Fiction Writing Archives - Page 2 of 16

The Surprise Child Trope: How to Piss off Your Readers and Viewers

Posted on October 17, 2023 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Readers and viewers come with a variety of tastes when it comes to tropes. Some people hate love triangles; some love them. And many readers live for the friends-to-lovers; others avoid them when they can.

But there’s one trope that I have never seen anyone talk highly about: It’s the surprise/secret child trope. You follow a TV series or a book (series), and suddenly there’s a child or a teenager that the main character (or a significant character that heavily impacts the main character) has had. Oops. Now the audience has to sit back and watch all the conflicts unfold, all because of a kid we never signed up for.

There is nothing wrong with writing about characters who are parents. But if we suddenly have to deal with a child that comes out of nowhere after 5 or more seasons (or books), we start to complain.

Here, I’m going to remind you how certain shows lost or lowered their appeal, and two shows that did it right and how.

Note: Please note that this post contains affiliate links. It’s no extra cost to you, but I do make a little if you buy through them.

Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers about Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Lucifer, Ally McBeal, and Virgin River.

Let’s start with a good example.

Grandfathered starring John Stamos and Josh Peck

While it only aired for one season, this Stamos comedy was a sweet and fun one. A handsome, successful, and happily single restaurant owner gets a double shock when the adult son he didn’t know he had shows up with his granddaughter.

It’s a fun concept and a welcome twist on the good old trope. And the best part? We were ready for it as an audience.

Where the fandoms didn’t welcome the surprise child.

Buffy starring Sarah Michelle Gellar

Here we are, happy Buffy fans until season 5, knowing that our favorite vampire slayer is an only child… until there is suddenly a teenager and she’s Buffy’s sister. And she has been Buffy’s sister this whole time.

Technically, Buffy’s mother is not blindsided by the sudden existence of her child. Neither is Buffy. It’s only the audience.

Buffy is a supernatural show. We can accept a lot of things. But of all the things Buffy fans disagree about (“Angel or Spike?”, “Is Riley an undeserving man unworthy of Buffy or is he a decent guy who dealt with the crazy world the best he could? ”, etc.), there is one consensus. I never heard a Buffy fan happy about the arrival of Dawn.

Gilmore Girls starring Lauren Graham

I love this show. I resisted it for a long time because everyone seemed to love it, and I didn’t think it could be that good. I was wrong. It really is that good. Except season 6. I’d like to pretend Season 6, from episode 9, never happened. Because you guessed it, the main male character of the show, our beloved TV boyfriend Luke Danes got a 12-year-old daughter. And both a character and a romance for the ages were ruined.

But first, let’s give a short recap for those of you who never watched the show:

Lorelai is an independent, fast-talking, gorgeous single mother in her early 30s. She manages the hotel in the small town Sleepy Hollow and raises her book-smart and pretty teenager Rory. The two are more besties than mother and daughter. However, the picture-perfect life Lorelai built here will be disturbed when Lorelai has to ask her estranged parents for money so that she can send Rory to her dream school.

There are many storylines, character arcs, and relationships we don’t see eye to eye as GG fans. But we do agree that Luke Danes is awesome.

Luke owns and runs the diner in town, which is his dream job. He’s handsome, honest, dependable, and fun in his own way. Luke is so well-written and portrayed that he almost seems more real than other men we see on TV.

It takes a long time for Lorelai and Luke to get together. Like four entire seasons. Then we still have to wait a bit more for the first official date. But when the romance starts, we are thrilled. These two are made for each other.

And the proposal scene in season 5, as well Luke’s reaction… Well, I think I watched it like a hundred times. Cuteness overload.

And then during season 6, we get a child, and it all goes to hell from there. I have nothing against the child herself as a character. While I’d rather Luke never had a kid, she is okay. It’s the man/fiancé Luke turns into that I hate.

He neglects Lorelai so badly that she goes nuclear when she ends it. And I don’t blame her one bit. She hung on a lot longer than I’d have, and she only did because this was Luke.

Don’t worry, they fix things in season 7. But man, what an unnecessary bumpy ride we didn’t need.

The reason Luke gets no sympathy from us is he had no excuse. His daughter wasn’t problematic. She wasn’t terminally ill. She got along fine with Lorelai. Lorelai was also sweet and welcoming.

I’d like to pretend Luke was temporarily replaced by an alien or android. If GG had a fight club, the first rule would be we hate season 6 Luke.

