Due to technical difficulties with Amanda’s internet connection, we must reschedule Elaine for another Sunday.

I’m working on a fight between the hero and heroine in the balloonist story. I’m pretty happy with it so far and looking forward to the makeup sex that comes next. 🙂

But I realized while writing this that I don’t often write this sort of scene. IMHO one has to be careful with arguments and fights and use them only where they make sense.

I’m not a fan of stories in which the characters are constantly squaring off, unless there’s a really good reason. I have trouble imagining a happy ending when people can’t work anything out. There’s an idea out there that there are couples who constantly fight and make up and it makes things exciting. But the one couple I know in real life who are like that (and I was told early on that this was “just their way”) are fighting more bitterly as they get older. They are afraid to separate and yet neither is willing to compromise, apologize or forgive. It is not romantic. It is tragic. I want better for my heroes and heroines!

I also like story setups in which the hero and heroine are thrown together and try to get along toward some common goal, while there is some other problem that they have to solve before they can be together. Conflict doesn’t always have to be adversarial.

Anyway, what do you think makes a conflict work well? Do you sometimes enjoy a good fight (fictional, of course)?

Elena

Two hundred years. So this year we’re celebrating the ascendancy of the Prince Regent (how much is enough? minimal, unlike the person of His Highness), surely one of the more useless and despicable members of the doltish dullards who were the Hapsburgs.

The actual Regency itself–those nine years–were not the best of times. Political oppression, check. Galloping inflation, check. Warfare, check. Gowns dropping the lovely Grecian simplicity and developing silly frills at the hems, check.

Karyn Gerard, you are the winner of To Tempt a Rogue! Please send us your snail mail info at Riskies AT yahoo.com…

I’m in the middle of a two week writer’s challenge with my local writing buddies. Unlike National Novel Writing Month, which has a 50,000 word goal, or Book in a Week, we set our own individual goals. It could be a word count, it could be dedicating a certain number of hours per day to writing, or it could be something specific like finishing an outline. We email back and forth with our daily goals and progress, pulling out cyber-champagne or wet noodles as needed.

It’s going well, despite the several snow days we’ve had. Although we’ve had to deal with our beloved offspring more than we planned, all of us have soldiered on and gotten more done than we would have otherwise.

The idea of group challenges isn’t unique to writing. I haven’t done Weight Watchers but I think they use the same concept. My husband is making continued progress on his stroke recovery through a group water exercise class at the YMCA.

I think there are at least two reasons that this sort of group challenge can work.

1. Accountability. It helps to declare a goal and have friends who will know if you achieved it, or at least gave it a good shot.
2. Camaraderie. It’s great to have someone to bitch to when it gets difficult, to share tips and tricks and to celebrate achievements.

What do my writer buddies and I get out of it? Increased productivity and bragging rights. Oh yeah, Mimosas and cake at our next meeting. 🙂

Do you participate in any group activities or challenges? Do you feel you get a boost out of them?
Elena