| Current mood: |  amused |
| Entry tags: | writing |
Save the cheerleader!! Save the dog!! Not necessarily in that order.
Over on Diana Peterfreund’s always-entertaining blog, she has a two-day discussion of the infamous writing rule: whatever you do, don’t kill the dog. Check out her Sept 18 and 20 entries: click here
Meanwhile, I have my own “don’t kill the dog”story.
My first published novel was a time travel. I wrote it in the days before I started working from a real outline, so I didn’t know what was going to happen other than the basic plot.
The heroine was a contemporary woman who went back in time and met a 17th-Century woodsman. He was very rugged, and predictably, had a very cool dog. I grew so fond of Prince, it was an unexpected bonus.
Part way through the novel, to my dismay, the heroine was being held captive by a bad guy. The bad guy was just about to shoot another captive, who was the hero’s little sister. Prince bounded into the room and took the bullet for the sister.
No one was more shocked than I. Fortunately, it was a TIME TRAVEL so later in the book, the heroine was able to go back in time again and ensure that she and the sister were never abducted in the first place. So – the dog lived!
At my first book-signing, a woman presented me with her well-read copy of TIMELESS and told me how much she loved it. But as I was signing, she added firmly, “I loved it, but I’ll never forgive you for killing that poor dog.”
Naturally, I said, “But she went back and saved him. So the dog lived.”
“Yes, but you still shouldn’t have killed him.”
Oh well. Later that day, I was telling one of my friends about this conversation. My friend is an animal rescue person who passionately loves critters. She laughed at the story and agreed that it was silly – because after all, the dog lived! She had read the book and didn’t have a problem with it.
Then I made the mistake of saying: “But even if the heroine hadn’t been able to change history, it was still better that the dog died rather than the little sister. Right?”
My friend looked me right in the eye and said, “No.”
“Are you saying that if it were a choice between the sister dying and the dog dying….?”
“Exactly. If that’s the only choice? Kill the sister.”
So all you aspiring authors out there, do not kill that dog. Seriously!
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katedonovan) wrote,
