The fox had two more ducks when I was away. This has meant a frenzy of activity in the garden. We are trying to make the fox wary.
The ducks have stopped their Late Night Party activities and are being sensible ducks. They are now going to bed before the hens. Amazing.
2 ducks are now sitting on nests. Unfortunately not in the duck houses...they have chosen spots close to the house where their scent should be confused with dog and people. I am hopeful. It all depends if they are good sitters or not. The one who has been sitting the longest has a good track record. But will she outwit the fox?
It would be good to get yellow ducklings as all of our white ducks have now been fox food.
The other plus side is the garden is looking much tidier.
Unfortunately it means I have not been doing as much work on my current ms as I would like. It will get there. It is hard to totally redo a manuscript and kill your darlings (ie phrases you really like but are no longer working)
I have also been thinking about my next Viking. I think I know what I want to write. I am beginning to get a handle on the motiviations and theme. Always good.
The Harlequin Historical Summer Beachbag giveaway continues. It is Terri Brisbin's day today.
2 comments:
Hi Michelle --I'm really interested about your comment to a poster in your blog on character arc, where you said
"Meeting the heroine should change the hero in some way as a meaningful relationship always changes the participents. He might need that little bit extra of insight to be truly complete.
What you are talking about is a protagonist story (think Romancing the Stone) v co-protagonist story (think Africian Queen). It is perfectly permissable for one character not to have a deep arc. It means the heroine will be the one with the external goal which needs to be completed and will be the driving force of the story."
I'd love to hear more on this.
I can see how to give the protagonist a clear arc. But I'm having trouble understanding how to show a change in the character who has the smaller arc.
If we have a one protagonist story (say the heroine is our protagonist) and she is changed by the other character (the hero) then because he's a positive influence on her we don't really want him to change. If he's bringing his beliefs to bear on the protagonist heroine and this is helping her change for the better (eg she learns from being with him that he can rely on others)we don't then want him gradually coming to realise his beliefs are wrong.
But I get the impression that for Harlequin M&B both characters need to show a change. So what kind of change do we show for our character with the lesser arc?
You mention he maybe needs a little bit of extra insight but I don't really understand what that means. eg If he's helped the heroine see that she CAN rely on people (especially him) what kind of insight would he end up having?
I'm guessing it should be related to the story theme?
Laura C
I will do a blog post on this.
But your hero should have a character arc, maybe not as steep as the heroine's but he should change in some fashion for knowing the heroine. In the climatic scene what can he now accomplish that he could not have done before knowing the heroine and why.
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