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characters, Debra Dixon, Drawing Free, Elena Aitken, GMC, Goal Motivation & Conflict, Joely Sue Burkhart, Kait Nolan, Raelyn Barclay, readers, reading, recommended reads, Sloan Parker, writers, writing
I want to pitch that book across the room. Not the best practice these days with over half my reading being done on an eReader, LOL. However, it does result in my not finishing the book more often than not. It also makes me less likely to buy that author again.
Is it subject?
An established author, one I trust to see me to the end of the journey, can and has escorted me across many a line I thought firmly drawn. I’m looking at you Joely and Sloan 😀
For example, I generally have zero tolerance for cheating spouses. Yet, Elena Aiken has a character do just that in Drawing Free
On the other hand, another author, a first time read for me, has lost me. Her hero gets amnesia and ends up having an affair. I’m not even sure I can call it an affair, LOL. Anyway, amnesia…I should be able to forgive him, right?
Does that mean gender makes a difference?
Well, I do like my heroes to be perfect, or perfectly flawed with the ability to become more with the heroine’s love. But, no, I don’t think the sex of the character has much to do with it, as long as the character STAYS in character.
Back to the amnesic hero, if the ‘affair’ happened off the page, I probably would have forgiven him. I mean, he didn’t remember much beyond his name, didn’t know he had a wife waiting for him, or that the villain of the story was making her life miserable as only a great bad guy can do.
As it was, it felt like the author tried to fit some erotica into a mainstream historical romance. Those scenes were not needed to move the story forward. We have the heroine’s POV. Readers felt the tension build the longer the hero was missing, feared dead.
So is it craft?
Kait Nolan has a wonderful scene questionnaire. Type A that she is (hey, she admits this), she completes it before writing a word. Me, I like to use it for revisions/edits. In it she says every scene must do three things.
Which of the following does the scene accomplish?
____ (G) Dramatically illustrate a character’s progress toward the goal or provide an experience which changes a character’s goal.
____ (M) Provide a character with an experience that strengthens his motivation or changes his motivation.
____ (C) Bring a character into conflict with opposing forces.
It can, of course accomplish all three, but minimally must accomplish at least one. This point gives me the broad goal of the scene.
What are the three reasons for the scene?
Now one of my three reasons for the scene can be answering the GMC *** question above. But I must have at least 3 total reasons for the scene to be included and make the cut. Why three? Well, if I remember correctly, I think Dixon says something about it in her book, but mostly it’s because I think of something having three points as being stable. If I can come up with three reasons, then more than likely I won’t have to axe the scene later.
I think she has a point about three points being stable. It’s no wonder three-legged stools have been around forever. (And the image analogies using them…wow.)
But I digress.
Do you have a hard limit where characters are concerned? What do you do when characters cross the line?
*** Kait references: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict by Debra Dixon, one of my recommended reads.
Raelyn Barclay 
My biggest pet peeve is when heroines put themselves in grave danger and attempt the ridiculous – out of stubborness and folly. I want to chuck the book…er, reader, across the room just like you. But I don’t – as that would be cutting my nose off to spite my face. Ha! Oh! For a heroine like Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. She’s stubborn, she misreads Darcy, she even exhibits a bit of folly – but she does so within the framework of reasonable behavior. Likewise, I don’t mind a bold heroine who takes a big risk, provided she is at least somewhat equipped to be confident of success. Over-embellished drama irks me. But other readers may adore it! Ha. I suppose that’s the beauty of books – we can all find exactly what we like. :}
The heroine has just heard a blood-curdling scream from the basement. The power is out. The heroine is alone. So of course, the heroine goes into the basement without a flashlight. :snicker:
Yep, I hear you Nadja 😆
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Whatever it is, it’s gotta be believable to the character they’ve built. Step outside that and…I’ll have a hard time wrapping my head around it and then I’ll step out of the story. Which sucks.
I agree Natalie. And in the amnesic hero situation, the scenes would have been believable of the hero’s character prior to his meeting and marrying the heroine. Thus having them after he was married felt completely wrong for the story.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
If a character does a complete 180 in the story, and there’s nothing to show the where, when or why for the change (amnesia doesn’t count because forgetting events don’t remove the things that make a person innately them), that can a bother.
So are you dignified or do you want to throw the book across the room? 😆
Actually, that’s a good point. Amnesia doesn’t change the core of who the person is. That make this particular hero’s line crossing worse. Poor heroine, she got a dud for a hero!