Ally McBeal starring Calista Flockhart

Ally McBeal will always have a special place in my heart. I was supposed to be studying for college entrance exams, but had a bunch of health issues so I watched a lot of series. One of my favorites was this quirky comedy drama, and to this day it remains one of the quirkiest, most fun shows I’ve seen.

Ally is a young lawyer who accidentally ends up working at the same company as her college boyfriend Billy and his wife while Ally not being the quirkiest character… You just need to watch it. The show was David E. Kelley, who has a track record of creating addictive legal comedies and dramas.

But if I had to choose my least favorite Ally McBeal storyline, the award goes to season 5 (the show’s last season) where a 10-year-old shows up at Ally’s door and says she’s her daughter. Turns out, Ally joined a fertility study, they made a mistake, and when the girl’s father died, she came looking.

Now, in one episode, Ally decided she was meant to be a mother. One episode. What???

Though not at the same level as Gilmore Girls, I am still not sure a daughter was the be-all-end-all solution to all of Ally’s problems. It’s like almost impossible for a woman to find what makes her complete without a romantic partner or a kid. (Eye roll.)

Oh well. At least season 5 had James Marsden, Josh Hopkins, Regina Hall, Jon Bon Jovi, and Tim DeKay as guest stars.

Lucifer starring Tom Ellis

Based on the DC comics Lucifer, Lucifer has one of the most fun concepts ever: The devil gets bored in hell, and moves to Los Angeles where he runs a piano bar and assists the LAPD with solving murders. Tom Ellis is never anything less than perfect as Lucifer. And while some storylines, seasons, and character developments are more interesting than others, he is always a joy to watch. The song and dance numbers on the show are also priceless.

What sets Lucifer apart from other in(famous) comic characters is that he never tries to hide his identity. He tells everyone he’s the devil and no one believes him, which adds more hilarity.

So while I recommend anyone give Lucifer a try, I am also not going to insist you watch season 6. In episode 2, we meet a petulant young adult from hell. With wings. In episode 3, we find out – along with Lucifer – that she is his daughter.

What????? Why?

The rest of the storyline is hazy because I never could give my full attention after this. As you know, this is not my first surprise child character.

I prefer Lucifer’s episodic stories over serial ones because serial stories usually get more convoluted as they try to up previous seasons.

A neutral example: Virgin River starring Alexandra Breckenridge

While I don’t watch shows eagerly waiting for a surprise child to turn up, Virgin River’s use of the trope didn’t bother me. For one thing, “the child” didn’t belong to Mel or Jack, our main characters.

At the end of season 3, a handsome college-aged guy named Denny walked into the town’s B&B and declared he was looking for his grandfather, the town doctor.

Since then, Denny’s been a regular on the show. While initially he has a secret, his presence didn’t hurt Doc’s relationships. It didn’t cause a personality change. Denny was a likable character on his own.

When should you consider using this trope?

I believe as a writer you should be able to write whatever you want. Because you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) spend months laboring over something you aren’t excited about. So while I am not a fan of this trope in most cases, only you can know if your story needs it.

You should also consider your target market. If you have asked your readers and they seem to love and expect this trope, then you have nothing to worry about.

Just like any trope, you can make a decision by asking yourself some vital questions.

Does this trope work for my genre, particularly for this story?
How does my audience feel about this trope?
Does this reveal (of the surprise child) feel organic, or was I really just looking for an easy way to create conflict?
Am I staying true to my characters when I write their reactions?
Do I have a fresh, or a lesser-used take on this?

There you have it. What about you? Which surprise child reveal annoys you to no end?

The book or the movie? That’s the question.

Posted on September 7, 2023 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Note: I use affiliate links in this post. If you buy through them, it’s no extra cost to you, but I make a little money, which goes toward running this blog.

I have a confession to make. I don’t always prefer the book. Sometimes, the movie adaptation works fine. You know, when I haven’t read the book first.

I don’t plan it that way. I am just as much into watching movies as I am into reading books. I add a movie to my watchlist or just start watching and then find out it’s based on a book. If I’m already excited about the film, I’m not going to wait until I read the book.

So I watch the movie. And if I really like it, I hunt down the book. This makes disappointment less likely since at this point I’ll have read an article or two about how different these two works of art are. And I won’t be disappointed with the casting – I will just imagine the actors as the leads.

