Tag: creative writing

Writing romance in the #MeToo era

~ Meg ~ 118 Comments

This is not a political article.

I stumbled upon a Twitter feed yesterday that made me think… Are books, TV and movies giving men the wrong ideas about how to approach women? How does it usually go? The hero meets cute girl at the grocery store/park/gallery/whatever, is immediately attracted and pursues with great (creepy) enthusiasm. He is relentless and she finally acquiesces to his charm. Sigh… True love!

Here’s what happened to the young woman on Twitter. She’s walking her dog in the park. Dog stops to sniff near a bench where Man is sitting. He makes friendly gestures, offers dog one of the pretzels he’s eating, smiles at Girl.

“Beautiful dog.” Man

“Thanks!” Girl

“Haven’t seen you around here before. You live nearby?” Man

“Um, yeah. Not too far.” Girl

“Nice, me too.” Man

Blah, blah, conversation about the weather….

“Are you single?” Man

At this point girl is getting nervous. He has left the bench and stands nearby. He’s waaay too familiar. Touches her arm. Moving closer, invading her space.

Still she tells the truth. “Yes, I’m single.”

“We should get together sometime…” Man

“Ummm” Girl. “I have to go.”

Girl leaves, walks along park pathway, stops to answer a text from a friend. Finds Man behind her. Now she’s scared.

“Hey, I thought you had to go.” Man says with a grin.

“Just answering a text.” Girl

Anyway, she got away safe. Was a little freaked out and plans on taking the dog on another route for their daily walk. My point is, isn’t this a typical scenario for a romantic comedy and/or romantic novel? The woman is reluctant, the man is relentless and in the end they fall madly in love. What we, as writers/film makers, are reinforcing is this idea that creepy behavior wins the girl! Now believe me, I love the idea of instant attraction and that intial spark of chemistry that transmutes into life-long love. But… How do we write that without sending the wrong message?

Isn’t this the exact same formula that romance writers and film makers repeatedly use? It never occurred to me that it was a ‘thing’ until I read the experience of this young woman. Even though I’ve never used a scenario like this in any of my stories, I still feel like I need to reevaluate the way I approach romance in my writing. As a woman and an author I feel like I have a responsibility to write creatively but with conscience. If we women write this kind of story, aren’t we telling men that this is what we want? What say you, fellow writers? This is important stuff….

A clean slate for the new year.

~ Meg ~ 16 Comments

I did it! I managed to finish the revisions of Breaking Bread before the end of the year. I’ve passed it off to a few readers for last minute feedback on the change in the story. I’m sending to my editor today with his promise to have it back to me by the end of February. In the meantime, I will work on the book cover and writing the dreaded blurb. Watch for publication in early March!

Today, I opened the file for “Here Lies a Soldier” and began rereading the story so far. I’ve dusted off my notebook for the novel and begun jotting down ideas for some changes and for what happens next. I can feel the neurons beginning to fire and I’m looking forward to picking up the threads of this story set between modern day and the time of The Great War. Watch for interesting bits of research I find as I read to write.

I also received some very exciting news at the end of the year, but I will save that for tomorrow as it deserves a post of its own!

giphy

The waning days of 2017

~ Meg

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. – A Tale of Two Cities; Charles Dickens

This was a year of ups and downs, frustrations and accomplishments. The planned release of my latest novel was postponed, shelved, revised and finally rescheduled. It’s nearly there at long last, after each deadline I set for myself went whooshing by. I’m confident that the manuscript will be ready to hand off to my editor for a final proof by December 31. I have also begun to assemble my short stories into a collection and with the addition of a few more left here on the blog, I will have another small book to release in 2018. It will be a relief to start the new year with a clean slate.

While I struggled with writing this year, that is to say, to come up with new ideas for fiction and poetry, I didn’t while away the days frivolously. I invested some time in educating myself on the way to approach traditional publishing, I edited and revised existing material according to professional feedback I received. This will undoubtedly help me improve as a writer.

In addition, I embarked upon a few other creative pursuits. For one thing, I bought myself a decent camera. My hope is to improve my photography skills with the objective of using the photos for book covers, interior illustrations and subject matter for my other visual arts projects: sketching and painting. At a minimum, I’ll have plenty of images to accompany posts on the blog.

Moving forward into 2018, I plan on resuming the research and writing of my World War One story, Here Lies a Soldier. It won’t be posted here but I will keep you updated with my progress. And with interesting bits of information I uncover in my research. I will likely find inspiration for artwork as I read up on The Great War as well.

So with just a little less than two weeks left in 2017, I’d better make good use of the remaining time. Off to the keyboard…