Grinning like a Blogger

Does anyone else secretly grin when they admit they are a blogger? Doesn’t it sound like we should be strapping on work boots, sporting red flannel beneath our denim overalls and hoisting axes over our shoulders while we head high into the timbers? Anyone know any good lumberjack songs?

Hmmm. Me either. I’ll have to ask my husband. Men know these things.

Okay. Just another weird observation. As you might have guessed, I have a lot of these. Most authors will admit to having voices in their heads. To a writer, this is a good thing. It means your characters are doing their appointed jobs and leading you down that long and winding path to the end of your manuscript. This is a normal, even welcoming experience. Needless to say, the voices that occupy my mind tend to sound like Lucy and Ethel, or Martin and Lewis. And on days when I’ve had too much caffeine, I have The Three Stooges performing in full regalia. I can only imagine what a cat scan of my brain would look like. (grin)

Romantic comedies have always relied on slapstick or physical comedy. Not cover to cover craziness but just enough hurled at your hero and heroine to get them into and out of a sticky situation. Good comedy is a mixture of subtle and the not-so-subtle because no matter what, you never want to make it easy for your characters. If you think about it, writing a scene is like building a house of cards. The comedic tension increases as the scene grows on the pages of your manuscript. And you, as the lucky writer, get to decide when to knock it down.

So romantic comedy writers rejoice. Sing your lumberjack songs. Build your house of cards. As long as our characters keep tap dancing in our heads, we'll keep slipping them banana peels.

Hugs,
Reese