tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198581514056172349.post4059864885026084661..comments2023-04-06T04:37:39.726-04:00Comments on Wicked Writers: Sense and Sensibility, Intimacy and RomanceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198581514056172349.post-20692347014531226472010-07-15T06:10:19.000-04:002010-07-15T06:10:19.000-04:00Great post, Matt--and I think some wise advice for...Great post, Matt--and I think some wise advice for those of us who are women trying to write male characters. It's easy to fall into stereotypes and forget the complexity that makes us interesting as humans applies equally to men and women.Suzanne Johnsonhttp://suzannejohnson.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198581514056172349.post-62963338578555320922010-07-15T08:07:34.000-04:002010-07-15T08:07:34.000-04:00Well, C.J., I'm delighted you could make use o...Well, C.J., I'm delighted you could make use of this brain dump of mine. As I re-read it, I see I could have put a much finer point on what I wanted discuss, which is how to make the climax of a romantic plot line really cathartic; how to send the reader away emotionally wrung-out, but satisfied.<br><br>The key to the myth of romantic love is that being united is the deepest desire of lovers, and that desire is frustrated. The catharsis of the love story is when the barriers are stripped away, and the greatest catharsis of all is when those barriers have been internalized by the lovers. When the barrier between lovers is a conflict between the public and private self, the climax is when the lovers at last stand naked (psychologically, if not physically) before each other.<br><br>In some cases the physical separation of the lovers remains, which makes the psychic unity of the lovers even more powerful: Rick and Ilsa in *Casablanca*; Rudolph and Flavia in *The Prisoner of Zenda*; Lyra and Will in *His Dark Materials*.Matt Leohttp://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1391352682noreply@blogger.com