannine! Thank you. Now to continue.
The course of true love never did
(or does) run smooth.
Thank goodness for that. Otherwise,
how very boring would our world, and our writing lives, be?
What do you think? Agree with me,
disagree or neutral?
My days to blog here are the 11th
and 23rd. For more about me and my stories, please visit my website
20 comments:
Great insights, Margo. As much as we hate those tough spots (in life and in books), they do make the good spots sweeter! If everything were easy every day, it would become the norm and we wouldn't appreciate it. Kind of like keeping a Christmas tree up year-round. It's not special anymore.
You're exactly right, Leah. Without the bad, we wouldn't recognize, and enjoy, the good. Everything in life, and books, is relative.
Sounds a lot like real life only in a romance the happy ending is guaranteed. Liked your points and agree the stronger the conflict the happier the resolution.
I think that's the attraction to romance, Barbara. The guaranteed HEA. The worse it gets, the better it is, right?
Should I be the devil's advocate? Nope, I can't come up with anything good to argue. Conflict is key--both internal and external. However, depending on the type of story, you may have varying degrees of each woven into the book.
No conflict in life (or romance)? Then there would be no victories, no challenges, no variety. No way for a person to experience ecstasy. No way to grow.
Hey, Jannine, you gave it a shot! Um, does that mean you think I'm right? Heh Heh.
I like that, Maris. No way to grow.
I so agree! When we plot romance, we think CONFLICT! Thanks for a spot-on post!
You are right Margo. Conflict is a part of human life...erm...drama! Some people love and live for it! But it all does make a wonderful story!
I hate conflict in real life. Books are another story. (pun intended) Throwing together 2 opposites is a surefire way to get conflict. Then upping the stakes? Oh, yeah. Chase them up the tree and throw rocks at them. Having a CP who takes you to task is the good kind of conflict. :)
Love your sense of humor and your faux romance plot above! Even the picture is perfect. Thanks for sharing!
Appreciate you stopping by, Susan. Wherever would we be without conflict?
Drama is at the heart of life, I think, Melissa.
Diane, you are very right. Trees, rocks, it's all good. Then the CP wants MORE!
MJ - Glad you enjoyed my effort. The piece was fun to write.
Andrea. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Always welcome.
We writers are rather masochistic and maybe two-faced...in our lives we try to eliminate conflict, but we build our novels with nail-biting problems and diametric hero/heroine differences. So interesting!
Agree! The bumpy spots are what makes it so interesting. :) Great post!
Well written, Margo. Love by itself doesn't run smoothly. The way to sustain a loving relationship is through conflict and resolution, be it in fiction or in life.
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