Trope-tastic Tuesdays: Raven Hair, Ivory Skin

Trope: Raven Hair, Ivory Skin

Description: Though beauty ideals tend to go in cycles when it comes to what's popular at any given moment, Raven Hair, Ivory Skin is one of those tropes that's often used as a shortcut for "this character is physically attractive". Due to said cycles, these characters can take on all forms, from gothic heroines to 1950s pin-up girls to vampires from all different time periods. However, to qualify for this trope, they have to be good-looking. There can be some overlap with the Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette trope, but that one has more to do with how a character is perceived beyond physical beauty. Both have a tendency to skew female, but attractive raven-haired men with ivory skin are out there in all sorts of media.

Examples: Snow White in every form she's ever taken, Scarlett O'Hara, Miranda from Mass Effect, Yennefer from The Witcher

Pros: The visual contrast makes this appealing, even when you're writing and you want the reader to get a certain image in their minds. As stated above, it can also be a quick way to get to "this character is pretty!" without spending a huge amount of time on descriptions and perceptions right away. When it comes to the overlap with other tropes and genres, you can either lean in to the established tropes, or have some fun playing around with them and subverting expectations.

Cons: There's a fine line between "relying on tropes" and "laziness." (Let's not talk about how many times I've walked that line.) Also, as with all physical appearance tropes, beauty is highly subjective.

Would/Did I Use It?: Indeed I have! Tabitha from Hunting Astrid qualifies, as her appearance captures Astrid's attention right away. Alizeira from Flight of the Dragon Queen also fits this trope, and she might also count as an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, at least at the beginning of the book before we learn more about her. I gave some serious consideration to whether Jasmine from Out of Orbit and Sari from Fire Beyond the Frost qualify, and ultimately decided that they don't—aside from debating whether or not their brown hair is dark enough, while their love interests are attracted to them, it's never mentioned if they're considered objectively beautiful to most of the people around them.

Dominance

Yup, you can keep your minds in the gutter, because this post is about exactly what you think it's about: which characters dominate your sex scenes? As I was chugging along on A Flame Among the Stars, I started thinking about how in most romances, one half of the couple is usually more forward or dominant than the other. Sometimes it's evenly balanced, sometimes it pings back and forth...and sometimes what happens outside the bedroom is different from what happens inside.

 

For a fun experiment, not only will I be exploring this in terms of gender, but also the point-of-view, as I have a hypothesis.

A Flame Among the Stars: This is a lesbian romance, so both halves of the couple are female. Meg, the POV character, is definitely the more dominant one for most of the book, though Celendra gains confidence and starts taking charge at points. What got me thinking about this whole subject is that it had been a while since I wrote from the POV of the more dominant character, but more on that later.

Hunting Astrid: Another lesbian romance. The book is from Astrid's POV, but Tabitha takes the lead for most of their intimate encounters. Again, though, Astrid has her own moments of being in control by the end.

Blazing Justice: This one's interesting because we have one POV character (Celeste) with three different endings. Without giving two much away, in two out of the three endings, the men are clearly more dominant, but it's more evenly matched in the third.

Fire Beyond the Frost: More lesbians. Catalina (POV) has no problem being in command of an operating room or jumping into action in case of medical emergency, but she's always been far more reserved in her personal relationships. This actually doesn't change much throughout the book, but Sari's there to guide her along nonetheless.

Closing Montage: Hmm. After some consideration, I'll say that Abigail (POV) and Edwin are pretty evenly matched, but I might give a slight edge to Edwin. It's close, though.

Seductive Suspect: Adam calls the shots as soon as he gets Veronica (POV) into his bedroom, hands down. This was one of those instances where I had that scene all planned out in my head for a while, but since I write in order, it took me a while to get there. Even so, I didn't lose any of my enthusiasm for it, and Adam's running this sexy show.

Out of Orbit: This was fun because both Jasmine (POV) and Aras are absolute powerhouses in their roles/careers before they meet, so what happens when they finally get together? The answer - Aras is the one in charge, but Jasmine doesn't mind in the slightest.

Flight of the Dragon Queen: Here's another one where it might be too close to call between Caleb (POV) and Alizeira. If I absolutely had to choose one or the other, I guess I'd say Alizeira is the more dominant of the two, but really, it's by the tiniest of margins.

Elysium: This one might buck the trend in multiple ways - not only does the POV alternate between April and Drew, but they each get their own sex scene where they're the POV character and each one is the more dominant one when we're inside their head. Again, it's a small difference, but that's my analysis.

