Romance and Action

Because Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’ve been thinking about movies (and books) that have been popular with men and woman and boys and girls. Not that my husband or boys won’t watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, but let’s just say that it’s not high on their to-watch list. They’d much rather watch Black Hawk Down, Hamlet or one of the Batman movies.

And although there aren’t a lot of books and movies we all like, there are some. For example, the Bourne movies, Harry Potter series, Alfred Hitchcock movies, the Hunger Games novels, and Lord of the Rings. While they are all very dissimilar, the commonality between them is a balance of action and romance. Amidst all the action (Jason Bourne finding his life, Harry learning to be a wizard, Cary Grant nearly getting thrown off Mount Rushmore, Katniss trying to survive, and Aragorn winning his throne), there is a backdrop of love and romance. Jason falls in love with a kind-hearted woman trying to find her purpose in life, Harry falls for Ginny, Cary falls for the gangster’s moll who works as a spy, Katniss tries to choose between Gale and Peeta, and Aragorn longs for Arawen.

What about you readers? Besides good writing/acting, do you think a balance of action and romance helps make a movie/book popular with both sexes? And what recommendations do you have—let me know in the comments section. I’d love to get a list of book and movie recommendations from you.

Good news to share: I can finally report that I finished the first draft of book 3 last Friday! Today, I start editing. Yay!

A Guy's Perspective

When I first started writing Screwing Up Time, I realized that I wanted to write it from a guy’s perspective. I’d read enough young adult and teen literature to know that there were very few books written from a guy’s perspective. My thought was that guys would appreciate seeing themselves at the center of a novel and girls would like seeing from a guy’s perspective. Being that I have three sons aged 21 to 15 and they have lots of friends whom I’ve gotten to know, I thought I might be able to do them justice. One of my favorite compliments on the novel is when someone said, “Wow, this is just like a guy wrote it.”

So, ladies/girls, if this Valentine’s Day you’d like to see what life and love are like to a guy, give Screwing Up Time a try. As a Valentine’s Day treat, I’ve included this YouTube file. It’s the song “Boomerang” by Plain White Ts. My oldest son calls it the “The Atom Love Song.” Imagine that the electron is singing this song to the proton--keep in mind the quantum mechanical model of the atom--you know, the 3D version of the atom that shows how the electrons move. (Yeah, he’s a chemistry geek.)