Happy Endings: An Epiphany Too Late?

I'm still in a "happily ever after" drought as I continue my foray into literature (via an American Lit college course) and I can't wait to read some "literature" with a happy ending (I know they do happen, I just haven't read any yet).

Oh, why does it have to all end in tragedy? Did Winterbourne in DAISY MILLER: A STUDY (Henry James) have to be so entrenched in his social context as an upper class American in European high society that he couldn't appreciate Daisy's free spirit? Did he have to realize he'd lost a chance of happiness only after she had died of malaria? Did he have to have his epiphany too late?

Doesn't your romance loving heart ache? Where's the rainbow? Sometimes, I can't wait. I have the tendency to imagine different choices for characters who would be much happier, in the end, if they only made different choices.

But I see that there are a series of choices and a journey of character change needed for a believable happy ending. Believe me, if there had been a happy ending, with Winterbourne accepting Daisy at the end it would have been unsatisfactory. Fresh in my mind would be his uncomplimentary thoughts and words. To his aunt:

"It is very true," Winterbourne pursued, "that Daisy and her mama have not yet risen to that stage of - - what shall I call it? - - of culture, at which the idea of catching a count or a marchese begins. I believe that they are intellectually incapable of that conception."

A very, very unlikely hero. Even with his epiphany, if he had not undergone some serious character changes to make him worthy, a romance reader, would of course hate him for his lack of compassion and not wish for Daisy to be with such a character.

But could, I wonder, a romance writer redeem a "spineless snob" into a deserving hero? Oh, I can't help but see the ways...and they involve a lot of suffering - - not just a little - - but a lot on his part. This would include some begging for forgiveness and proving himself worthy once he realized how wrong he'd been. Yes, I'm a blood thirsty romance writer! But, oh, if it's pulled off...the reward could be great.

Really, modern genre romance is very special. Said another way, it is, in fact, a specialty. It seeks and delivers a deeper understanding of literature's universal truths:

The best literature is about the old universal truths, such as love, honor, pride, compassion and sacrifice. -- William Faulkner

But for genre romance, there is the added element of redemption. We don't want perfect characters, but we want characters to be redeemed and worthy of the happily ever after.

Meanwhile, as I wait for a happy ending (when I'm not imagining my own), I'm discovering a deeper appreciation of the timelessness of these universal truths. I almost think the difference in genre romance may be in how the romance writer examines these universal truths and follows up with using her specialty to transform the character's epiphany into a believable happy ending.

Have you read romances where the character has an epiphany too late for a believable happy ending? Can you imagine Winterbourne or another unlikely hero becoming redeemed?

Reading, reading, reading...

That New Year resolution stuff seems a long, long time ago. Resolutions? Who has time for resolutions? I think I said something about only posting a blog if it related to working on my story. I did, didn't I? Well, that was before the start of resuming full time college. Story? What story?

No, I can't say I've forgotten my story in the midst of the classes, but it has been nearly impossible to work in time to work on it. My goodness...the READING. Textbooks and essays and short stories and long stories. Oh, my. I'd become so accustomed to romance reading and zipping through a book in a day. Of course, romances are my first love. Who hasn't had those nights staying up into the wee hours of the morning to get to the HEA? Not that I hadn't ever stopped reading in the middle of a book. If things like breaking the rules of a good romance occurred, or I simply didn't like a character, then I'd stop. It had been a long time since I'd stuck with anything that didn't hold my interest.

So, when you HAVE to keep going, through thick and thin, it's a bit like breaking a bad habit. I partially planned for it and got a taste of what that would mean by reading the longer works for a literature class before classes started. Thank goodness I did! I'd be sunk if I hadn't at least done that. Heck, it took me over a month...maybe two with the starts and stops to finish Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING. And then Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES, went easier. Not exactly the gripping page turner as the back cover blurb promised, but I got through.

Getting through...sounds really bad, I know. These are great stories...just totally unfamiliar in the style I'd become accustomed to. No happy endings for one thing.

But even with the story set temporarily aside, the writer in me is being fed by the reading. I'm seeing common threads and adventures across history, geology, biology and even literature. These are thread I wouldn't have connected only days ago. And perhaps, years ago, without all my time thinking like a writer about character arcs and plots, I wouldn't have seen the common threads across the board or seen them as adventures. Evolution and Charles Darwin, for instance, I may have pegged in the subject of Biology, but it's influence is everywhere. Even in literature, the writers of the late 19th century, were influenced by Darwinism. Their style, naturalism, "portrayed men and women overwhelmed by the blind forces of nature." (p. 1125, Concise Anthology of American Literature.)