Second Skin: The POV alternates between Anna and Brendan here, too; however, once they're behind closed doors, it's from Anna's POV, but Brendan is more dominant.

So, what have we learned? For the hetero romances, I thought the men would be more dominant, but while it skews a little in that direction, it's not always the case. What appears to be the bigger predictor? The POV character.

 

I'm too lazy to go through and tally it up, but it does seem like the POV character is less likely to be taking charge in the sex scenes. In a way, it kind of makes sense - it might be easier to envision yourself in a character's place when something is being done to them, rather than having them being the one doing the...doing. I won't get too far into fantasies and preferences and whatnot here, but if you're reading romance for an escape, letting someone else come in and handle everything can sound appealing. With the POV character, we see, hear, and feel everything they're experiencing; it's not that we, the readers, always want to take on a passive role in our own lives, but I can see how it's logical for the POV character we're reading about to be on the receiving end of all those fun sensations. You could argue the opposite, of course, and I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. In the future, I'll be paying attention to this when reading romances and trying to determine who's more likely to play what role with regard to POV.

(I'm not going to start unpacking menage romances...yet?)

Going Back to the Same Well

As my old series Trope-tastic Thursdays indicated, tropes are not a bad thing. We all use them, whether we're aware of them or not. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say there are some tropes I like better than others, and some themes or character types keep popping up.

I'm on Chapter 3 of the new project, Sonata for Springtime. (I had to take a little break due to Influenza B, but I'm better now!) The characters were pretty fleshed out in my head before I even started writing, but now that I'm actually writing, they're becoming more and more defined, of course. In writing my protagonist, Jonathan, I'm finding a lot of similarities between him and other main characters I've written in the past.

This character type that I'm apparently so fond of is not particularly happy or unhappy. He's just plugging away, letting life happen. No major struggles, but no great passion for anything, either. He's just kind of...there. But then BOOM! Romance happens. Or at least the chance for romance arises, because we still need some conflict to drive the story forward.

Let's take a look at my backlog and see how many times I've done this. Stephen from The Edge of the Sphere definitely qualifies, as he's probably one of the most passive characters I've ever written (in the first half of the book, anyway). Caleb from Flight of the Dragon Queen (the 1Night Stand series) probably also qualifies, though at least he was slightly more proactive in contacting Madame Eve for a date. In Out of Orbit, Aras was content with his life until Jasmine almost literally crash landed in front of him. And then we have a rare female example with Veronica in Seductive Suspect, who gets shoved into the story's plot by her sister.

I don't know why I keep coming back here. I've done plenty of other heroes and heroines, including some who have suffered great trauma but are cured by True Love Forever. (Or, as my college friends used to call it, the "fuck the pain away" plot. :D ) Maybe it's because even though I love sci-fi and fantasy and all these wildly imaginative worlds, I also like regular people doing regular things. We can't all be dark and brooding, after all.

So while I could probably use a little more variety in my writing, it's not like all these characters are exact clones of each other, either. It's working for the story I want to write, so I'm not going to create some tragic past or heroic adventure for Jonathan just to mix things up. He'll have plenty to worry about anyway as the book progresses, don't you worry.

Off to a Good Start...Or a Terrible Start...Okay, Some Kind of Start

I'm never one to pass up jumping on a good bandwagon. Writing/blogging buddies Krystal and Michelle recently made great posts about going back to their old writing projects and critiquing their opening lines. They were a ton of fun to read, and I also never shy away from self-deprecating humor, so I figured I'd have a go at it!

The vast majority of my early writings were Phantasy Star fanfic. Actually, those were the only stories I ever finished. I'll start as far back as I can find, and I'll also toss in some more recent ones, because why not? Some aren't too bad, some are, and there's one in particular that, due to a proofreading fail, is dumpster fire-levels of awful. Onwards!

***

My first fanfic ever. I think I was around 12 or 13 years old:

I see trees, I see sand, I see ice. And I see hell.

Okay, not too bad. Like lots of games and sci-fi in general, Phantasy Star made use of the Single-Biome Planet, hence the first line. I suppose my career as a writer didn't get off to a terrible start.

***

Another fanfic. I'm pretty sure I was 16:

The sun shone brightly over the sands of the desert. Because of the planet's irregular orbit around the sun, there was no actual night - daylight was a constant on in this barren world. The majority the population was in bed sleeping, having adjusted to the consistent sunlight long ago. But deep in the mountains, far from the sunlight, someone was awake.

