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Welcome back, @hollyknight22! Actually, I don’t think I was here when you were a regular before, so…nice to meet you!
I have a sister who plays the harp. Such a beautiful instrument!
@rose-colored-fancy, that’s very interesting. There’s a formal “you” and a casual “you” in Persian, too…the formal “you” is just the plural form of the pronoun.
Actually I think it’s maybe more like “more intimate” vs. “less intimate” because kids generally address their parents with the casual “you”…and then have to be trained to use the formal “you” for other adults.
@melancholicwriter, to boil it down to the bones, a romance story is about two people either drawing closer together, or falling apart. In other words, the love relationship is the driving force of the story.
I may be wrong, but it sounds like the driving force of your story is not so much the relationship between the girl and the boyfriend who rapes her, but the girl’s own journey toward healing and forgiveness after the fact.
Though that journey may include dating, kissing, and even another boyfriend someday, in my opinion what you’ve got would be closer to a “growing up” or “coming of age” story than a typical romance.
Interesting question…I don’t write fantasy, per se (no magic, wizards or dragons) but my current series does take place in an alternative history Southeast Europe. So the cities and provinces that provide the locations for the stories are made-up.
For the names of characters, I used names of Southeastern European origin for the majority ethnicity, (Peter, Anna, Bogdan, Oksana) and names of Central/South Asian origin for the minority ethnicity (Preen, Arjun, Dunya.) I did this because I wanted to give my world a sense of authenticity, of being grounded in reality and history that I don’t feel totally made-up names can provide.
At the same time, I didn’t want to base either people group, or the conflict they’re involved in, on anything in our real world, so I attempted to create a sense of distance by making a whole bunch of stuff up…
@melancholicwriter, it sounds like you have a strong plot/story idea here, though I agree that the dark themes would be difficult to address well, even if–or perhaps particularly if–you have personal experience with this kind of situation. However, I’m not sure that the story, as you described it, would technically qualify as a romance.
Great, thanks for the sketch, @erynne! King Hudson looks really young in that drawing, but I assume he’s around the same age as the Queen? Or is he supposed to be significantly younger than her?
Glad you like it, @erynne! My cartoon style doesn’t work for everyone, but I think for fantasy/Medieval-style characters, it can be kind of fun. If you want to share a sketch of the king, that would be great!
@erynne, here’s Queen Emery…she was fun to do! I hope you like her. I can easily change anything about the coloring if it doesn’t suit.
@jsclingman, if you’re looking for something in the comedy vein, Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances are super-fun. While they are not free of language, kissing, etc. it is definitely kept to a minimum. There are not inappropriate sexual scenes in any of the ones I’ve read.
While I have no claim to being an expert, I’ve done a lot of reading and writing about romance, so I understand how tricky it can be to do it well. At the moment, I’m writing a series of romantic suspense novellas myself (currently working on the fourth one.) If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share with you. Just email me at btznvntATgmailDOTcom.
Cool, @erynne! I’ll see what I can do with the queen, and if you like her, I’ll do the king.
Interesting topic!
In traditional Persian culture, people sit on the floor, but it’s not polite to stretch your legs out or point the bottoms of your feet at someone. It is polite to always offer tea and snacks, even if you know the guest isn’t going to stay…
Babies get bundled up so tightly like little cocoons (for warmth and safety) you can practically toss them in the air without hurting them…
You great someone by kissing, but not actually kissing–just touching cheeks and making a kissing sound…
If you’re invited for a meal, it will be practically impossible to convince the hostess that you’re full…
When a person dies, he or she must be buried as soon as possible (within 24 hours.) No time for assembling distant relatives or elaborate funeral plans…
At a wedding, men dance with each other, and women dance with each other (separately.) The bride and groom sit together on the women’s side of the party…
@kb-writer, I actually like most of these names as they stand. I think they work well for a fantasy setting…even “The Frozen Stopwatch” adds a little bizarre humor to a story that could have the potential to take itself too seriously…
For “Princelandia,” maybe something like, “The Confederation?” “The United Republics?”
As for character names, is there a particular real-world culture or time period that you’re drawing a lot of inspiration from? For example, for traditional Medieval-style fantasy setting, you might want to go with French or Germanic-sounding names, such as you might find in Song of Roland, or the King Arthur stories.
Or what about cracking open the Heimskringla for a wealth of Icelandic and Northern European names? An ice-bound fantasy featuring characters with names like Snorri or Gudred would be pretty cool (but maybe that’s just my personal opinion.)
Names like “Noah,” and “Courtney” sound very contemporary, which would work for a story with a more modern, dystopian-world fantasy, (which this might be, considering a stopwatch plays a major role?) but otherwise, might feel out of place.
Best of luck as you continue brainstorming this…
My six year old son wrote (dictated) a story featuring a princess whose name was A Pearl! A Pearl! A Pearl!
@kb-writer, wow, that is hilarious! Sounds like it could have been one of those “so bad it’s awesome” stories.
@joelle-stone, that’s great you have your very own illustrator! That would be a real advantage, especially when you’re trying to create art and covers for characters who aren’t young/blonde/Caucasian/conventionally beautiful, or all of the above. I struggled to find these “halfway there” images…and this couple was actually the easiest in the series to find representation for.