You never know. Sometimes, the movie will have changed things for the better and you won’t enjoy the book. Sometimes, the changes will have worked fine for the medium, and both will give you a lot of joy (Looking at you Red, White, and Royal Blue. (aff.link))

On the other hand, I can’t say the same about Cold Mountain (aff. link). It’s a visual feast. I can’t find fault with it. But I couldn’t get through the novel for some reason.

When did I hate a movie adaptation? Runaway Jury.

Hear me out. Had I not read the novel first (aff.link) – which happens to be one of my favorite novels ever – I would have loved that film. The cast and genre alone would have lured me in. But they changed the core of the novel. A fascinating case against the big tobacco became a gun violence thing.

And… look, I get how more visually impressive (and emotionally more touching and more mainstream ) this decision is. The problem? I loved the plot and the twists and the characters specifically because it was a big tobacco case. And I feel like we have enough great and moving movies about guns. Why couldn’t I have this one? (If you have seen and read Runaway Jury let me know what you think.)

Then there are movie adaptations that are enjoyable enough, if not as memorable as the novels. Two Sophie Kinsella adaptations come to mind: Confessions of a Shopaholic (starring Isla Fisher) and Can You Keep A Secret? (starring Alessandra Daddario). If I had to pick one, I’d pick the novel. But the movies are pleasant experiences and I am glad they exist.

Everyone’s experiences will be different based on taste and expectations. If you hated the adaptation, you’re right. If you loved it, you are right. 🙂

What about you? Which adaptations did you love? Which ones do you hate? Let me know! 🙂

Romantic Comedy Writing Lessons from Netflix’s A Tourist’s Guide to Love

Posted on April 29, 2023 Written by Pinar Tarhan

A Tourist’s Guide to Love is a 2023 romcom by Netflix, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Scott Ly. It’s a fun, sweet and romantic story about a woman who is challenged to get out of her comfort zone first by a break-up and then by a free-spirited tourist guide in Vietnam.

First, let me get this out of the way. This is a happy movie about a non-toxic romantic relationship that starts as a friendship. So, if your favorite romantic movie is The Notebook, you will probably not enjoy this one.

This is not to say the protagonists don’t have problems. They do. But no one dies or gets sick. No one plots to keep people apart, and minor disagreements do not turn into shouting matches or served under the guise of passion:

Plot Summary

After travel executive Amanda (Rachael Leigh Cook)’s 5-year relationship comes to a disappointing end, her best friend/business partner Mona (Missi Pyle) sends her to Vietnam to get over her disappointment and to evaluate a local tour guide company for purchase. Amanda is all ready for a packed visit jammed with activities, but her tour guide Sinh (Scott Ly) has other ideas.

As he encourages her to take a moment and enjoy everything, the instant chemistry and connection between them grow. But unfortunately, their different residences aren’t the only thing standing in their romance: He doesn’t know Amanda is there to buy his uncle’s company. Add the ex who is regretting the break-up, and things get complicated.

The movie is like slow travel. It appeals to your senses, presents another culture respectfully, and introduces you to fellow travelers who could be your best friends. And there is a lovely romance brewing which will end happily of course.

What can the movie offer you if you write romcom?

You can tone down the chaos. Sometimes readers and watchers need and want to relax. You can offer beautiful escapism with a sense of calm.
Internal and external conflicts can be introduced and amped up without people acting like jerks to one another.
Adults can (and should) experience romance in a healthy, respectful, non-toxic way while still conveying passion and attraction.
Cultures can co-exist wonderfully.

Fun cast facts:

Mona is played Missi Pyle, who played the love interest of Ross in an episode of Friends. She’s the girl Ross whitened his teeth for. If you know, you know. 🙂
The leads are in their 40s (even though they look younger), so you don’t have to give the movie a pass if you’re bored of only seeing 20-somethings find love on the screen.

Want more love non-toxic, escapist love stories? You can try my romcom novels Making A Difference (M.A.D.) and A Change Would Do You Good. (Though my chaos levels are higher due to the premise and large cast of the books.;))

Why I Think Men Should Read My Romcoms Too (Why Finding Your Target Audience Is Tricky)

Posted on March 21, 2023 Written by Pinar Tarhan

This post is for two groups:

Authors struggling to find and reach their target audience. (PS I am still figuring this out. But I have some useful tips to get started.)
Men who love short and entertaining romcoms that don’t devote 40 pages to how hot the male main character is.)

