My Apologies ...

Ahem ... My apologies for the prolonged final chapter in character development. Where was I??

Oh, yeah. We've reached the part where we turn respect into love. So, here goes:

This arc is all about the sublety of change. And it has alot to do with dun-dun-dun Sacrifice.

Now we know these two characters know what they're doing and what they want. They each have an external goal which seemed oh-so-important at the beginning of the story. The only thing which has changed is that each of them has allowed the other a tiny sliver of themselves. They've given away a piece of their stake to the one person who they believed couldn't possible matter.

This is a problem.

You see, once the character has given of themself, with or without the expectation of any reciprocation (I actually like it best when they expect nothing. I'm evil that way)something happens which the character doesn't anticipate.

They care.

Of course they don't want to care. In fact, it comes almost without conscious thought or effort. Against every fiber of their internal and external code. They think: "This was not supposed to happen. Caring is a mistake."

The velvet noose has slipped so effortlessly around their throats they didn't notice until it was too late. Caring for the other is messy and frought with all kinds of emotional dangers.

So, they lie.

To themselves. To the object of their affection. To anyone who gets close enough to listen. Because hey, if they say it isn't so, it isn't. Right? Wrong. Then comes the denial followed by anger. A close third is mourning for blessed detachment and finally acceptance and a renewed resolve to "get back" to wherever they were before Mr. or Ms. Potentially Right gravitated toward their universe.

I realize I've hit these fairly quickly but I just thought, since it has been soooooo long since I started this blog post that I shouldn't drag it out. Sorry for the whiplash :)

Anyway, once the characters care about each other, they still aren't ready for love. They can only realize the strongest of emotional growth after they've lost the one thing they had no idea they wanted in the first place.

Neither the hero nor the heroine can truly recognize this deeper emotion until it's been taken from them -- physically and emotionally.

True love requires a sacrifice on the deepest level.

Sometimes, love is thrown away by the hero or heroine in an attempt to backtrack to emotional safety. But unless both your hero and heroine are well motivated this just doesn't work for a satisfying ending. It comes off as contrived and just plain silly. It falls under the same lame excuse as "misunderstandings" which can be cleared up with a conversation. The reader loses faith and wonders if the characters actually deserve a happily ever after.

You have to make your hero and heroine suffer if you want the reader to believe. (It's okay. This is fiction, people.)

Okay, so your characters have finally gotten real with themselves and each other. They don't know what this thing is between them but they can't walk away at the moment. Until ... the unthinkable occurs. One or both have withheld something from the other -- either emotionally or physically-- which has kept the other from reaching their external goal.

All seems lost. The odds against righting the wrong seem insurmountable until the betrayed party agrees to accept the help of the betrayer. Each feels betrayed by the other and their own emotions. How could they have let their guard down? Trusted the other with so much?

Then, somehow, some way, the goal is met. It's over. Goal reached. Time to say goodbye and go back to the status quo of life as usual. But how can they go back when so much has changed? They have been changed by the experience and the object of their begrudging affection. They aren't the same person. They are both more and less. How can they return to the same world without the piece of themselves they gave away?

Is it possible they were in the wrong? Maybe things didn't have to end so wrong. Is it possible the object of their affection feels the same regret? The same emptiness? If so, doesn't it give validation to what they shared? Can they trust their own feelings?

Questions require answers. Inquiring minds want to know but inquiring hearts need to know. Even if the outcome spells potential rejection and possible life-long trauma, the truth of the heart must be found.

So you put your hero and heroine in the same room. Each has been emotionally battered, bruised and compromised. Yet there's only one thing each wants; the love of the one person they've come to respect and trust.

Here's where they both have to tell the truth. Truth, wether it's what the hero or heroine wants to hear, will beget respect. Respect will lead again to trust. Trust, in each other, in their understanding of their own emotions, will lead to love and what every romance reader desires for two characters who've proved they deserve each other: Unconditional love. And of course, we call that the Happily, Ever After.



Happy Writing