There I was, throwing myself dramatically on the floor, crying that I couldn’t do it, sounding remarkably like my four year old daughter, when Dr Jax at last arrived home from work. Honestly, I don’t think he knew what to make of it. No, that’s a lie, he knew exactly. I am the biggest drama queen in the world when it comes to my writing. When it’s not going right, NOTHING is right. I can’t concentrate on anything, I can’t do anything, I am a grumpy, horrible, whiny person. Dr Jax knew immediately what the problem was though and, luckily for myself, and for my CPs, he decided to stage an intervention before I bored them all senseless with endless emails of whiny, moany drivel.
Yup, you guessed it, heroine problems. I had changed her conflict so many times it was just one big mess and I couldn’t think my way out of it. It’s at times like this when I need a cool head to talk me through it and my husband is just amazing with stuff like that. Ten minutes later, a strong martini in hand, I was finally getting to the root of my problem – at least according to Dr Jax.
My heroines, he said, are too perfect. They have no dark sides. Which is very, very true. Not to mention the fact that they are defined by their conflict – like their personalities and their lives are totally formed by that one event. Argh!
However, it’s not all bad. After a long talk, aided by more martini and the wonderful ideas and suggestions from my fabulous (not to mention very patient) CPs, I have finally got an idea for a conflict for my heroine. It’s not exaggerated (I hope) and she has a personality outside of this
one conflict. I even managed to give her some weaknesses. Woohoo! She’s becoming a person! Now all I need to hope is that the editor agrees with this new idea.
So three cheers for Dr Jax. I told him that he could do a guest spot on my blog and everyone could write in with character questions that he could answer. He told me that finally he knew the real reason he went into psychiatry: to help me write my romance novels. 🙂
Anyone else had any breakthroughs this week? Or has it been full-on, kicking and screaming on the floor frustration?
Hooray for Dr Jax. And Hooray for you for having the good sense to marry such a useful man.
I’ve reached a full stop with my writing over the past few weeks – am thinking I maybe need to reconsider my ambitions. Kicking and screaming on the floor sounds like a very good idea to me.
Will look forward to Dr Jax’s guest spot.
XX
He is useful eh? Those trick-cyclists can be very clever fellows.
Oh no, sorry to hear you’re reconsidering. What about your short stories?
LOL, I threw my ‘this can’t be done’ tantrum yesterday. Today I have fabulous direction and inspiration just oozing from my fingers and- you guessed it – no time to write!
I guess you can’t have everything all the time, but it’d be nice if the planets could align occasionally.
Robyn
Hi Jackie. Glad Dr Jax intervened, he sounds like a wonderful keeper to me! Hope all keeps going well in the New Year.
Hooray for Dr Jax. Perhaps he could write a book listing all femaine traits,habits,fears, loathings, loves etc so that we can then use them when pitching our heroines at HM&B. Not a bad idea actually. Must go to the library and see if there is such a book ‘cos I’m SERIOUSLY struggling at the moment!
Merry Christmas. Caroline x
Congrats on your breakthrough.
Sounds like Dr. Jax would be a fabulous guest to have on your blog. His insight would help us all, I’m sure.
Hope your editor loves your changes.
Hey, I knew you’d get there in the end 🙂
GOOD LUCK, JACKIE!!
I’ll drink a martini to your success. Actually, I’ve never had a martini, but they look really cool!
Amy
Hi Jackie,
I’m glad Dr. Jax intervened. Support And Insight means Awesome.
I had my moments of crying and ranting (again) yesterday about the R. And was consoled with chocolates and “You can’t give in. And here I thought, I could retire once you sold,” from DH which had me laughing.
It seems like I’m getting over it and I just start bawling again. And to top it off, my laptop just got fried.
So taking a break from everything over the weekend.
Robyn – hahaha! It’s good to throw tantrums like that every now and then. Clears the air! But to have the urge to write and no time…big hugs on that one. I HATE that. 🙂
Sally – thanks. Yup, think I’ll keep him for the moment. 😉
Caroline – hey, great idea! I’ll ask him to write one!
Cat – he’d be a great guest blogger. Actually, I think I might seriously ask him if he would. 😉
Lorraine – not there yet, m’dear. Still the little question of whether the ed likes it. Sigh.
Amy – I loves me my martinis. Vodka not gin. They do taste like rocket fuel but I like ’em.
Sri – your hubby sounds as lovely as mine. Don’t give in eh? We can get there!
I so relate! I don’t do drama but I can sure host a pity party of one. May I schedule an appointment with Dr. Jax, please? :0
I do have something to share – The Proust Questionnaire. I found it very helpful in understanding my characters. Here is a link:
http://www.andyshack.com/2009/07/09/writing-characters-using-the-proust-questionnaire/
Hooray for Dr Jax 🙂
Love the idea of sipping a martini while talking about writing 🙂
More points to Dr. Jax, although we don’t want his head swelling now…but yes, handy that we as romance writers have to be amateur psychologists and you live with a professional. 🙂
Robyn, I’m only glad you had a light bulb moment! Boo on no writing time though.