Thanks for stopping by Angela 🙂
I don’t like it when characters cheat, either. Saying it’s part of their character is like saying some people are predisposed to cheating and there’s nothing to be done about it. It’s always a choice.
I also can’t stand it when characters allow people to hurt them, emotionally and physically, over and over. Hurt me once, shame on you; hurt me twice, shame on me. There’s this one author, and even though the series is popular and I liked the first book, I got so mad watching the “heroine” be emotionally abused by every single male character in the book. I didn’t want to throw the book so much as I wanted the “heroine” to rip the hearts out of every single guy’s chest, including her so-called love interest. Despite the cliffhanger, I’m not reading any more of the series.
Yeah. There’s enough of that in the real world. I’ll read it if I see the character growing and shaking the victim mantle but I’m with you, “Hurt me once, shame on you; hurt me twice, shame on me.”
Thanks for stopping by Angela!
In my opinion conflict is material and it has to be believable by the reader. Granted, cheating makes my gut wretch but isn’t that the idea? I have read books that I wanted to throw across the room that had too much ‘niceness’ to it opposed to a book that made me angry. I like it when a good story has me on the edge of my seat or hitting the arm of my chair or debating with another reader about the character and their choices. To me, if there’s a moral to a story, or a lesson learned, I like it. As long as it’s believable. And conflict, conflict, conflict. A man with amnesia cheats on his wife? Sure, I can see the psychological strain in that, the emotional turmoil, and all the other “what if’s”. Do I agree with it as a reader? Absolutely not. Would I add that type of tension into one of my stories? Of course! Why? Because it sticks.
Now please don’t throw your ereader at me 🙂
LOL, no eReader throwing.
“I like it when a good story has me on the edge of my seat or hitting the arm of my chair or debating with another reader about the character and their choices.” — Definitely!!
I’m with you on the conflict. In the story I mentioned, the amnesia was believable, even him cheating as he didn’t remember he was married, which is why I said if it had happened off page I’d have been okay with it. As it was, the author had scene after scene of erotic type sex that brought absolutely nothing to the story beyond pissing me off, LOL.
Thanks for stopping by Audrey!
Thought-provoking post, Raelyn! Many of my characters cross the line, but animals can never, ever get hurt. I don’t mind line-crossing at all, if it works and suits the story. When stories or characters jump over them in order to seem cool or shocking, though, not so much.
Suits the story…that really is the core of it, isn’t it. A good line-crossing will even make me grow as a reader 🙂
Thanks for stopping by August!
My favorite book in my writer’s library is Deb Dixon’s Goals, Motivation, and conflict.
Yeah, it’s pretty high on the ol’ list of favorites 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Ciara.
I can tell that my WIP won’t have many readers among yours, Raelyn!
LOL, how so Julia? His Original Sin sounds interesting. From the blurb it, you’ve set up the personality and the conflict, he’s not crossing the line of his character.
Thanks for stopping by!
Let’s just say that some things aren’t left to the imagination. 😉
I’m glad you find my premise interesting. It’s a good motivation toward actually getting it finished! 🙂
(Oh, and a huge, gushing TY for the link! 😀 )
My answer isn’t that original because August already said it, but I enjoyed this post so much that I just had to join in. I’m tolerant of characters crossing almost any line, but I can’t stand it when animals get hurt. I still remember one author who had the young hero’s father kill the stray cat the hero had been trying to hide. I didn’t finish reading that book. I didn’t keep it. And I never picked up another of their books again.
Yeah, animals are a no-no 🙂 In the end, I’m pretty much tolerant of characters crossing the line as long as it fits their character and the story. And like I said to August, a good line-crossing makes me grow as a reader.
Glad you enjoyed the post Marcy, thanks for stopping by.
One of my big pet peeves is when characters have sex that doesn’t advance the story. Don’t get me wrong, I love romances and well-written erotica. But there must be a reason for the sex other than to shock the reader.
I can’t handle most cheating, either. I don’t think the amnesia cheating would have bugged me if it advanced the story. Since it didn’t? I think I would have deleted the book right there.
Yep. I hear you Nicole, sex has to advance the plot or add to the character growth.
It happened to have been a paperback That Man brought home from the store for me. So kudos to him for thinking of me but it was out the door in the next donation run, LOL. Sadly, that author, pretty big name too, lost me.
Thanks for stopping by!
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