Dad? Is there a woman in your bed?
My youngest son came into our bedroom not too long ago and asked my husband this question. My husband looked at me with his somewhat amused and secret smile and answered, "Yes. I do."
"Who is it?" Our youngest demanded.
"It's your mom."
The kid laughed, hysterically! And I had to laugh with him as if we had some secret joke between us.
…but I swear, I did NOT put him up to that question! haha.
We–as humans–use labels A LOT. My son is going through this labeling stage. Everyone is a man or a boy, woman or girl. I suppose he'll get to a point when his labels will include what people do or how they relate to him.
I got to thinking that these labels can be so important to our writing.
I read a sample of work last week in which a female character had a boy's name. No biggie. I love the masculine and feminine contrast–Sam, Georgie [btw, i'm not talking about your book, Jennifer!], Frankie, Danny, Jackie. Unfortunately, this particular choice in names was harder to swallow.
Like, Tyler or Matt or Rocky….
I had to reread a portion of the story right off the bat, because I had gotten confused.
So, tell me. What rules do you follow for labeling? How much do you expect your reader to swallow when it comes to originality?
That is too funny. Kids are fascinating to watch. They remind us of some of the traits I think we fail to see in our 'adult' selves.
Heroine – Spunky, fun, outgoing, pretty…available. There are just certain labels or traits that are engraved in our psyche based on what we've read, watched, or seen in real life. Sometimes they are hard to overcome in our writing.
Labels… I would like to say I am not big on them and don't use them, but surely, that is a lie. Even in the basic sense, we label. Hero – must be tall, dark, handsome, funny….available.
As far as readers? I think it depends on the book as to whether or not they will take that leap and follow your creative originality. Some readers abide by tradition where others seek out the unusual and fresh spin (as long as they can wrap their minds around it). When I read, I like to think I sit on the fence here because lets face it, as I stated above, sometimes its hard to make that leap. When it works though, it can be truly a benefit to the story or character don't you think?
Moira Keith(Quote) (Reply)
Kids do say the funniest things.
Generally when I write I give the girls, girl names and the boys, boy names.
Janice~
Janice Seagraves(Quote) (Reply)