Believable Romantic Resolution

Tami Cowden & Margaret Golla, photo taken by Susan Shay, http://www.susanshay.net/


My epiphany happened roughly at 4:27 PM, 2/14/09 at the very end of Tami Cowden's presentation of the Hero & Heroine Archetypes, including villains.

During the AM session, she hit all the archetypes M & F & V (male, female, villain) and their various attributes. It was interesting to note that many of the villains were simply the dark side of the archetype they represented and had the same characteristics of the 'good' side.
What makes a villain would be a whole other blog, but it was eye opening to say the least.

In the afternoon, she talked about how to put the personality of the character on the page (fodder for another blog) and believable Romantic Resolution. Over the years I tried to write romances, and this was the one thing I never understood. Various people had described it to me as what is the internal conflict that keeps them apart.

I couldn't seem to get it.

It wasn't until Tami pointed out that the H/H archetypes could clash, but when they softened they could be the best counter traits to their partner. It was the clashing of personalities/characterization that provided the internal conflict. *ding, ding, ding* For me, this was the light bulb moment. Yeah, that often cliched line, "You complete me." is actually true.

I know some of you will be thinking, "Well yeah, Margaret, you doof!", but it took Tami Cowden and her archetypes to explain it in a way for me to 'get it'.

What was your most recent light bulb moment?
Write On!

Heroes & Heroines

I. AM. STOKED.
Tami Cowden is coming to town tomorrow. She's presenting a workshop sponsored by my old RWA chapter, Romance Writers Ink. I quit the chapter at the end of last year since the direction of my writing is moving away from romance and is heading toward a different genre, Urban Fantasy. That said, I'd be stupid not to take advantage of her presentation of her 16 master archetypes. Yes, the book is labelled Heroes & Heroines and it seems to be geared toward romance, but, as I've mentioned in other posts, I firmly believe in cross-training. A writer who thinks there is nothing left to learn is not very far sighted (How very PC of me, hm? Normally, I would have said, stupid, but I didn't).
There is ALWAYS something to learn and discover.
I just wish I had time this last week to reread the book. I bought it about seven years ago and read it then, but haven't picked it up since then. *sigh* Isn't that the way it always works?
I did manage to skim through it and there is a buttload of info. Even if you don't write romances, you can still read how your main protagonist will react to other personality types.
Write on!