Ask a male author about your male character traits or thoughts.

Amazon links to my stories: The Chess Master, Cinnamon & Sugar, Autumn Breeze, A More Perfect Union, Double Happiness, The Wolves of Sherwood Forest, Neanderthals and the Garden of Eden can be found down the right side of the blog. Another site very useful in categorizing books in their proper order is: https://www.booksradar.com/richard-rw/richard.html


Visit my website at: https://rwrichardnet.wordpress.com/

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Men nurtured by their moms 5/27/2012

Men nurtured by their moms. May 27, 2012


I wonder what constitutes a fatal flaw. We’re writing. We’re told to introduce a fatal flaw. Well, don’t take that too literally unless you’re writing tragedy. Or some fatalistic or nihilistic fare. No room for a romance with a happily ever after.

A man not loved and nurtured by his mother is nearly ruined IMO. If you have a situation like that, you’ll walk a mind field with at least two deep arcs. One arc over his mom and the other over being able to love someone in a mature way.

It’s a great excuse to read case histories and studies on this subject. When done, try a man without a father figure or a father who didn’t love or nurture. The same goes for women.

It’s a rare child who can see he or she isn’t loved and decides he or she is of value and will grow up normally and be able to love. Because without examples, how will they be able to figure it out? Maybe Sponge Bob has something to say. No really, kids could learn from some TV character or later from some book or some great teacher how love works. Somewhere along the line, they’ll need to experience it.

I created a thirteen-year-old girl in one of my stories who has lost a father who had loved her. Then she lost her mother to drink (over the loss of a husband). Then her mother dies. Will she be able to cope? Yes, she remembers better times. Although she starts the story swearing off love, she’ll come around.

Men, nurtured and loved by their moms, make better heroes or at least ones who are a little easier to write. There are plenty of other demons lurking to give your hero ‘fatal flaws.’ Try to save mom.

No more wire hangers.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Man who had no mother May 16, 2012


May 16, 2012

I read a recent post by Jannine Petska about a guy (engineer) in a grocery store line who thought all fiction was a waste of time and all romance fiction doubly so. He promoted non-fiction as the only material worth reading or writing.

This comes under the title: things I'd like to say but usually just hold my tongue.

Romance writer says to emotionally challenged male:

"Without romance there'd be no human race." Or.

"I take it you hate women?!"

I once was an engineeer, but a good one. I knew that without a systems approach your little contribution would be doomed to fail or be worse than useless.

As far as systems go, the human being is the most complicated (I like to say infinitely more complicated than (fill in the blank)) and fascinating living organism in the known universe. That we can see eternity or perfection from our back window is an unending source of Wow.

The wow in my life has always been the human female. I can't think of anything more fasciniting than the internal monologue and external dialogue of a great heroine and to be fair and balanced, hero. If done right, the story has a transcendent timeless quality difficult to find in any other fiction and certainly in some dry text. For instance, if I mention Robin and Marian your heart and core being is involved, your understanding of a love so great, it will always represent the best between a man and a woman. If I mention F=MA your curiosity may or may not be engaged. You might want to solve some problem like how fast would a woman have to throw a punch and with what force to knock out a pest who hates romances.

BTW: "Who needs to buy non-fiction these days. You can find it all on the internet. What, you only paid $109.95?"

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The 50 greatest romance movies May 8, 2012

May 8th, 2012

I've just returned from vacation and found the 50 Greatest Movie Romances  http://movies.msn.com/photo-gallery/feature/50-greatest-movie-romances/ on MSN today irresistable.

The reviewer seems compelled to distance himself or apologize at times for the romance. Which is why I offer this to you. He also confuses chick flicks with romances. All this male bravado aside, some of his comments are deep and his list is thought provoking. I'm pissed You've Got Mail didn't make it, but I got over it. Hey, I have my own list. The critic also references screwball comedies. Hey, what about It Happened One Night or even the Adventures of Robin Hood.