I need to get my head in my WIP! I’m having trouble figuring out just how I want the black moment play out…so yeah, when is Dr. Jax gonna guest blog so I can asks him?
Dr Jax to the rescue!! Just the support we like. When I start talking about my characters, my DH always says something like-wait a minute, is this the one that does this, or that… my the answer is always-no, I’ve changed that…you get the picture.
Anyway, it’s good to have someone in the house that understands and who has complete faith in what you’re doing, even when you’re on the brink of giving up on yourself!
I’m doing a fantastic workshop(The Rule of Six) with shirley Jump at the moment. It’s given me a boost right when I needed it.
So, totally understand what you’re going through Jackie. Yay to Dr Jax again! Margie s
Eve – shall have to set up a virtual psych couch for Dr Jax. 🙂 Cheers for the link. Will check it out.
Joanne – works for me! 🙂
Maisey – it sure is useful. Though he’s rather scathing of what I have to do with my characters sometimes. He says real people are much more random. Which is why they can’t be too real I guess.
Okay, will seriously have to ask him. He was all like ‘pshaw, I don’t have anything to offer’ when I asked him to do a spot. But maybe I can talk him round. 🙂
Margie – yes, Dr Jax does do that sometimes too! He thought I’d got it sorted actually and was…resigned shall we say when I told him I hadn’t. 🙂 Support at home is vital definitely. Congrats on your workshop! Sounds like just the thing you need.
Hey there Jackie. I have every confidence you’ll get through this come hell or high water. Sometimes a man’s point of view helps. They look at the big picture whereas we’re so close and have fried our brains thinking so hard.
So glad it’s beginning to click.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and to all the ladies here.
Gibb
LOL! Thank God for Dr Jax 😀
Dr Jax saves the day 🙂 What a useful hubby you have, Jackie. It’s difficult when we’re too close to the work and can’t see the forest for the trees.
No breakthrough with my writing. I’m currently in a ‘this-is-crap-and-I-should-just-abandon-it’ phase. Does that *ever* go away?!
That’s so true, Gibb! We need to step back. I keep getting caught up on the little things… Merry Xmas to you too.
Lacey – Yes, I thank God for him every day! 🙂
Angie – he is a god among men. And no, the ‘it’s crap’ phase doesn’t go away. Sometimes it’s a little less insistent though. 🙂
Good for Dr Jax, now all he has to do is learn how to clone himself 🙂
Laurie Schnebly Campbell has this great book about eneagrams (prob spelt that wrong) that helps you assign each character a fatal flaw. The idea being that in each given situation, a character will react differently dependent on her background (experiences, age etc.) as well as her fatal flaw. It’s a fantastic tool for making your characters suffer. You work out what they hate most, then chuck that at them 🙂
Just an idea, for future books, now you have this one sorted 🙂
The ed loved my heroine, but thought my hero was a little … ahem … stiff. Hmm … so, anyway, I have the opposite problem to you.
Joanne – great tip! Thanks for that. Though sadly the book is far from sorted. And it’s not a book. Lol!
Nothing wrong with a hero that’s a little…um…stiff if you know what I mean. Of course, it has to be in the right place. 😉
LOL, I’d like to introduce my Hero to Joanne’s lovely heroine. He’s particularly appealing and comes with warm, witty and realistic dialogue! (an on-line dating service for romance heroes…)
As for my heroine, she’s still desperately trying to read between the lines and find some mention of herself. Frankly, I think she needs to have a session on the couch. Maybe that’ll help to determine her failing as a romance heroine candidate. I do love her and would hate for her to be scarred for life (she already is, as despite a successful career, she’s still haunted by her past), or heaven forbid, end her days as an unsatisfied spinster with unfulfilled dreams (No, she doesn’t like the archive file).
Congrats on your productive Martini session! Mine are usually aided by a G&T without the G and Cointreau choc truffles!
Veronica – like the idea of the truffles. Your heroine and my heroine should do lunch sometime. Maybe they could learn from each other!
Jackie,
You’re hilarious! Seriously, for a while there I could have been a contender for that Drama Queen tiara but I feel you deserve it more, what with crying on the floor and everythin! And Dr. Jax is quite the man, isn’t he? I love it when the husbands prove useful for more than one thing…
Conflict is a disaster. Literally. It messes up everything, which I’m sure it’s supposed to do but keeping it relevant throughout the story while simultaneously showing a character’s growth and acceptance to overcome said conflict is harder than rearing children. And we all know how hard that is.
I guess it’s been said before but maybe it’s worth saying again, keep it simple. Think Denzel in Philadelphia, ‘explain it to me like I’m a six year old’. You’re almost there, your writing is fantastic and once you’ve nailed the clashing conflicts for H & h, I’m sure Dr. Jax will find time for his other patients, the REAL ones!
All the best,
Aideen.
Lol Aideen!! Harder than rearing children it certainly is! Think I’ve got it simple now, all I need is the big AOK.
Oh and thanks re the writing. 🙂
Dr Jax’s patients would be MUCH simpler to deal with than my stupid characters. 😉