My dilemma, sort of mine: A young woman who wants very much to be virtuous and honorable, unlike her scandalous mother, falls in love with her sister’s husband. Would you call her ugly names? What if she knows what’s right and wrong and chooses the right? She is still in love with her sister’s husband, but she chooses to stuff it down deep where it can’t do anyone any harm.
That’s Theena’s situation in THEENA’S LANDING, my new e-book. My old print editor told me this set-up was an absolute no-no, the protag in love with her sister’s husband. Your readers will hate you, she said. But! Theena does not interfere with her sister’s marriage, not at all, at least not until. . . but that’s way late in the book. And she didn’t plan it. And she suffers for it. Even so, the editor said, It won’t do.
Well, I didn’t listen. Who does? I wrote the book with all its shades of gray. Theena messes up, more than once, but the story is not about being some kind of Jezebel (though there is a Jezebel in the book, just not Theena). It’s about how hard it is to lead an emotionally honest life, not hurt anyone else ever, and grow into the strong woman you want to be. Isn’t that what we all want?
Sometimes we like to read about SuperWoman or Buffy the Vampire Slayer type heroines, but we also want to read about “real” people dealing with real-life situations. How does Theena navigate through the many shoals on her journey? When the readers start reading and emailing me about how they liked the book, I’m curious to know if my editor was right – or am I right? (Me — right?)
You can read the first chapter on my website. Please do.
Gretchen Craig 