Question
I spent all afternoon brainstorming a new book with my uber-cool mentor who, surprisingly, doesn't think I'm nuts after she heard the twisted idea I'd come up with. (DH, on the other hand, cringes any time I bring it up.) I'm not going to tell you the idea - it is still in the brainstorming stage - but I have a question for you. What do you think of books with pregnant heroines? This is a single title RS, and while I've seen pregnant heroines in category books and ST contemporaries, I can't remember the last time I read a ST RS with a pregnant heroine. Her pregnancy is pretty central to the plot, however, I could possibly write it without her being pregnant. It just wouldn't be quite as "personal".So...thoughts? How do you all feel about pregnant heroines? (And no, this isn't one of those - I'm pregnant, I need to find a man to be a stand-in father and take care of me and my baby books. My heroines are all self -sufficient.)
posted by Elisabeth Naughton at 7:04 PM
13Comments:
I don't usually like pregnant heroines, but I do like how a hero can fall in love with a woman carrying another man's child. THAT I like.
Hmm... It's so hard to know until I read the actual story. I mean, most of the time I hate the thought of a pregnant heroine. I've had too many kids to find it romantic and fun. And I don't want anything bad to ever happen to children, born and unborn, so I tend to shy away from anything that may involve a child ending up hurt, neglected or scared, etc.
But you always have great premises and your novels are terrific, so, I'm positive if you write it, I'll like it. Well, that is if it's not dark like the one I won't read. LOL
How's that for wishy-washy?
Go for it. What can it hurt?
Editors are always saying do something different and fresh.
Good luck and have fun!
I think a pregnant heroine ups the stakes, but then I would because in the book I finished last year (a fantasy) during my third set of revisions I decided to make the heroine pregnant. She's raped at the beginning of the book and I realized that her being pregnant was the final piece of conflict the book needed. Needless to say, it also wasn't a 'I need a man to take care of me' thing. And she's only 2 months pregnant and the book covers less than a month of time, so it was more an added element for the heroine to consider, no one else knows she is pregnant until the end, when she admits it. So go for it, I say! And I'll also add that I got a lot of interest from agents and editors with this book (there is in fact STILL interest in it) and not once has anyone said, I'd have loved it a lot more if the heroine wasn't pregnant. So go for it!
My second trilogy book has a pregnant heroine and it is relevant to the whole premise.
I think if you can pull it off, it will be a new unique selling point.
Blogger ate my comment yesterday. Grrrrrr.
I prefer books where the baby is either the hero's and something's keeping them apart or she's a single-mother-by choice. Nine months is a pretty short time to grieve as a widow or recent ex.
Lori Foster's Unexpected is a RS with a pregnancy. My WIP also has a preg but it's romantic comedy
I like the idea. It's different and real and can lend some real comedy. In Judith Krantz' Scruples, One of the heroines friends is pregnant and they decide to find her a man. Very funny subplot and the guy is just enchanted by her pregnancy and wonders if he's a perv because he finds her stomach so lush, fertle and erotic. hee.
Teri
I tend to steer away from books with pregnant heroines, on the other hand-- if the premise is intriguing (and different) enough, I'd probably pick it up to give it a try.
Is it a romance? If yes, is the hero the father of the baby?
Is it an action/adventure? If yes, how pregnant is she?
Lots of different ways you can go with this. I would answer your question with: MAYBE. It all depends on the execution, eh?
Several RDIs have had pregnancies--including The New Lu and a couple of others I can recall. I'm convinced, like everything, it's all in the execution. I've had a book with transvestite best friends (RDI, Diary of a Blues Goddess), one which depicted a very adult and sexual gay romance between two men as the secondary plot (another RDI, Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven), and a MIRA title in which the heroine covered up her brother decapitating someone with a claw hammer--and never felt an ounce of guilt over it. Like I said . . . if you can make it work! :-) It all depends. I wouldn't be afraid of taking a risk.
PS: Tons and TONS of Harlequin Presents have pregnant heroines. "FILL IN THE ALPHA HERO and His Pregnant Mistress" seems to be a staple in the titles. You're not writing a Presents by any chance, are ya? Cause you'll fit right in. Hehe...
The Billionaire Sheikh's Secret Pregnant Mistress!
I thought the same thing as Michelle, that her pregnancy will up the stakes. It's not just her life, it's the baby's too. Go for it, Eli!
LOL, Karmela. Uh, no, that wasn't what I was going for. :) But I did get a chuckle out of it.
All in how it's done, huh?
That seems to be the answer to every writing related question.
Thanks, everyone, for your input. I zipped the idea off to my agent, so we'll see what she thinks of the whole pg heroine idea.
Post a Comment
<< Home