I was thinking about tropes and themes this morning. I just finished re-reading The Great Gatsby, which I am sure quite  a number of you might have done as well… No? Just saw the movie? Oh well, doesn’t matter…

It was a pretty good book, not as great as I had remembered it, but it had my mind pleasantly engaged thinking about themes and language and stylistic maneuvers that might not be tolerated in today’s publishing world (he doesn’t even reveal Nick’s name until about 15 pages in! Modern editors just urped a little reading that…) But all of that was good because it allowed me to like it a lot more than I might have. I’ve recently come to terms with the fact I rarely like books written from the 1st person perspective. It make me feel like I’m getting gossip instead of a good yarn. The one notable case in which this sensation works to advantage is in the Stephanie Plum series. Love those… or at least the first dozen or so, I mean after a while I was all, “Piss or get off the pot”– Tommy Gates.

Speaking of which,  one of the reasons I really enjoyed writing Second of All was because you don’t often see a woman pursuing a man romantically. On the rare occasions I see it on TV or literature it is in an entirely different manner: she’s a stalker, criminal, whore (always written in a pathetic/broken fashion), out for revenge (usually encompasses the three previous elements) and she rarely ‘gets her man’. Almost punished in a way for making the first move, or the second. and the third.

I like how Ginny never gave up on Tommy, but other than maybe the *ehem* handcuff thing, for me, her persistence and patience was as romantic as a man pursuing a woman. Maybe it’s that romance, even as a multi-faceted genre, caters heavily towards women. And I supposed a lot of women like the trope of being swept off their feet. Maybe sweeping a man off his feet seems like…work. But I see it more from a Pretty Woman sort of aspect:

“And she rescues him right back…”

What do you think?