Let me explain.

As authors, we are expected to have our elevator pitch, aka a brief but intriguing description, for all our books ready at all times. Mine is:

I write short and fun escapist romcom dramas even men can enjoy. I feature big casts and multiple POVs.

So why “even men?”

There are a lot of romcom fans out there, and not all of them are women. Sure, some men are dragged by their girlfriends to the movie theaters, but many enjoy the experience. And they are probably more comfortable buying movie tickets than being seen reading books with hot men on the cover.

Men reading this post, be honest: How many of you hated watching The Ugly Truth?

Or What Women Want?

Or The Wedding Crashers? (If you did, why???)

Okay, okay. Taste is subjective. But surely you see my point. And if you haven’t seen these movies, please watch them. They are hilarious. And romantic. And so much fun.

Maybe I am weird. Maybe the reason I am not a bestselling author yet is I have strange tastes.

But I’ll name two romcoms or romances I didn’t love with the passion as the rest of the public:

Notting Hill.
The Notebook (based on a book)

They aren’t bad. They are great in some ways even. They are just not for me.

With Notting Hill, I didn’t like the romantic storyline.

With The Notebook, I am a bit turned off by how incompatible they are. I also don’t like unhappy endings, no matter how much romance and love you pour into them.

Here are some romcoms I adore:

Pride and Prejudice (movie and book)
Just Like Heaven (The movie. Didn’t read the book.)
The Holiday (Yes, I love writer/director Nancy Meyers)
While You Were Sleeping
Someone Like You
27 Dresses
Kate & Leopold
Friends with Benefits
10 Things I Hate About You
Laws of Attraction
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Can You Keep a Secret? (Great book. Fun movie.)

Some are rated PG, some are PG-13 and some are R.

The majority have biggish casts and interesting subplots. Some have elements of sci-fi or fantasy.

At the end of the day, they have fun premises and end HEA. No one dies. The main characters find The One. The main characters don’t cheat on their loved ones, most people are very attractive, and the characters are flawed but likable and relatable.

I use multiple POVs, because I get bored if we are only in one person’s head. Especially if that one person is only about the girl/boy they like. Remember the Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie 5oo Days of Summer? I like that film as a character study of an obsessed young man who’s clueless about how real love works. And I love watching Gordon-Levitt as an actor. But if you try to sell that film as a realistic romcom, we’ll have words. A romcom is about two people finding mutual love. Not one guy spending an entire film chasing a girl and ignoring what she says or wants. And guess what, Levitt is on my side. He believes his character’s the villain if you are desperate to find one.

Back to my romcoms and why men can and do enjoy them:

While my characters meet, fall in love, and stay together, there’s more to their life than each other. They have dreams about their careers, close friends, and hobbies. They listen to each other.

I simply don’t have the book space just to talk about how they look for so many pages on end. They are hot. End of.

But if you don’t like good-looking characters, you won’t like most romcoms. Not just mine.

What about realism?

What realism?

Kidding. But there’s a reason I put the word escapist in my elevator pitch.

Look some of my favorite movies include Braveheart (historically inaccurate), The Crow (dude comes back from the dead), and Speed. I adore Atomic Blonde and John Wick. So…

Of course, my characters live in the real world and they have problems. But it’s not all problems. They have good things going for them too because life is like that. You have ups and downs.

If my character’s boyfriend dies, I’m not going to give her cancer.

If my character’s broke and stuck in a bad job and relationship, you can bet she’s going to have amazing friends who will help her out of this mess.,

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the things that will help you find and/or reach your target readers:

Choosing a genre-appropriate cover

This is where things get tricky, at least for me.

My audience is more women than men, but it’s not only women.

My books are semi-steamy: My characters have sex. And I tell you this. I just don’t describe it in detail. Unless you only read clean romance, you’ll be fine reading my books.

My books are romcom dramas, especially A Change Would Do You Good, the first book in the A Change Would Do You Good series. The main character’s boyfriend is dead. One of the major characters struggles with agoraphobia. Naturally, I didn’t think a pink cover or a cover with a semi-naked dude would be appropriate or reflective.

You can study covers of well-selling novels in your genre all you’d like, but it doesn’t mean much unless you also look at the plot, style, and themes of those books.

I believe my cover designer did a fantastic job. Remember: big cast, surfer main character, several surfer supporting characters, big moves, and changes. Set in San Diego.