Although naturalism is described as "pessimistic," I adored a short story by Theodore Dreiser (1918). In "The Second Choice," the female protagonist struggles with getting over a "glorious interlude" with a man who made her feel as though "in a trice, nearly, there was a new heaven and a new earth." She loves him -- is mad about him -- and remembers every detail of their time..."oh, the stars, the winds, the summer breath of those days!" And she ignores for "a year" the near fiancee, the second choice. "Every word that she tolerated from him was so much gold to him, so much of dead ashes to her." And, "it was her fate to be loved by him in this moving, pleading way, and hers not to love him as she wished to love -- to be loved."

Oh, it was lovely, written by a pessimistic follower of "naturalism" or not. In a way I saw her as self absorbed, but I did understand. It was timeless, but at the same time rooted in it's time of 1918, when she didn't see many options outside of marriage. In the end, the character, says "my dreams were too high; that's all."

So, while it seems I've been reading stories without happy endings lately, I have been enjoying the variety that I hope will make me a better writer. I'll still want to write a happy ending though. :)

What are you reading? Finding gems outside of genre? Ever think about how the variety will change or affect your romance writing?

Breakthroughs that Lead to Rewards or Vice Versa: Part II

So, as I was saying in Part I, ever have a breakthrough in your story at a point when you didn't know you were stuck? Oh, I was stuck a little. But not in such a small way it didn't seem to count. Stuck, to me, is "how are they going to get out of this one?" This wasn't it.

Here I was, filling in a transition to my characters having an important conversation. My hero (the ghost, Ben) is present and he's more or less observing the heroine (his wife, Beth) and his sister (Carrie) settle in at the house. Beth is opening a bottle of wine while Carrie is wandering around the room looking at objects; photographs and scrapbooks and such.

I didn't think they were doing much at the time. They were just going through the motions. In fact, it was a bit boring, which is why I'd skipped this part to write the "good stuff" first. Here I'm filling in a hole. It was literally a lull after some tension and before the more meaningful conversation I had in mind and had already written.

Then a funny thing starts to happen. Objects start to become more important. Beth doesn't know which drawer the cork screw is in. It's a little thing that had been Ben's job and he whispers where it is in her ear. The scrapbook Carrie comes across is important too. As Beth tells Carrie, she put the scrapbooks together while Ben was away [as a photo journalist]. It made her feel closer to him. She added news clippings from his assignments and added what she'd been doing. Then they'd go through her scrapbook together when he came back. It dawns on Carrie that this last scrapbook Ben hadn't had a chance to see.

And then some serious what-if questions come to mind that lead to scenes to add. I won't explain that leap, but the whole point is that it all started with a lull. A lull that is no more, by the way. Now I think that scene is going to be suspenseful.

I love breakthroughs. Especially when they happen at points I don't want to write because I didn't think much is happening.

Ever have a scene turn to something more when you write out the details? Ever have a scene that you skip because it doesn't seem as important?

Breakthroughs that Lead to Rewards or Vice Versa: Part I

With all the soul searching going on about setting New Year's resolutions, I wondered if I'd ever find something concrete to hang on to. (Read previous blog on resolutions for some drifting.) In two ways, I've had mini breakthroughs.

One is in my approach to building a habit of daily writing for my story. The approach of looking at the numbers (word count, page count, time limits) weren't doing a lot for me. Approaching it from the other side, the reward...now we're talking! Rewards deserve fireworks. I'm on a celebration delay. :)

That's a big part of resolutions; the incentive of a reward. But what kind of reward? It has to be personal and something you really want to do. If a movie at the end of the week is a real treat, then that's a good reward. But is really something that inspires the task of writing? Is the reward something you'd really withhold from yourself or do it anyway? That's not such a bad idea, actually, to make the reward something you regularly do. The important part though is making the bargain that the reward comes last.

Writing a blog is my reward. True, call it rather a narcissistic (sp?) reward, but it fits as a personal thing I really like to do. The only problem is when I talk about writing before I actually write on the story. Or, instead of the story. I often take the reward first.

