As we forge ahead into summer blockbuster season, I've noticed something about the movies I'm psyched to see. They're all action movies -- and they all star very atypical action-movie heroes.
We've got Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man.
And then we have Ed Norton as The Incredible Hulk.
And oh-my-stars, am I desperate to see James McAvoy star opposite Angelina Jolie in Wanted.
None of them are especially brawny guys, or for that matter, even particularly tall. Charisma and quick wits are their secret weapons. They bring the human factor to the superhero formula. And I'd take any of them over a 'roided-out titan any day.
Possibly because these guys remind me so much of my own real-life hero, my husband. No, he's not 6'4" with tree-trunks for thighs, but he's lean and quick and packed with explosive energy that comes in handy during life's little crises. Seriously, I've seen him leap picket fences in a single bound, to break up dogs fighting down the block. I've watched him soar into trees to retrieve stuck toys, while small children look on in awe. I've seen him dash to a hotel room and back in tropical heat, in under two minutes (yes, I timed him), to fetch my grandmother's scarf. And when he brought back the wrong one, he did it again. Faster.
And now, thanks to my writing career, he has a pretty spiffy superhero name: Mr. Dare.
We're working on the costume.
Who are your favorite atypical heroes, in books, movies, life?
And congrats to TerriO, who won my giveaway last week!
Some of you are probably wondering why I don't call it TMI Tuesday anymore. Well, there are a couple of reasons. One is because I discovered there is an actual TMI Tuesday blog somewhere with weekly memes for people to post on their own blogs. A bigger reason is because, as I work on upgrading my website and blog, I'm trying to make the transition from blogging for my friends to blogging for a wider readership. But mostly it's because I seem to be falling into a weekly blog pattern, and if I'm only blogging one day a week, I don't want my whole blog to be TMI!
But just to prove I haven't lost my heart for it all, today I'm blogging about breasts.
Last week, I told you a bit about Isabel, the heroine of A Lady of Persuasion, and I mentioned that she's self-conscious about her body. Well, a lot of her self-conscious stems from her breasts, which she thinks are too large and indecent and just magnets for unwelcome attention. She's a very modest, moral person, and she feels trapped in a figure that embodies sensuality and excess.
I took a lot of inspiration for this part of her character from my own adolescence - and now those of you who've met me are going to be saying to yourselves, "Um, Tessa, hate to break it to you - but they're not that big. Nothing special, sweetie." I know, I know. I'm certainly not as endowed as I imagine Isabel to be, but when I was a teenager, I was extremely self-conscious about my figure. Because most of those kinds of emotions aren't particularly rational or rooted in fact. All it took was one skeevy guy on the street muttering "nice rack" to make me hide under baggy clothes for months. Now, of course, after giving birth twice and nursing two kids, I'd probably chase after that guy and thank him...but it was a difficult thing for me to learn to handle, this notion that men would look at my body and occasionally comment on it. Because I knew it meant even more guys were looking at my body and thinking things they weren't rude enough to say aloud. And although I know this now to be just typically male behavior, when I was younger it somehow felt like a judgment on me as a person. Why didn't some skeevy guy on the street mutter "nice personality"?
I don't know, there were a lot of intense emotions stuffed in my bra throughout my teenage and young adult years. I think that's why I was so determined to nurse my babies--I was bound and determined to get some use out of these things, after carrying them around half my life! And conveniently enough, that was the experience that finally cured me of any self-consciousness about them.
And I'm sure I was not alone, right? Breasts seem to be one of those "grass-is-always-greener" things. Women wish theirs were bigger, or smaller, or perkier, or whathaveyou. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (look, I even did research!) there were almost 350,000 breast augmentations done in 2007, up 6% from the year before, and breast reductions, while less frequent, are also growing in popularity. I don't have any positions, pro or con, on the surgery - just that, if given the chance to change something about our bodies, a lot of women seem to opt for breasts.
Why are they such a big deal?
I have my own theories. I guess in my own experience, I'm inclined to think it's because of this constant "sizing up" that goes on--perfect strangers looking you in the chest and giving the mental (or sometimes verbal) thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Becoming aware of it was really shocking for me, and then it took me years to just get over it and stop letting other people make me feel uncomfortable about my body. Also, breasts are a very sexualized body part and their function is tied to motherhood, so sex + mothering = lots of strong emotions.
