Friday, April 27, 2012

Alpha or beta?

I've been watching a lot of TV lately.  Well, not so much TV as Netflix.  I've been watching Bones and Firefly, mostly, and I've realized that in both shows, I've got crushes.

Okay, not a big surprise. Lots of people have TV crushes. What I've noticed, though, is that on each show, I've got two.  And they're different character types (within each show, not between the shows... just keep reading, it'll get clear!)

On Firefly, I'm torn between Mal and Simon. Yeah, two very different personalities. And on Bones, it's Booth and Sweets.

So here's what I'm thinking: I don't know what I want.  Do I want Mal and Booth?  They're these larger-than-life heroes. They sweep in and save the day. They're brawn with brains, but the brawn gets used more. They know what they want, and they take it. Neither is much for a deep talk about feelings and such, and that's just part of who they are.

And then we have Simon and Sweets. Doctors. Brains before brawn, although both have shown that they're not completely useless when it comes to being physical. They also know what they want, but they're not as direct in trying to get it. They're willing to talk things out. They might talk a little too much.

Mal and Booth are your standard Alpha males, and compared to them, Simon and Sweets are beta.  And I'm crushing on all four of them. If you made me choose, I don't know if I could.

Funny, these TV characters have traits that are reflected in a couple of real-life men that I'm interested in. Wait. No, that's not actually funny at all, is it? Because as much as I am unable to make a decision about which character I prefer, I am equally unable to make a decision about which of these real-life men would make a better date. How do I handle this? I write them into a story and avoid the actual decision altogether.

Isn't that the reasonable thing to do?

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I didn't win

And that's not a bad thing!  Especially since I definitely did NOT finish even the first draft of the WIP.  But again, that's okay.  I've got a pretty good feel for the characters, but I get hit with inspiration at the weirdest times.  I'm rolling with it, and I'm happy with what I have so far.  Plus, I've totally got a plot wall running. Except it's sort of a pantsed plot wall.

I'm keeping notes on the physical details of characters as I go, so I keep their appearances consistent, and I'm making stickies for big plot things as I go. The thinking here is that if I keep my plot points mapped as I go, it'll be much easier to move them around when it's time to edit, since I'll already have them all written out.

We'll see how this works...