It seems to make sense, for me anyway, to tie the two, writing a blog and writing on the story together and flip them. The end result is simply this: that anything I write about in this blog is a direct result from my daily writing session.

No random topics for a while. My bargain with myself may change, but for now it seems to give me a good shot at establishing a routine and, if not a daily story writing habit, one I feel a little less guilty about. It may sound limiting for blog topics (especially if I didn't write!), but in many ways, it's the opposite. Two days of actual writing gives me lots of material. Do I need to talk about it? Well, yeah. :)

Part II comes from what I worked on in the story today and yesterday. Ever have a breakthrough in your story at a point you didn't even know you were stuck?

What is your writing reward? Come on, be a little narcissistic with your rewards. What did you write on today or yesterday? You did it so feel free to talk about it.

The Difference a Day Makes

New Year's Day, 2010: Day One of not just a new year, but a new decade. You knew that, right? I just had to say it and write it down. :)

Acknowledging it in print makes me appreciate the difference a day can make. Yesterday, I didn't want to reflect too long on one decade passing away. I'm not good with good byes. But today is a hello. That's different, don't you think? Somehow, today, even that saying "today is the first day of the rest of your life" doesn't seem so corny. It means a bit more today than it did only yesterday.

So, I get why today is special and I get why today is The Day for resolutions.

In thinking about the difference a day can make, I thought, there must be something more I can resolve as a writer. Something that pins down my end of year and somewhat open-ended goal of "keep moving forward" to something more specific. I felt, on this day when the mood shifts from looking back to looking forward, that it would be a good thing to take one more step.

So, I did make a resolution earlier today, but I took it back. *sheepish look* You know, like someone does when they have second thoughts and make a mad dash to recover an unsent letter. I almost got a way with it, too. Some one, and you know who you are, saw my resolution.

If you didn't see it, are you curious what it was? Hint: For a writer, it's something quite logical. Okay, I'm going to tell you, whether you are curious or not. *grin*

It was a resolution for daily writing.

Yep, that was it. Nothing too big. Why would I take it back? Part of it was the fact I'd spent considerable time declaring it then realized I hadn't, and probably wasn't, going to work on the story today. Oh, the irony! *LOL*

You might say there was a loophole. Didn't this blog count? Uhm, no. It could, but that's not what I meant and I know it.

I'm still going to try to write daily on the story, but I guess I'm not yet ready to commit. Is it possible to be in the plotting stage of a resolution? *grin*

First, I need some tips or tricks. Preferably tricks. Those things that lure me to write and keep me coming back. A couple that come to mind:

1. Begin in the middle of a scene. This means I have to end in the middle of a scene.
   
2. Write at the same time. (I never do. I will have to see what works.)

Next, the numbers. As much as I hate to think about minimums, there are only three ways to keep track; word count, page count and a time limit. Options (deliberately set low) :

1. Minimum 100 words.


2. Minimum of two pages.


3. Minimum of one hour or until #1 or #2 are achieved, whichever comes first. The hour can include plotting or research.

Why not try all three? The only trick I can think of is this: it has three things and I only have to do one of the three! And if I do #2 then I automatically have done #1. If I do #3 then I've done all three. Make sense?

I'm iffy on #3. I think the words in the story are what count. I can see myself spending every hour for a week on the plotting and "prep" work, but I also think they should count some way. How to set a time limit? Some say 15 minutes but I wouldn't get anything done that way. I guess it's a low limit just to get you started, like a low word or page count, but it seems like if the others are present then I'd have a longer time minimum.

And limit or ban the extras; blogging or emails until this is done? But...*whine*...my favorite blog discussions are in the morning. They are my warm up. Actually though, soon I will be in classes weekday mornings, so that answers that. Yep, I can ban it when I don't have a choice.

What about rewards? I think the extras like blogging and emails is a reward. Of course, the sense of accomplishment. What else? What other incentives to sustain me before the final, biggest reward of the words added up to a completed manuscript? Maybe even a point system. That would be kind of fun. Like 100 points for #1, 200 points for #2. Or would that be 300 points? Bonus points for above and beyond? Some kind of tangible reward every 1000 points?

How about some ideas? Any writing tricks or tips for developing a daily writing habit? Care to help me plot the resolution? Ever take back a resolution?