Why Mess With Perfection? (Brian Katcher)
When DEACON LOCKE came out, an author friend commented that it was another Brian Katcher plot: awkward guy falls for flawed girl. I took umbrage with that, especially because I think he may have been right.
Book 1: Nerdy guy falls for girl with disfigured face
Book 2: Awkward athlete falls for transgender girl.
Book 3: Nerdy guy falls for overweight girl.
Book 4: Nerdy guy and nerdy girl fall for each other.
Book 5: Awkward guy falls for Muslim girl.
Personally, I don't find any of those girls to be 'flawed,' especially that last one. But maybe society does. When it comes down to it, my male heroes are always either nerds (Leon, Sherman, and Zak) or have crippling self-esteem problems (Logan and Deacon).
I guess if you had to do a list of Brian Katcher tropes they would be as follow:
*The main character is handsome, but comically unaware of this.
*The female love interest is either not conventionally attractive (Melody and Charlie) or does not fit society's version of what an alluring woman should be (Sage, Ana, and Soraya).
Also, the main character ends up visiting someone in a mental hospital, and my charming leading man gets pistol whipped. I've lost count of the number of teen romances I've written where my hero gets clubbed with the butt of a revolver.
So maybe I am in a rut. Fortunately, My newest (and unpublished) books have completely different romantic situations:
*Disabled guy falls for insane girl.
*Awkward guy falls for handsome guy, awkward girl falls for attractive girl.
*Awkward guy falls for attractive girl.
*Awkward guy falls for transgender girl (but totally different from the other book!).
*Handsome guy falls for awkward girl, while his awkward cousin falls for attractive girl.
Wow. I am in a rut. Time to bring in the sexy vampires.
Time to write 'Guy falls, while lying on ground thinks 'I'm getting tired of this', grows wings, flies to moon where he lives happily ever after on a lack of oxygen and too much green cheese.'
ReplyDeleteI am both laughing and crying as I read this! I join you in feeling like I am in a rut with my writing. I hadn't pinpointed exactly why until I started writing my own post for this month. Reading yours made me feel better, lol. I know I'm not alone. One observation I made when coming to my own realization is that maybe I'm in a rut because I've learned all I need to about that part of myself that felt it necessary to write those stories. Perhaps we've outgrown our teen selves and need to reinvent some new stories.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of breaking down the tropes of your own work.
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