First off, that's not how science works, Thea. Next year you'll take astronomy in high school and learn more about planets and orbits and such. (And then many years later, you'll enlist the help of a friend to teach you even more about orbits to set up the concept of a book.) Also, I'm so glad it's specified that the sun shone brightly, as opposed to all those dimly-shining suns.

***

Here it is, the laughably bad one I promised. Also fanfic. I think I was 17 or 18?

The light of the two moons cast a dim light over the small village. While the outside temperature was not unbearably hot, the villagers kept all their windows open to take advantage of the sporadic cool breeze.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHsdghoijasengeiwsdf. How did I not catch the two instances of "light" in the VERY FIRST LINE OF THE STORY?!?!?! And the kicker is, this was actually one of my best fanfics. It's held up over time. It's poignant and heartbreaking. It took a new spin on a topic that had been written about before. BUT OH MY GOD, THAT FIRST LINE.

In the immortal words of Blanche Devereaux, "God, I wish I was dead." Even 15ish years later.

***

At some point, a long writing break happened while I was off doing other life stuff. Let's see how I re-entered the writing world with one more fanfic example:

Alys shielded her eyes from the sun. In the distance, she could make out the silhouettes of the tents at the edge of the native Motavian village of Molcum. “Finally,” she muttered to herself as she approached the outskirts of the small village.

Maybe not the most attention-grabbiest thing ever, but it works. That was late 2010, and I'd say my style hasn't changed drastically since then (based off this example, anyway).

***

Now let's see what I actually got published. Here's the opening of Searching the Skies, my first published book (written in 2011):

Geneva Greyson removed one of her twin daggers from the throat of her enemy and watched him fall to the ground, wondering yet again what could have possibly possessed her people to land on this planet centuries ago. Ophari was a cold, desolate world with little to offer in the ways of food, minerals, or technology, as the Opharians were not nearly as advanced as the humans who had stumbled upon them. Had it been up to her, she would have passed over the near-barren rock without a second look. Her ancestors, however, had thought differently; they had sought to colonize it and add the small planet to their ever-growing empire.

Not too shabby. Definitely screams "this is sci-fi!" from the get go. Funnily enough, very little information in this opening paragraph is actually relevant to the rest of the book.

***

Elysium remains one of my favorites; let's see how it holds up under the magnifying glass (written in 2014):

Janie stood in my living room, one hand holding a bag of food from the local Chinese take-out place and the other planted firmly on her hip. She fixed me with a stern glare. “You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked."

Well, we learned a lot about Janie in a few lines. Too bad she's not a main character.

***

I might be getting too full of myself. Let's look at Flight of the Dragon Queen (written in 2014-2015):

“Hey, Caleb. How’s it going?”
I glanced toward the entrance of the cubicle. Ricky, my closest acquaintance at the office, leaned against the edge of the flimsy wall. “Hey,” I greeted him in return. “I’m all right, can’t complain."

SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE. It's a good thing this book has dragons and magic and shit, because something has to make up for this opening. If I recall correctly, even the editor had some qualms about the whole prologue, but sometimes you just need to quickly establish the parameters of the story and then get to the good stuff.

***

Might as well end on a high note with Out of Orbit (written mostly in 2015):

“Captain Hale, are you okay?”
Jasmine winced as she scrambled to her feet, trying to ignore the pain radiating from where her back had slammed into the floor. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” A quick glance around the spaceship’s deck indicated she hadn’t been the only one knocked off balance by the blast. Concern flitted through her mind, but tending to injuries wasn’t her responsibility or priority. “Keep firing!”

This is one of the few times I was really happy with an entire introduction/first chapter. When discussing this post with another writing friend, I also realized that OoO is probably the only time when I really felt I wrote a good opening, ending to the main story, AND ending to the epilogue. Yay.

***

I just sent in another round of edits for Seductive Suspect. The whole opening chapter is quite long and a lot happens, but the first couple lines/paragraphs probably fall somewhere in the middle between awesome and Blanche Devereaux both in quality and level of excitement. I can live with that!

Repetition Repetition Repetition Repetition....

Hey, a post that's actually about writing! Or something close to it, anyway. Though I haven't actually written anything lately, I did just finish the first round of edits on Seductive Suspect.

When doing my own proofing/editing before submitting a manuscript, I have my list of words I check for to make sure I haven't overused them. I've discussed "that" here before, and even though I've gotten better, it still sneaks in every now and then. The list grows because lately it seems that with every book I write, a new word gets overused. Granted, every editor has his or her own words that bug them with overuse, and what stands out to one may not stand out to another. Most of the time, though, I find myself agreeing with the words they pick out and check for them in the future.

