nick_archer

For what it's worth, Camy, I downloaded the Word templates from the BBC and they are awesome! I wrote a radio play using it.

Well, I guess I really stepped in it this time! Let me preface by saying that JTS was meant to be fun. A lot of the points were grossly exaggerated. I was trying for irony but it seems that some are taking some of the points quite seriously. Lighten up a bit! As I said in the preface, we've all used these elements from time to time. I agree that if they're done well, you can get away with most of them. (Although, NOT the alarm clock under any circumstances!) I think what it boils down to is the old romance vs. reality conundrum. By its very nature, romance requires the reader or writer to suspend disbelief. I think all romantic stories fall somewhere along a spectrum. It's like a slider bar with romance at one end and realism at the other. Each of us, as readers and writers, set that slider bar to different positions. And, I daresay, we change the position of that slider bar throughout our lives. Maybe it's a result of age and experience. As you build up life experiences, and therefore lose a bit of youthful idealism, you have less tolerance for things that just can't happen. I don't know. It's just a theory. I'm just thinking out loud. Give me realism. I prefer settings that are true-to-life and plots that make me think "Hey, this could really happen." But that's me and as John said in his introduction, it's just my opinion. Example: One of the previous posters mentioned talking. While I agree that dialog is essential to establish romance and affection between characters, a writer can take it too far. When the characters talk and talk and talk and talk and constantly declare their love for each other to the exclusion of any semblance of a plot, that Jumps the Shark for me. I'll stop reading it. Another example: settings, facts and plot points that are just plain wrong. I grew up around Chicago, lived in the city and the suburbs so I know it well. I can't tolerate stories set in Chicago that don't get their facts correct. Most everything is available on the Internet and it would take seconds to Google information. So it really infuriates me when a writer won't even take minimal efforts to get their facts correct. But that's just me. I have my slider bar set to the "Realism" end. On a completely different vein of thought, I would like to thank all the posters who have complimented my writing. (My apologies for not quite getting the 'Quote" function of this board down pat.) It is true that I have found the time and motivation to write again, but not on the Paternal Instincts series. I will eventually pick it up again and I do have plans for it. Right now, however, it's on indefinite hiatus. Nick Archer archerland@gmail.com