Shannon Stacey


I'm still here

Nice of my computer to get all uber-glitchy during a long weekend, no? Which led to several rounds of:

DH: What’s the best computer for us to buy?

Me: I dunno.

DH: Well, you should find out.

Me: And I should find this out…how?

DH: Look on the computer.

Hey, Kate’s blog has a new address and a new look! Check it out! And she’s got information about RWA working on something that might actually be helpful to writers.

And I read two books over the last week in which the hero and heroine confessed their love 1/2 or 2/3 of the way through the book. As a reader, this bugs the hell out of me. Once the hero says “I love you”, that story’s over. Kaput. All you’ve got left is an external conflict loose ends to tie up. Your emotional arc has done arc’d, and I no longer give a damn.

I think that’s enough random Monday Tuesday babbling, although I’ll probably think of something else I wanted to say as soon as I hit publish. Of course.

15 comments to “I'm still here”

  1. jaye
    Comment
    1
      · July 5th, 2005 at 9:28 am · Link

    I wanted to agree right away with the saying ‘I love you’ before the end; but I’m sure I’ve read books where the external conflict was strong enough, and even some ‘minor’ unresolved internal ones were enough to carry the book through the final third. IAITE, right? But, on the other, there is a sense of ‘let down’ or diminsion tension once the big L word is uttered.



  2. cece
    Comment
    2
      · July 5th, 2005 at 11:31 am · Link

    For desktops–I say Dell (ducking from Steph’s punching fist) but for a laptop I LURVEEEEEEEEEEE MY toshiba. :cheer:



  3. Shannon
    Comment
    3
      · July 5th, 2005 at 12:18 pm · Link

    I think it depends on how the book is “marketed” to me. If it’s more of a Mainstream with Romantic elements I don’t mind so much, but if I’m expecting a true romance, I expect it to end with the romantic climax. I think both of these couples got short-changed in the IC development, too. It is AITE, I guess. :nod:

    It’ll definitely be a desktop. I’m one of those freaky people who doesn’t want a laptop. :crazy: The husband wants to me to check out Dell, but my problem is not even knowing what the hell I should be looking for.

    And I’m not looking foward to going from ME to XP. :oops:



  4. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    4
      · July 5th, 2005 at 12:39 pm · Link

    Ooooh can’t agree on that one. I’ve read plenty of fabulous books where the parties have admitted they love each other, but can’t be together. Saying “I love you” needn’t be the romantic climax…..



  5. Kate
    Comment
    5
      · July 5th, 2005 at 12:50 pm · Link

    my two dells (three with the one that died and got replaced) Drive. :rant:Me.:rant: Nutz. :rant::whip:

    the Gateway, on the other hand, is fine and dandy.:nookie:



  6. Jorie
    Comment
    6
      · July 5th, 2005 at 1:48 pm · Link

    I go back and forth on the, I love you, declaration. On the one hand, I get extremely impatient with book where I, the reader, see that the h and H love each other and yet they can’t see it, usually because of reasons that irritate me. (Yes, this is AITE, I know.) On the other hand, if the h and H are treating each other like crap, I get fed up with them. It’s as if there’s this obstacle course the author must navigate: not too close to the incompatible, not too close to the all is well 2/3’s through the book, not too close to the stupid misunderstanding, etc. etc.

    I think part of romance’s problem is that the meat of the middle must have a substantial connection between the hero and heroine, without resolving the entire relationship. (Hmmm, I feel a post coming on.)



  7. Jaci
    Comment
    7
      · July 5th, 2005 at 2:36 pm · Link

    Eh. The I love you’s don’t bug me that much as long as that doesn’t end the conflict.

    Dude…get a Dell. I’ve had six and I *Heart* them all.

    And ME blows. You will absolutely fall in love with XP. Trust me. No, really. Trust me.

    :diva:



  8. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    8
      · July 5th, 2005 at 4:18 pm · Link

    Actually, after a brief :wtf: reaction (I freeze in response to change… this is NO NEWS to friends… ggg) I love XP, too. I still get a sense I’m only using a part of it, though.

    Our first ever family PC was a Gateway. It cruised – no problems ever, at all. Plus it had a really cool cow-print mouse mat…



  9. Charlene T
    Comment
    9
      · July 5th, 2005 at 5:08 pm · Link

    Um, what’s AITE? :wtf:

    I’d vote for Mac, but not everybody loves the Mac way. If you are diehard for your PC, then you might like a nice Alienware from Area 51. They are cool and come with a great support package. Men in black at your door to provide service when needed! :cool:



  10. Shannon
    Comment
    10
      · July 5th, 2005 at 5:52 pm · Link

    Does it come with a tinfoil hat?

    :cool:

    It’s All In The Execution. Anybody who hung around the eHQ boards during Leslie Wainger’s “residency” has that phrase ingrained. IAITE is so much faster to type. :type:

    I’d consider a Mac, but I’ve got 4 years worth of PC on this puter. The idea of changing entire platforms gives me hives. :baby:

    I’m looking at Dell and Gateway (though I have no idea what I’m looking at) but we’re hesitant to do mail-order crap. If you buy it from Sears/CC/Best Buy, you can get right in their faces if there’s a problem. :rant:

    :cheesy:



  11. Kate
    Comment
    11
      · July 5th, 2005 at 6:09 pm · Link

    I forgot to say thank you for the plug. :cheer: Or pimp as we call it in blogland.



  12. Beth C
    Comment
    12
      · July 5th, 2005 at 6:45 pm · Link

    Good luck on the great computer hunt, Shannon. Better you than me. :crazy:



  13. L.N. Hammer
    Comment
    13
      · July 6th, 2005 at 1:30 pm · Link

    It really depends on how it’s handled. Saying “I love you” does not mean “I am committed to you.” The latter involves more emotions than just love, and more thought, and they need to be worked out too if I’m to buy the HEA. Sometimes the commitment issues get worked through on the road to the declaration, but sometimes they must happen later.

    If the only commitment issues left after a declaration are external, then, yeah, it does feel like the emotional tension has been sapped prematurely.

    —L.



  14. Cece
    Comment
    14
      · July 6th, 2005 at 6:17 pm · Link

    We have Dell Desktops at work. They rock! :woot: Ordered them online and knock on wood we haven’t had problems with any of them (four). ME DOES BLOW but I’m still not convinced XP rocks the Cashbar :eyebrow:



  15. Kellie
    Comment
    15
      · July 6th, 2005 at 10:09 pm · Link

    I have a Dell at work and a Dell laptop at home and LOVE them! :love:

    Also, ME really sucks, we had several problems with it, and now have XP–so far so good! :clap:







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