No, I'm not referring to the fact that I have actually posted within a reasonable amount of time. (Ahem) Nor do I intend to make this entry (much) about real life, but the fact that yesterday came with an annoying surprise in a real life matter (other family terms for such things: hiccup, extra step) did provide some good food for thought about reading and writing romance. Characters surprise writers with, well, surprising frequency, packing up their stuff and tromping off to different centuries or subgenre when we're not looking, giving us no chance but to grab a beverage of choice to go and follow along. I'll never forget the original love interest I gave a long-ago fanfiction character...who was only supposed to be a blip on the radar and obligingly die so character could pursue his canon match.

Umm, no, she told me, quite firmly. First of all, her name wasn't what I thought it was, it was something else altogether, and I'd call her that or nothing at all. Furthermore, she didn't have the job I thought she had, she had a different one, she had a large family when I had thought she was an orphan, and she didn't want the secondary character I'd picked out for her. Oh no, she wanted one of the big guys, and for my information, she was going to get him, and that bit about dying? No. She was going to live, get her man, and eventually made off with him (and other family members a writing partner and I came up with) into a romantic historical world with absolutely no ties to the original source that inspired it.

My current WIP people (calling them characters at this point would likely only make them angry and some of them are rather vocal about it) started out in similar fashion, jostling me out of my misconceptions every step of the way. Rather like a small child's teddy bear while the child runs through an airport. Teddy's head bonks against every orange plastic chair in the terminal, getting quite the view, but it will all end with a seat on a ride to somewhere wondrous. Hopefully in first class, but seriously, as long as I get tea, I'm fine with coach. I think. Can we make that plane a train, or better yet a ferry? Kthanx.

LOLcatspeak. Another surprise. This has worked its way into the vocabulary of many of my friends and family. Not sure how it started, but it did, and it's here, and we're okay with it. We have also adopted our pastor's term, "going off on a bunny trail" to denote veering off topic with no discernible departure point, which it looks like I've done here. ::shrug:: Had to save something for next time, didn't I?