When Mary Sue-ing works and when it doesn't.
See how I'm not punching him? I think I've grown.
Mal ,'Shindig'
Spike's Bitches 44: It's about the rules having changed.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Aims - Aug 12, 2009 4:46:53 am PDT #19464 of 30000
Shit's all sorts of different now.
Barb - Aug 12, 2009 4:52:35 am PDT #19465 of 30000
“Not dead yet!”
I'm afraid that wouldn't work so well. Too many of the readers lurrrrrrrrve Twilight and don't get how that's a prime example of Mary Sue-ism at its... worst? finest? I'm not sure, actually.
erikaj - Aug 12, 2009 5:07:08 am PDT #19466 of 30000
"already on the kiss-cam with Karl Marx"-
Writing superstitions? Cause I've always got a new goofy ritual. Not quite like the ballplayer that doesn't change his socks, but...
Calli - Aug 12, 2009 5:14:59 am PDT #19467 of 30000
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Changes in power distribution between the hero and heroine?
Traditional: Millionaire/Earl/Doctor vs. Secretary/Governess/Nurse
More recently: Mega-Heiress/Duchess/High-level magician vs. Average wealth/Lower Aristocracy/Computer programmer
I'm still not seeing a lot of Duchesses romancing their friend's children's math tutors, but there do seem to be more books with less dramatic Prince/Cinderella power distributions these days.
sj - Aug 12, 2009 5:20:33 am PDT #19468 of 30000
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
With all the black clothing in my closet, you would think it would be easy enough to figure out what to wear to a funeral but nsm.
Ginger - Aug 12, 2009 5:50:38 am PDT #19469 of 30000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Turns out, it was an ovarian cyst about the size of a cantaloupe that had hemorrhaged and twisted around my f-tube. I got surgery for that one.
I cannot imagine how you managed not to try to do surgery on yourself. My ruptured ovarian cyst is the standard by which I measure all pain, working under theory that 11 is a ruptured ovarian cyst.
DCJensen - Aug 12, 2009 5:56:50 am PDT #19470 of 30000
All is well that ends in pizza.
Even without an internal frame of reference for the body parts that makes me cringe.
My worst pain was a grapefruit sized cyst, and your non-embellished statement makes it seem to be a 9...
Kathy A - Aug 12, 2009 6:15:10 am PDT #19471 of 30000
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Barb, have you already written about how romance publishing seems to go in cycles? I remember the years-long fad of Baby Romances from the early-to-mid '90s, and now we have vampire/supernatural romances. I'd be interested in hearing how authors handle either writing for the fad or writing in spite of the fad and how they get published if they do the latter.
Barb - Aug 12, 2009 6:28:23 am PDT #19472 of 30000
“Not dead yet!”
I haven't written about that, Kathy, but others have tackled the subject. I think just recently there was a column about the differences between urban fantasy and paranormal romance and how the lines are blurring.
Vortex - Aug 12, 2009 6:31:45 am PDT #19473 of 30000
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman
Molly Ringwald wrote a lovely editorial about John Hughes in the New York Times.