Comments on: The Red String Bracelet Or The Problem with Quirks https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/ Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:15:46 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Suzanne Jones https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1550 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:15:46 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1550 Hi Jackie – agree with everyone who said this is a brilliant post. Love that you can explain the mechanics behind character so well and can totally see where the bracelet ties in with Kate and her story.

Hugs re the waiting.

Maisey – I think an episode of Desperate Housewives had the same drugged up/baby making plot. Of course, being tv rather than romance, the victim loathed his ex wife and wasn’t at all happy with proceedings.

XX

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1549 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:45:39 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1549 Veronica – sure, quirks are part of the layering. But my problem was that there wasn’t a reason for them. And if you make a point of them, you have to give the readers a reason for them otherwise your character will come across like a cardboard set – looks impressive but there’s nothing behind it. I think it’s different for everyone – some will put in the quirks and then build the reasons for them. Others decide on the conflict first and then put in quirks that help characterise. Like that bee tattoo. If I was reading about a heroine with one, I’d want to know why she had it. Why a bee? Why a tattoo? And if it wasn’t ever explained by the author, then what was the point in the first place? But I think I’ve got Kate’s basics figured out. Now I just need to write her down so I can learn more about her.Tricky stuff!

Maisey – will do.

]]> By: Maisey https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1548 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:04:38 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1548 Yeah, if you want something fun,LOL funny, different, and fairly filthy, (f bombs galore…) check out the Chicks With Sticks trilogy. Heidi Betts.

]]> By: Veronica https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1547 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:34:06 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1547 Hey Jackie.
Surely quirks are part of layering. I’m fascinated by people like the Duchess of Alba–an octogenarian who dresses a la Alannah Hill (quirky designer) and loves to defy the Spanish upper class/Royals by holding on to her 40something yrs old boyfriend. Plenty of controversy/conflict in her life (her daughter doesn’t lag far behind). Then there’s Nathalie Hambro, a member of the Hambro banking family — upper echelons and all that jazz. She has a bee tattoo on her wrist (I’m sure there’s a story behind that). Almost makes it difficult to picture her as a committee member of the Royal School of Needle-work. I get the feeling their quirks are simply part of who they are. Throw a colourful character in with a short/back and sides hero and I’m hooked. Combine quirks with attitude and you’re sure to find conflict. By the sounds of it, you already have. Maybe you need to put aside the MS and come back to it with fresh eyes

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1546 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:39:31 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1546 Makes a nice change from the other way around, I have to say! Will have to look it out…:-)

]]> By: Maisey https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1545 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:23:31 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1545 Noooo, not a billionaire. But he was an undercover cop. Not a category romance so a lot more uh…leeway in the plot. 🙂 Some people didn’t like it, since the h ties the H up and drugs him to make a baby with him…but hey, when he woke up, he so wanted it. I liked it.

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1544 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:40:43 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1544 Sounds like a good read, Maisey. A cop huh? WAs he a billionaire by any chance? 😉

]]> By: Maisey https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1543 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:58:08 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1543 Agreed. I just read Loves me, Loves me Knot by Heidi Betts and the hero was a very tattooed cop, and he’d gotten his last tattoo after his divorce and it covered most of his back and he’d had his ex-wife’s name worked into the design because she was still the love of his life. And I loved that. 🙂 Esp since the heroine was the ex-wife so they got to get back together. 🙂 But the tattoos served a very definite purpose and the heroine found them so sexy it was hard not to see her POV on them.

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1542 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:52:28 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1542 Sri – yeah, that can happen too. It’s tricky to get that balance right. Giving them friends/work/relations can help. Mind you then you run into the problem of sub-characters!

Maisey – Lol!! Yeah, I’m not a fan of long hair or piercings on the hero either. But a tattoo…well, they can be sexy on the right person. It’s totally dependent on the type of tattoo and where it is.

]]> By: Maisey https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-red-string-bracelet-or-the-problem-with-quirks/#comment-1541 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:14:24 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=484#comment-1541 See, I really don’t care for tattoos or piercings (other than the normal ones!) but any piercings on hero, blech. But see, that’s me, and again, if it relates to the character even I don’t mind. But I remember reading a Desire where the hero had a tattoo of a panther that went over chest and shoulder, he had long hair, and an earring, and all I could think was…Whoa, hello Mr. 1991!

This is not related to your heroine’s tattoo, Romy, which I’m sure is fine.

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