Writing your blurb

I shelled out and hired Best Page Forward to rewrite mine. I like the result. I hate writing summaries, blurbs, and synopses with a passion. If you need it, get help.

Until I could afford it, mine was written by me with feedback from author friends who read in my genre.

Bad reviews (news flash: they do suck.)

It doesn’t matter how much you emphasize what your book includes, you will have people complaining about what it includes.

If you only want to read about a small cast of characters, detailed sex scenes, and one-person POV, don’t read my books. If you hate swearing, don’t read my books. If you love literary books and pages and pages of narration about things unrelated to the plot, don’t read my books.

Why lose time over something you are not into?

Unfortunately, your non-target audience will find you and will leave you 1-2 stars.

I am not going to tell you to develop a thicker skin. I hate it when people do that. It’s easier said than done, and I hate impractical advice.

Sure, if you have 5,000 awesome reviews, even 500 bad reviews won’t hurt. (At least it shouldn’t hurt much.)

But when you just have 5 or 10, or if you have many but a few is all you have on a given Amazon page (because they are scattered around Amazon’s various country-specific pages and Goodreads), you freak out.

So, Authors, what do you do?

Continue your search. Tell whoever asks about your book, but also tell them what it isn’t.
Trust that the right people will find you, and that remember that you probably have a couple of favorite movies on IMDB rated only 5-6 stars over 10. A high rating means the writer reached their target audience. Not that you’ll necessarily enjoy that book.
Write more books so you increase the chance of being discovered.
Love your fans. Even if you only have a few.
Improve your writing and marketing, but don’t stop being you.
Check if you are meeting genre expectations. If you aren’t, notice if this is on purpose or by accident.

Here’s what I mean: An action drama can kill off its protagonist. An action/thriller usually doesn’t. I love Jack Reacher. I read all the books, and watched the movies and the Amazon series.

Love them all. I’d be so pissed if Reacher was killed off. So if you want to write an action thriller with a super soldier, cop, or spy but want to kill them in the end, you will need to find people who will enjoy this.

If you think you might be betraying genre conventions accidentally, the fix is a little easier. You read the well-selling books in your genre, find the common ground and apply them in a way that will work for your story. If you don’t know what these expectations are, you’ve got some studying to do.

Men,

Worry not, a lot of my female MCs are beautiful. And while they might lust after Mr. Darcy and want to be romanced, they tend to love action films, having fun, and rock’n’roll.

Why not read about fun, flawed but decent people trying to make the most of their lives as they find passion and love?

How to apply vague/abstract marketing advice

It sounds abstract to me when marketing advice asks me to create a reader avatar to represent my target audience. They want to paint a clear picture so I know who I am talking to. Or create different several avatars which include sex, occupation, kids, marital status, age, outlook on life, and maybe even their income bracket.

Come again?

How do you do this when you are just starting out or have a small number of books and a small audience?

Let’s try the exercise for my books. You can try for yours.

You are a man or a woman.

I know that you – my target audience – believe in love. I know that you are a cynical or hopeful romantic. But I don’t know if you are single or married. Whether you have 0 or 5 kids. (Some of my readers are single. Some are happily married. Some have 0 kids. Some have 3.)

I know that you love life, even though it pisses you off sometimes.

I know that you love your friends and non-toxic family members.

I know that you desire or have a job you love.

You have hobbies. You can care much about both deep and superficial stuff.

You like money, but you like your freedom a bit more.

You are probably not too into literary fiction.

You care about the plot.

I don’t know your favorite drink or sport.

I can’t.

You are probably between the ages of 25-45, but this is a guess based on the average age of my characters, and the readers who talk to me.

And you like certain things left to the imagination, you know, like how much tongues are involved in a kissing scene.

This is as specific as my avatar can get. You tell me, where do these people hang out? 🙂 (Because that’s how we sell, right? By being where the readers are.)

How did your avatar exercise go?

Summing Up

Defining your audience is complicated.
People have complicated tastes. I can’t just go to the beach and ask surfers to buy my books.
You need to do a lot of research, go through trial and error, and yeah, suffer a bit in the process.
In the meantime, don’t ignore potential targets (or books you might enjoy) because of stereotypes.

If you enjoyed this post, consider joining my newsletter. I share posts from this blog, updates about and excerpts from my books, and movie/TV/book recs.