More story rambling

I would say that more than half of the principal characters in this story are women. This was mostly by design. I wanted the protagonists to be sisters. The local ruler is a woman, although she's considered something of a figurehead, and her bodyguards are women. The story's villain is in fact a villainess. Frankly I don't give two hoots about gender equality in fiction or anything, but I thought it would be a fun challenge to put women in most of the principle roles.

Of the two sister protagonists - one book-smart, the other a bit more street-smart - I tend to favor the book-smart one. I know, shocking. (It also has to do with my dislike of most types of action scenes.) The bookish sister - call her N - is necessarily less aggressive than ass-kicking sister, R, because I wanted to make sure they had very different personalities and tendencies and didn't meld together into some kind of freakish Mary Sue. However, N still ends up in situations where she has to defend herself from unwholesome folks; one of my favorite parts is where she almost stabs a guy with a trowel (simple case of mistaken identity) and then, when he gets too handsy, knocks him out with a potted plant. It's one of those scenes that will probably be completely changed in a subsequent revision, but for right now I chuckle every time I read it.

So I don't want N to be Xena, Warrior Princess, but I don't want her to be a total pantywaist because they I would be tempted to kill her off myself. At the same time I want to foster her burgeoning 'ship with J who, because I'm writing it, is the big strong manly protector type. (One of my other guys is a total nerd, though, and I love him almost as much.)

So, scene:

N dealing with really creepy guy in a deserted library. Because deserted libraries are inherently creepy anyway.

Alli's first inclination, which 'ship in mind: J comes swooping in and rescues his fair maid, unintentionally making things much worse down the line, but for the time being making N think he is made of awesome.

Alli's knee-jerk reaction: No! Girl power! N is going to beat creepy guy upside the head with a really heavy book; screw J!

Alli overthinking the whole thing: Okay, but she already knocked a guy out with a plant. Before that it was a ceramic vase. The bludgeoning is starting to get a little ridiculous, don't you think?

But at least it's a different guy this time.

But what about the ship?

Grrrl pwwrrrr!

OH GOD SOMEONE MAKE THE VOICES STOP.

...

No really. I'm fine.

(no subject)

Tomorrow: laundry, cat box, and replacing a burned-out headlight bulb watching my brother replace a burned-out headlight bulb. This is how I honor the heroes of Labor Day.