The overused word for Flight of the Dragon Queen was "just". Like "that", it's often unnecessary, almost like superfluous adverbs. For Out of Orbit, it was "look". That got a little trickier, because to me, repetitive use of words like "stare" and "gaze" stand out more. I did try to mix it up more in that book, and "look" is now on the list.

So what's THE word for Seductive Suspect? "Make/made/making". As always, it can be hard to notice something until someone else comes along and highlights it. Like, literally highlights it. And then I see how many times it came up in a short span and say UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH how did I not catch that earlier?

Like I said earlier, it's possible that "make/made/making" is just this editor's pet word. Since I already have enough on my plate, I'm not going to go back to previous works and see how often it popped up. However, it came up SO much in Seductive Suspect, it's probably going on the list. And I'm sure it'll be joined by something else next time around.

"That" count (aside from the times I used it to illustrate a point and put it in quotes): 7
"Just" count (same stipulation): 2
"Overuse" count (ironically): 4
Level of caring for this blog post: 0
;)

The Name Game, Part 4

Here we are at the final installment (for now!) of this name-related discussion. It was delayed slightly by a nasty eye infection I've been battling for two weeks (boo!) and the first round of edits for Out of Orbit (yay!), but I'm back and in blogging action. But I will blame any typos on my gradually-recovering eye.

One issue I sometimes encounter when writing: when do you name a character? The major and minor ones are obvious. Most of the time, main characters need names. (And yes, I know there are plenty of books with an unnamed narrator, which is why I said "most of the time".) On the flip side, not every single person the main characters meet needs to have a name, especially if their role isn't all that significant. It's the ones in the middle I sometimes struggle with.

Too much extraneous detail can confuse or distract a reader, and we certainly don't want that. That said, the vast majority of real-life people have names (duh) and it's nice to acknowledge that. But do we really need to know the name of every single person we come across? We can probably even argue that you can have a significant interaction with a person without ever knowing his/her name.

Over the years, I've come up with an incredibly basic rule of thumb for myself: for minor characters, only name them when it would be awkward not to. There have been times when either a character winds up playing a larger role than initially expected, or someone takes up enough room on a page that not seeing a name attached to them just looks weird. The biggest example of this in my books is Captain Sampson in Flight of the Dragon Queen. For the longest time, he had no name, and was just referred to as "the captain". But after a while, that wasn't working out for me, and I needed to do better.

There are plenty of people mentioned in Out of Orbit who never got a name. But there was one instance where Jasmine had a long enough conversation with someone that I had to name him. He only shows up in that one part, but the flow just seemed off when he didn't have a name.

Come to think of it, "avoid being awkward" is a great rule of thumb for a LOT of writing-related things.

Next up: I'll finally start talking about my latest WIP (the first chapter of which is complete)!

Flight of the Dragon Queen - Release Day and Blog Tour

 It's here! Flight of the Dragon Queen releases today, and because I actually got my ducks in a row and used my communication skills like an adult, a month-long blog tour also kicks off today to celebrate! I'll refresh your recollection with the blurb, and then post the tour schedule. While it's nice to show all the tour hosts some love, be sure to check out the "fun facts", as I did have a lot of fun compiling them!

Blurb:
For his entire life, Caleb has always been more comfortable surrounded by books and games than other people. When 1Night Stand is recommended to him, he contacts Madame Eve but is too shy to actually meet any of the women she finds for him. Together, they reach a workable solution: a simulated dating experience in a setting reminiscent of his favorite stories.

After following Madame Eve’s instructions, Caleb finds himself in a vivid fantasy world, complete with a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. His objective is clear, but he must find a way around the many obstacles standing between him and Alizeira, the mysterious woman imprisoned in an underground cell.

While working on his plans to save her, Caleb spends time getting to know Alizeira beyond her role as prisoner, and a mutual attraction develops between them. He is unsure whether she’s a real person playing a part like him, or if she’s simply one piece of the elaborate simulation that’s been programmed for his date. Setting her free is the first step to discovering the truth, but how many secrets is Alizeira hiding?

