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Hero

Book Review: Cold-Hearted Rake

March 11, 2020 by Elizabeth Drake

ColdHeartedRake.PNG
Heroine does not look how I imagined her, but the gardens and manor house do.

This was a book I bought for myself. I had picked up one of Lisa Kleypas’s audio books at my library for a long car trip, and I liked it so much I decided to try the first book in her Ravenels series.

The story is set during the Victorian era as much is changing in land ownership and its place in the social hierarchy. It definitely portrays how vulnerable women were, and our hero is not a man of his times, at least when it comes to respecting women and their wishes. This is par for the course for historical romance. Hard for a modern reader to root for a hero that treats his wife like cattle.

The plot was a combination of the romance between the hero and heroine, as well as a “scapegrace” coming to terms with the responsibilities of a crumbling earldom in a time where landownership no longer confers wealth.

The hero definitely has his work cut out for him, though I am not completely certain why he chose to accept the responsibility. But he did, and it changes him. The weight of so many people needing him, depending on him, helps make him a different man. One capable at the end of truly loving the heroine.

This is also a story where the hero is smitten with the heroine from almost the very beginning. I am not certain I believe it from a “cold-hearted rake”, but I was more than willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy.

It did have some head-hopping. We moved between different characters in the same page, and those characters included people beyond the hero and heroine. I only note this after how much push-back I received from editors for doing the same thing.

All in, it was a great read. Good enough that I plan to purchase the next book in the series.

It also taught me a few things.

First, having a hero you don’t especially like at the beginning is okay if you can make him likable enough and redeemable. The hero was ready to toss all the sisters and widow of the former earl out as the earl hadn’t provided for them in his will. He doesn’t, and that helps build his character and make him likable.

Second, this is clearly the first book of a series. I paid close attention to how she laid the foundation for the characters who will get their own book in this story.

Third, her steamy scenes are fantastic. I need to go back and study them more. I feel like I have learned a lot in my years of writing, but this is something I am always trying to do better.

I am looking forward to reading the next book.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: Happily-ever-after, head hopping, Hero, Journey, Lisa Kleypas, love, Romance, romance author, Romance Novel, Romance Writer, steamy scenes

Perseverance vs Stubbornness

May 30, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

When does perseverance become stubbornness?

Said another way, when is sticking with an endeavor the wrong thing to do?

This is a tough question, but also an important one.

Many times, I feel like if things are too hard, we as a society quit. That if something doesn’t come to us right away, there are so many other things to distract us that we don’t have to fight for it.

Success

But some of us don’t know when to let go. Facebook has proven that to me.

There has to be a middle ground.

When I was in high school, I loved tennis. It was a fast sport, kept my attention as I chased the fuzzy yellow ball, and involved no physical contact. But I understood even then that no matter how many hours I put into the sport (and I put in quite a lot), I would never be as good as the best player on our team. In her freshman year, she was already #1 on the varsity team and ranked in the top players in the state.

I didn’t have the raw talent she did, and even with hours and hours of practice every day, I knew I’d never get a college scholarship playing tennis, much less go pro.

Perseverance2

I knew enough to let tennis go and focus on my studies. Not always an easy choice, particulatly with the emphasis on sports in high school, but the right one.

I faced a similar issue with deciding between perseverance and stubbornness on a story I recently started.

I’d based it loosely on Romeo and Juliet…

Except it was two kingdoms instead of two families

And Romeo was a responsible and war-hardened prince

And there was going to be a happily-ever-after.

Okay, so nothing like Romeo and Juliet.

RomeoJulietNotRomance.png
Still not sure why people think it is a romance.

I had characters in mind for the story and a rough idea of what would happen. This is normal for my pantser self. But more than that, my muse wasn’t just sitting on my shoulder, she was screaming in my ear.

The words flowed until somewhere around the five-thousand word mark, and then my muse turned silent. I plodded along a little more, then I went back and reread my work.

My war-hardened prince was distant and unresponsive.

My heroine waffled between the demure personality I had envisioned and the strong-willed woman she wanted to be.

My external-to-the-romance plot was held together with paperclips and sticky notes.

Yeah, it was a hot mess.

And I didn’t want to edit it. I didn’t want to fix it. And I was only 5,000 words in.

My thoughts kept drifting to the heroine’s older brother, thinking maybe I should tell his story first and come back to her.

This time, rather than jumping into the story, I mulled over his character. How his kingdom fits into my larger world. What the ramifications are of having been a pocket kingdom beholden to an undead abomination. How much the royal family would sacrifice to protect their people.

It helped me create a solid character.

CharactersPlot
Never really had a plot to begin with

His love interest started to take shape at that point. I tried several different characters, until I found one that worked.

As I’m still working through edits on other stories and not ready to start a new novel, I decided to take my new characters on role-playing test drives. Basically, bouncing them through different “what-ifs” to see how they work together.

In each different scenario, I had to do something to “break” the hero to get through the layers of propriety, duty, and honor that defines him.

But it defines him. I can’t break that and have still be him.

After four or five different scenarios, I finally came up with one I think works. Yes, it removes three characters I had thought were essential. (hint: they weren’t).

But it lets the hero be the man he is all the way through the story. No need to “break” who he is to get him to fall in love. And that feels right.

