Don't adjust your TV

Hallmark romance movies are often great entertainment and suited for any romantic soul, but—I haven’t seen them all—hasn’t every hero and heroine of the thousands of movies they produced been white?

I’m not much of an activist—was when younger—I marched for equal and civil rights, but would someone tell me I’m wrong and could they site the title or plot of the movie in which either the hero or heroine or both are not white?

RWA has formed a diversity committee. TV has many interracial or multicultural shows. Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t Harlequin dedicated (segregated) black stories? Isn’t it time to acknowledge that stories and people are crossing boundaries all the time? Does anybody feel like I do—ashamed that our romance industry isn’t colorblind?

If you feel like I do, send Hallmark an email. BTW, I did this, months ago, and received no response. I don’t count. They know better.

I’m not going to stop watching Hallmark, I’m just going to adjust the hue.

Here’s a clip from my favorite Hallmark, Christmas with Holly, a story of a little girl who when her mom dies, stops talking. She is raised by her three uncles which isn't featured in the clip below, but the interplay of the three uncles and the little girl almost steals the show.

 

Bobby Fischer

At our RWASD meeting, Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story, made an excellent presentation. One of her points is the subject of this post along with a personal remembrance that ties it into a neat bow.


The hero or heroine's misbeliefs can change over the arc of the story or scene. If the author writes well enough, we root for this change or changes.


Not many of you know that I'm a U.S. chess master. I knew Bobby Fischer. We analyzed games together along with a group of his friends. Yes, he had friends, and always had time from his rigorous ascent to the World Championship to kibitz. He was witty but never veered far from the point, chess, our chess and how we could improve.


A young Bobby's mom was the subject of constant surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover's overly zealous FBI during the McCarthy and blacklist era. A young Bobby internalized this justified paranoia and with no father and desperately wanting to both love and run from his mom—his mind cracked under the strain, IMO.


The movie, Pawn Sacrifice, simplified the story and stayed on point. I want to present a lighter side of Bobby, the side I knew. I abhor his anti-Semitism but find his cold war instincts compelling. Bobby was Jewish but when you see his backstory and understand his need to be loved by someone Jewish (his mom) the U.S. government harassed (and perhaps rightly, I don't know) you may at least understand him a little better. If you see these signs of abandonment in a child try to find a way to help. All Bobby knew well was chess, even though his IQ was a 210. This genius made it easy for him to quickly jump to conclusions without missing any proofs along the way. Unfortunately, chess is a closed system and the world is not.


Here's the great Bob Hope versus Bobby Fischer, 1972:

Can you write a character like this? Would you want to?

I'm Old and Healthy

 

I'm Young and Healthy, 42nd Street, 1933, Dick Powell sings:

 

I've always loved this song and the dance constructed by Busby Berkley. But I laughed at the line, "maybe in a year or two or three we'll be too old." I assumed it was his pick up line rather than a pervasive prejudice directed against older (over the hill) people.

As society progresses one prejudice after another is weakened. Today, we have young men singing about Michelle Pfeiffer. We have the press and the audience admiring a brave Caitlyn Jenner. On and on.

The baby boomers 50s & 60s are a huge part of our society, so why not write or produce what people of all ages want?

Dear network exec,

I've got an idea for a show. It's working title is Second Chance. It stars 50 & 60 year olds in search or love but instead of handing out roses, let's make it carnations.

Sincerely yours,
RW Richard

For those who abhor reality shows, and I know you are out there, step back, wait a minute. This basic idea could be a best selling book as well. Go ahead, write it up. I have too much on my plate right now.

I'll leave you with this thought: with the divorce rate so high and so many lonely people wanting to get it right the second or more times around, aren't your readers waiting for you to tackle this? It doesn't have to be about 1 gal and 25 guys to tell a good story.




 

Can you tell it's a guy writing the romance? 9/22/13

A question has often been asked, does a man write differently than a woman? September 22, 2013

I’d like to reframe the question, does one person write differently than another? Here, the answer is a definite yes. It’s called the author’s style. A good feeling for what I mean by style comes from recalling great authors like Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Harlan Coben. If you even read the tiniest of passages from them, perhaps with the help of context, you likely recognize their writing. (This is not author intrusion or showing off, but rather the vibrancy of a great artist applying his/her master strokes.)

It is true that any individual man would have more difficulty getting into the head of a woman and visa versa or more difficulty applying whole brain versus right brain problem solving techniques. BUT, not for the great authors. In my opinion, a great author has the ability to slip into any character’s mind and action and deliver a story we’ll never forget.

Just for fun who wrote these tiny, obscure snippets from best sellers? If you fail to get any, congratulations, you are normal. If you get all three, slow down, it is possible you may be reading ‘too’ much.

Who wrote?  . . . he took her hand in his and she felt the way it warmed her the whole way back. (to her parent's home)

The answer to the above will be the subject of the attached video at the bottom of this blog post, but for the next two I’ll leave them without answers, unless you ask.

Who wrote? . . . and he pressed her hand lightly as he took it to place in Note’s. As he did so, the child moved within her, and she winced because the movement was so sudden and so firm.

Or? . . . He had her over a barrel, and he knew it. She took in the messy motor home, the surly teenager, and the fussing infant. Then she gazed at the big, roughneck of a man with his broad shoulders and devil’s smile. Did she want to stay on the run badly enough to put up with all this?
* * *
There’s something else all three of these snippets have in common. They’re all plain English. I believe the most important part of any individual style is clarity. It has to be, if readers don’t understand something they might start drifting. If they start drifting, they may stop reading. Great writers, male or female, retain large audiences.