So, this is probably going to be a short post today. I have a number of things going on at home that are somewhat worrisome and keeping me very busy. But it is Tuesday and I didn’t want to leave us all without a blog post so here I am. Aren’t you thrilled?
Yesterday, I was having a very interesting conversation on Twitter. How many of you use Twitter? Wow. I have to say, I really love Twitter. Anyhow, it was with a pretty famous author and she had brought up the topic of Edward Cullen in Twilight and was asking some questions about why people love him and whether or not he is the new Prince Charming and the ways that perspective of him differs from her work.
The whole thing was really interesting, a lot of people were getting really heated. There are a lot of people of truly love and hate those stories. I enjoyed them. I like to read whatever books are being talked about in popular culture so I know what is being referenced on Facebook and the View.
Plus, I’ll admit it. I like a good love story. Even when it involves a sixteen year old girl and an 80 year old Vampire. So the famous author, I’m deliberately not naming her because I don’t know what the protocol for quoting people from Twitter is but I suppose anyone is able to go and look at my twitter page so feel free, go ahead, I’ll wait….
Okay, welcome back now. So the famous author says on Twitter something along the lines of Prince Charming being a dangerous message to send to women because it gives girls the idea that they can be saved or that they should wait around for some man to come and make things better for them and why not make it the other way? Why not have the women do the saving?
So I got my courage and sent her a note telling her I thought that was equally bad. That gives young girls the idea that could ‘save’ a man, could ‘fix’ the bad boy. That somehow her love would be enough to make him ‘good.’ To me, that is a dangerous concept. Much as we love the bad boys in fiction, in real life you want to be careful of men who come off as jerks, they probably are actually jerks. (Sorry, that is my two cents.)
Anyhow, she agreed with me, which was sort of thrilling. I’m tired. Very, very tired. It doesn’t take much to get me very happy or sad right now. But I started to think about why it had been so interesting to me in my current state of mind and I realized it was because I have been reading Historical Romances. Ever since I had my third son, I seem to be obsessed with reading Historical Romances. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still reading Paranormals but now in addition, I just want to read Historicals. Regency, ballroom, bodice ripping Historicals. And there is nothing more common in Historicals like that than the good girl saving the bad boy from all of his internal demons. So I guess I have it on the brain.
Its like I’m sixteen again and I’m just discovering Romance Novels and I’m hiding in my room reading about the ton. With each of my kids, when they were infants, I had something I either watched or read that ‘got me through’ their early months. With my first son, I watched the show Nip/Tuck. It actually got to the point where I would wait for him to wake me at 3 AM so I could put on the next episode. I had never seen the show before but I caught up to the current season that year watching one episode after another.
Then with child number 2, I discovered Paranormal Romances. Hence, how I got here today. So am I going to go out and write Historicals?
Absolutely not. I am so blown away by the amount of research and time that must go into every single book, the sheer intricate details of the kind of lace on the gown and the way they danced in the ballroom that I would go nuts. I did that kind of thing in college, and truthfully, I was not that good at it.
Give me some world building any day. I will admire the Historicals from a distance while I feed the baby.
Hope you all have a great day.