Now, to find the time to write this…

What this taught me was persistence is important, but so is knowing when to let go and try something else. I haven’t given up on my hero, but I did let myself give up on various things that didn’t work to find the one I think will give me the best story.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Don't quit, Facebook, Happily-ever-after, Hero, heroine, Pantser, perseverance, plot, prince, Romance, stubborn, talent, tennis, War

Goal Update: A Bit of a Delay

February 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

My beta reader was taking a bit longer than normal on this particular piece of work, and while I was a bit worried about it, they have a very busy life.

Yeah, that wasn’t it (though they do). Nice try on my part.

She gave me some high level feedback explaining why it was taking a bit longer.

beta-reader
The look she gave me was very similar.

There will be a bit of a delay in releasing Knight of Valor.

She noted I needed to tighten my beginning. Doable within my original release date timeline.

More than that, I needed to flesh out my hero in the beginning. She thought he felt flat. I cringed a little, knowing why she was saying it and where it came from.

I wrote this book over four years ago. It was one of three books I completed when I first got back into writing, and the only one I loved the characters enough to try to salvage. The other two are now buried on my hard drive and are not fit for human eyes.

But I loved Sir Marcus. I wanted to do him justice. And through him and his story, and I pushed myself to do better as a writer. His story helped me learn a lot about finding my voice, plot and character development, and even trusting myself as a writer.

So, I’d set Knight of Valor aside for a while and work on other things, become a better writer, and tackle this story again.

During the process, I read a whole bunch of craft books. And you can see their influence on the story. One of them was how to write a romance hero…and I did Sir Marcus a lot of disservice. Granted, he overcomes the bad writing advice towards the middle on the book, but it takes him a while.

church-3599448_640
I may be shabby from time to time, but his faith in me in strong.

At the time, they were telling romance authors that romance readers wanted alpha heroes. Don’t even bother writing anything else as it won’t sell and an agent won’t want it. So I changed him.

And he was no longer Sir Marcus.

Don’t misunderstand me. He is neither meek nor mild. He was not the “chosen one” and forced to do anything. He saw evil, and if there was a chance he could destroy that evil, he had to try. He dedicated most of his life training to do just that.

But he’s still a genuinely nice guy. The kind of person who’d come over and help you fix your roof because he heard you were having trouble without being asked. You’d share an ale afterwards, and that would be all the thanks he’d need or want.

Punch a kid or kick or dog? You don’t want him to see you do that.

Kill a village to fuel a evil spell?

Time to run. Fast.

middle-ages-knight

So, I need to let his true personality shine through the first half of the book as well as the second. No easy task, that.

Oh, and I need to fix a plot hole, tighten up my pacing, and remove a few loose ends from earlier drafts I missed. And this is before I get back the full list of revisions.

*deep breath*

I see why this is taking a bit of time to get back the beta read. I also know I sent this out for just this reason.

I am literally on my eighteenth revision of this story. Yeah. Eighteenth. That I’ve counted. The first draft and several subsequent ones (no idea how how many four, maybe five?), I didn’t number and track. I am really close to this story, and I’ve put a lot of work into it. I can sometimes lose the forest through the trees. So I need more help on this than most.

It means a lot to me. I really want to get it right.

So, this is going to be a large revision, not a small tighten-things-up late game revision.

And that’s okay. Sir Marcus deserves the best story I can give him.

Yes, it means my entire plan for the year needs to change.

Yes, it means I will not make that April publishing deadline.

Both are okay.

I want to give you the best story I can.

Delaying the release date until June or July gives me the time to make it the best that I can right now.

You deserve that, and so does Sir Marcus.

Filed Under: Goals Tagged With: beta reader, deadline, delay, Goals, Hero, Publishing, release date, revision, romance author, Romance Novels, Romance Writer, Setting goals, Sir Marcus

Micro Fiction: The End

November 20, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

SirMarcusLichCrown

Sir Marcus’s steps sent the dusty remains of the undead abomination up in puffs around him.

The Knight covered his nose as he crushed the lich’s jeweled crown beneath his steel boots.

But Sir Marcus felt no joy at the victory.

He was the only thing that stirred as the blood of his comrades congealed on the cold stone floor.

So much for being a hero.

Filed Under: Micro Fiction, Uncategorized Tagged With: Hero, Lich, Sir Marcus, Victory

Writing Process: The Writer Rebels

October 18, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

I know, I’m supposed to be revising Knight of Valor.

rewrite2

Sir Marcus, the hero in the story, is one of my favorite characters ever. I want to do him justice in the story. I want to the book to be as close to perfect as I can get it.

But, a story idea has been heckling me since May. It wants to be written. So, feeling a little burned out from editing Seducing the Ice Queen, I decided to start this other story.

Squee!

I love the high of beginning a new work! The rush of possibilities. Seeing things unfold.

I am in full pantser mode.

Yeah, I’m at 10k words. Things are still flowing like a bright river of gold. My muse is screaming in my ear. I can’t get the characters out of my head.

Magic

It’s a runner’s high but for writers. This is literally the best part of writing.

Now, to still be here at 35k words…

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Hero, Knight in shining armor, Knight of Valor, Pantser

I Forgive You

October 9, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

IForgiveYou

Sir Marcus stared down at the graves.

His father, a hero of Tamryn. His mother, the hero’s beloved wife.

Marcus felt no sadness.

Closing his eyes, he whispered a prayer and opened himself to the gods’ divinity.

He touched his hand to the graves and whispered, “I forgive you.”

Filed Under: Knights, Micro Fiction Tagged With: Hero, I forgive you, Knight, Knight of Valor

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