Buy Links:
Amazon  Kobo  iTunes  AllRomance

Tour Schedule:
1/18-Ebooks Galore www.ebooksgalore.net
1/19-Outrageous Heroes-fun facts http://www.facebook.com/outrageousheroes
1/20-Author Sandra Love-playlist http://authorsandralove.blogspot.com/
1/21-Kimmie Sues Book Reviews-review, playlist, fun facts  Kimmiesuesbookreview.blogspot.com
1/22-LBM Book Blog http://lifebooksandmore.blogspot.com
1/23-Dreamer Talks Books http://cometomefantasy.blogspot.com
1/24-Midnight Angel Book www.facebook.com/midnightangelbookheaven
1/25-Sapphyria's Steamy Books http://saphssteamybooks.blogspot.com/
1/26-Booklover Sue-Fun facts http://bookloversue.blogspot.com
1/27-Literature Litehouse http://literaturelitehouse.blogspot.com/
1/28-Danielle's Domain http://daniellesdomainreviews.blogspot.com
1/29-My Reading Reality http:/www.facebook.com/myreadingreality
1/30-We Read With A Glass of Wine http://wereadwithaglassofwine.blogspot.com/
1/31-Diane's Book Blog-character interview http://dianes-book.blogspot.com
2/1-Indy Book Fairy http://paranormalbookfairy.blogspot.com/
2/2-One Book Boyfriend At A Time http://www.facebook.com/onebookboyfriendatatime
2/3-Sweet N Sassy Book A Holics http://sweet-n-sassy-book-a-holics.blogspot.com/
2/4-Stormy Nights Reviewing http://stormynightbloginandreviwing.blogspot.com/
2/5-The Color of Ink https://thecolorofink.wordpress.com
2/6-Bound by Books Book Review http://www.boundbybooksbookreview.com/
2/7-PRATR https://pratr.wordpress.com/
2/8-Ebook Addicts http://ebookaddicts.net
2/9-2 Bibliophiles Guide 2bibliophiles.blogspot.com
2/10-Free to Be Me https://theresacarle.wordpress.com/
2/11-Butterflies Books Dreams butterlfiesbooksanddreams.blogspot.com
2/12-Angee's Afterthoughts http://www.angeesafterthoughts.com/
2/13-Where the Story Comes From-playlist http://crmoss.blogspot.com/
2/14-Books Are My Friends, Come See Why http://booksaremyfriendscomeseewhy.blogspot.com/
2/15-Rockstar Reviews rockstarsreviews.wordpress.com
2/16-Ebooks Galore www.ebooksgalore.net

Cover Reveal - Flight of the Dragon Queen

Here it is, the cover for Flight of the Dragon Queen!

This is pretty much exactly what I was envisioning, except for one big difference: I thought the heroine would be on the cover, not the hero. But that's okay! I'm certainly not going to turn down a good-looking guy in some sexy glasses* for any of my covers, nope.

Also: dragons automatically make everything more awesome. Truth.

(*Secret confession: On my list of "super hot men I have encountered at work", #2 had glasses a lot like these. I, uh, may or may not have a novella mentally planned out where the hero may or may not be loosely be based on him. May or may not, of course.)

Quick Update

Flight of the Dragon Queen is set to release on January 18th. This time around, I was actually on top of my game and exercised good communication skills, so a month-long blog tour also kicks off on the same day! The cover isn't 100% done yet, but I saw the first mock-up and it's pretty darn good.

Mark your calendars and save your holiday gift cards!

Flight of the Dragon Queen - Coming Soon!

I love writing for the 1Night Stand series, as there's an infinite number of stories to be told, all while following the stated guidelines. They're addictive! So I'm thrilled to announce I signed a contract for my next contribution, Flight of the Dragon Queen (unofficial subtitle: Thea Plays Too Many Video Games). Here, have a blurb:

For his entire life, Caleb has always been more comfortable surrounded by books and games than other people. He contacts Madame Eve when 1Night Stand is recommended to him, but is too shy to actually meet any of the women she finds for him. Together, they reach a workable solution: a simulated dating experience in a setting reminiscent of his favorite stories.

After following Madame Eve’s instructions, Caleb finds himself in a vivid fantasy world, complete with a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. His objective is clear, but he must find a way around the many obstacles standing between him and Alizeira, the mysterious woman imprisoned in an underground cell. Familiar tropes and a colorful cast of characters enhance—or impede—his journey, from a short-tempered guard captain (and his equally temperamental horse) to a one-eyed “herbalist” who expresses annoyance whenever anyone calls her a witch.

While working on his plans to save her, Caleb spends time getting to know Alizeira beyond her role as prisoner, and a mutual attraction develops between them. He is unsure whether she’s a real person playing a part like him, or if she’s simply one piece of the elaborate simulation that’s been programmed for his date. Setting her free is the first step to discovering the truth, but how many secrets is Alizeira hiding?