Tag Archives: romance

September 16, 2011 · 5:00 am

Romancing the Sand

The rolling waves, the clean, soft sand, the briny wind and lazy, drifting clouds–it all presents the perfect locale for a romantic scene.

Like Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity, or Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum in Dear John, the romanticism of the beach can wash over one like waves on the shore (cliched pun intended.)

So, my hubby and I decided to take a nice stroll along the beach in the moonlight. Hand in hand, we wandered along the water’s edge as the gentle waves lapped at our feet.

And sand birds swooped in after the tiny creatures washing ashore in the water.
And shells scraped against the skin of my feet.
And I held in shrieks every time seaweed touched me.
And the water made my skin sticky.
And the drunk people on the beach celebrated too loudly.
And I got paranoid about sting-rays and crabs in the shallows because we had seen some earlier in the day.
And sand blew in my face.
And I watched for jelly-fish washing up on shore.

So much for the moment.

I can appreciate the beauty and majesty of God’s creation when looking out over the rolling ocean or the moon reflecting upon the water. I’m not inhuman, but…

All my life, I’ve been a fair-weather friend of the beach. (I know that there are some of you who don’t want to be my friend anymore.)

I like the atmosphere of being at the beach, but I only actually like being on the beach for a few minutes, and then I’m done.

There are creatures in the water. Don’t tell me there aren’t–I’ve seen them. And I’m not a fan of creatures.

The waves can get really strong and it freaks me out–I don’t want my kids getting sucked out.

Sand is the most annoying substance on earth. It gets EVERYWHERE. Eating on the beach inevitably means ingesting at least a pound of sand, so a picnic is kind of out. And sand has a habit of traveling home with you. I’m still finding it in our house.

And since it’s a true fact that my nickname is Pale Hale, the sun and I aren’t exactly buddies. SPF 900 has to be reapplied about every 10 minutes for me to avoid looking like a lobster.

“Now I know why you like those vampire books,” my husband said to me as I sat on a blanket and watched my boys frolic in the water. “You look like you’re about to burst into flames.”

I ignored his snarky comments because I was measuring the water around my boys’ ankles. Is it deep enough for a shark?

So the whole idea of the beach being a place for a romantic rendezvous is kinda out for me.

When I look at the picture of Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster above, all I can think is, “they’re gonna get sand in some awkward places.”

Share with me: Is there a location that most people consider romantic that you don’t find romantic at all?

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September 9, 2011 · 5:00 am

Her Hand in Marriage

Our ideas of what is romantic have certainly changed over the past few decades.

Our ideas about relationships and marriage have changed, too. Yet somehow, even as our world morphs into a place where fewer and fewer couples choose to marry and those who do are facing increased rates of divorce, when it comes to marriage, our culture clings to some things that are tradition.

The man asks the woman.

The white dress.

The bachelor party.

The down-on-one-knee proposal.

And Daddy’s permission.

I was watching an episode of a TV show not too long ago where one of the characters proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes, but when she realized he had not yet asked her father for permission for her hand in marriage, she told him that she could not give him an “official” yes until he did so.

Returning home, the man asked his brother, “Did you know people still did that? The whole, ‘ask the dad thing’?”

The brother replied: “Of course. What society have you been living in?”

And what society do we live in? Most of the time it appears that we, as a society, have moved past the things of tradition to a more contemporary mix of “whatever works.”

For the most part, anything is acceptable. We might call different “eclectic,” but in our P.C. world, who’s to judge, right?

But as I watched the show, I found it odd that a man who had an openly sexual relationship with an independent woman (as expected by the other characters), was suddenly being chastised for not following the “rules” by speaking to the woman’s father about marrying his daughter.

Is that a mix of the modern and the traditional? Can that mix survive in today’s world?

For decades women have fought long and hard to been seen as equal, independent, and fully capable of making their own decisions.

So, does Daddy even have his daughter’s hand to give in marriage? Or is her hand now her own, according to the feminists?

Our society seems to be sending mixed signals– woman is fiercely independent, able to survive without a man, yet still wants love of her life to confer with father over future of her life.

The whole thing left me scratching my head.

Share with Me: What do you think about this? Is Daddy’s permission still required for marriage? Should it be? Is it possible to mix the traditional and the modern and have it work?

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August 24, 2011 · 5:00 am

Creating the Perfect Man- Bad Boy Syndrome

We’ve covered a lot of topics as we’ve designed the “perfect” romance novel leading man.

I’ve been fascinated by your responses and by your ideas of what’s appealing. Your comments will certainly help me when I’m working on character development!

So, for this last installment, I’d like to address something we haven’t touched on yet–vices.

Every girl has her moment of attraction to the bad boy, right? Something about the whole unlovable, dangerous, carefree personality draws us into believing that we can redeem him somehow. I’d venture to say that some of you have even lived this out in real life.

But are there any qualities, vices, or “sins” that you consider unforgivable? Is it possible for a character to do something that would cause you to see him as unredeemable? 

I once had a reader tell me that one of my characters didn’t show enough remorse for his “bad boy” ways to be redeemed. She was obviously turned off by his philandering, and I can understand that– it’s her preference.

But besides BIG no-nos, are there little vices that gross you out, or turn you off in such a way that our hero becomes not-so-heroic?

And why are motorcycles an automatic bad boy cliche?

Share with me: What vices could turn you off of a leading man and flush the romance, plot and all, straight down the tubes? Are there any sins that you would consider “unforgivable” for a leading man to commit?

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