In this break between writing frenzies (I’m plotting up a contemporary romance with a traveling woman heroine), I’m plowing through fantasy stories. Not sure why, but in the past week, I’ve watched The Golden Compass (already read the trilogy) on DVD, and Twilight (didn’t read the book) and Bolt (3-D!) at the movies. I’ve read The Neverending Story, Beauty (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast), The Last Unicorn and 2/3 of the Final Empire series, Mistborn and The Well of Ascension, with The Hero of Ages expected to arrive in the mail on Monday. I also tried to get into a couple or paranormal romances, one with a vampire and one with werewolves and others, but it’s apparently not hard-core fantasy enough for me this week (of course, I “devour” the J.R. Ward vampire books the day they come out). Haven’t been on this strong a kick since high school, not counting the “Harry Potter” marathons.
I’m loving the new worlds and new ideas and new philosophies and comedy, but I miss the deeper emotions. There is a lot of play, and meta-fiction, and clever writing, but forgive me if I think that seeing her father ripped to shreds in front of her wouldn’t make a character a little choked-up from time to time, even if he was her estranged father who never knew of her. Readers of these books are looking for something else, not what readers of romance are looking for. So I’m considering, maybe romance readers won’t want to read so much about a principled newspaperman’s moral dilemmas, but about his hots for the heroine and emotional dilemmas. There must be room for both.
Meanwhile, here are two of my current favorite media clips: “Doghouse” (a 5-min video) and “Winter Wonderland,” Led Zeppelin style (audio).
Post a Comment