But I'm sure there are as many answers to that question as there are women.
What do you think? Not just about breasts, necessarily, but body image in general. Is your relationship with your body love, hate, or some combination thereof? Has it changed through different phases of your life? Are you going to identify with Isabel?
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In other news, my friend has her first book releasing today, with Samhain Publishing! It's a futuristic fantasy romance called Touch of Fire - I've read it, and I can tell you it's sexy, funny, exciting, and awesome. Maria is a wonderful storyteller. And look at the fabulous cover! You can read more about it and an excerpt .
I'll pick one commenter at random to send a Samhain gift certificate for Touch of Fire. Enter by midnight Wednesday.
tagged me over a week ago now. The rules are something like this:
Link the person who tagged you. Mention the rules in your blog. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.
Okay, so my first quirk would be this: When tagged, I like to change the rules.
Seriously, I've been thinking all week about my quirks, and quirkiness in general. Somehow I've had a really hard time coming up with six "unspectacular quirks" for this meme. Which is odd, because most of the time I just feel like a mass of quirks, none of them spectacular. Maybe it's just that by now, anyone who has been reading this blog knows just about all the quirks I plan to share.
But I have been thinking a lot about Isabel, my current heroine, and her quirkiness. So I thought I would share with you six of hers.
1. She doesn't eat sugar. And this has nothing to do following some Regency version of the Atkins Diet. It's political. 2. Her idea of a hot date is dragging her suitor to visit orphans. Not just any orphans, but sickly ones. 3. Despite her charitable nature, she's not really an animal lover - larger animals, like horses and dog, make her uneasy. Cats are too disloyal for her to identify with. She does like God's smallest creatures - bugs, spiders, lizards don't make her squeamish in the least. Of course, she would never do anything so disgusting as collect them and pin them on cards. 4. She's self-conscious about her curvy figure, her dark complexion, her thick hair, and basically everything on her body - but she has a weak spot of vanity about her neck. She thinks she has a quite lovely neck, and when she looks in the mirror, she will fix on it and try to be satisfied, rather than let her gaze wander up and down to more objectionable parts. 5. Much as she enjoys music, she can't carry a tune. Which pains her mostly because she is ashamed to sing in church. 6. She feels her deepest fear ought to be hell...but it isn't.
Ah, and the bonus #7 - the one thing Isabel and I have in common - a hatred (okay, Isabel would not use the word "hatred") - an intense dislike of shopping.
And now, you're all tagged!
Do you give your characters quirks? Or remember any quirks of your favorite characters? Examples, please!
It's those little things that can really make a character come alive, and this was actually a really good exercise for me to do, as I work on my book. Thanks, Gina!
EDITED: To fix lame typos and also because I forgot to mention, Courtney Milan and Lenora Bell are finalists in the Romance Through The Ages contest! Yay! And Lenora is also a finalist in the Spring into Romance contest! Yay again! And Vagabond Manda is a finalist in the Daphne! Yay some more!
Last Saturday, I attended a workshop in LA with Julia Quinn, which included lots of wonderful advice on writing dialogue and much helpful insight on career issues...but there was one thing JQ said that just about chilled the blood in my veins.
Starbucks is moving to free Internet.
Oh dear. Can I pretend I didn't hear that? *sticking fingers in ears* LA LA LA LA LA!
Didn't work. Hmph.
Man oh man. What will I do? Starbucks has become my go-to place when I really, really need to just write with no distractions. (Amazing, isn't it, that I can ignore noisy espresso grinders and Joss Stone soundtracks more easily than I can ignore the siren song of the Internet?)
Why is it, that it's easier to do just about ANYTHING than write? I find myself folding laundry to procrastinate sometimes. Every time I open up my WIP file and sit down to work on it, it feels like this monumental act of courage for which I surely deserve some sort of gold-plated award--or at the very least, a merit badge. Failing those, I *know* I've earned my latte and scone, which is why Starbucks is so perfect.
It's a source of comfort, though, to know that most authors go through the same thing. So kindly make me feel better.
Do you play little mind games with yourself, to get motivated to write? Where do you go when you just really have to get things done, without distractions? Do you have to bribe yourself with scones? Or something else?
And most importantly, where can I go, if Starbucks is no longer safe?
EDIT: Oh, and I see I've been tagged by Gina. Yay! Another way to procrastinate! I'll try to get to that later this week.
