Let’s be honest. We all have plot tropes and character types that annoy us silly. It doesn’t matter how beautifully the prose might flow; it doesn’t matter how true to life the characterizations might be, you still want to fling the book against the wall. Just because. In the thousands and thousands of romances I’ve read, there are two things that really push my buttons: hyperactive heroines and mistaken identity plots.
Back in 2001, when I was just beginning the manuscript that became The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, there seemed to be a particular plague of hyperactive heroines. Most people would probably call them TSTL, but I still hadn’t really figured out the internet at that point (yes, I’m slow when it comes to technology), so my little sister and I coined our own term for those intrepid young misses who flounced their way through the pages of countless Regency novels, stamping their little feet, shooting off their little mouths, and catapulting themselves straight into danger, usually bowling the hero over along the way. We called the type the Hyper-Active Heroine or “HAH!” for short (the extra exclamation mark is for extra hyperactivity!). With all those HAH! heroines on the loose, dressing up as highwaymen, making out with the hero in the middle of Assemblies, and generally prancing gleefully straight into implausibility, one couldn’t help but feel that Regency-Land could only benefit by a major distribution of Prozac. No wonder so many heroes proposed. They were all exhausted by the end of the book.
But if there was one thing that irritated me more than even the most overly energetic of HAH!’s, it was a mistaken identity plot. Admittedly, I adore Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, but that was different. I knew how they ended. At this point, those two are so iconic that one can only marvel that the other characters don’t know who they are by now. But any other mistaken identity stories drove me batty, whether it was the duchess pretending to be a milkmaid, the duke pretending to be a humble estate agent, or the estate agent pretending to be a playful sheep. Invariably, no matter how well the book is written, I have to flip ahead to find out when the other characters will finally figure it out who’s who. I just have to. Mistaken identities make me irritable and twitchy.
In 2001, I sat down to write a book. With an extremely hyperactive heroine. And the mother of all mistaken identity plots.
Yep, that’s right. A HAH! and a mistaken identity. To this day, I have no idea why I picked not one, but both of the tropes most likely to give me hives and made them the centerpiece of my own maiden effort. Having wracked my brains over it, I’ve come up with two potential reasons for my seeming insanity (other than actual insanity, although that is always also an option). First, there’s the potential for satire. My first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, was written somewhat tongue in cheek—and there’s no point in spoofing plots that already make sense. The over the top makes much better fodder for satire. What’s not to mock about a hero in a black mask and a heroine who doesn’t see why she shouldn’t single-handedly defeat Napoleon? But, second, and more importantly, there’s an incredible rush that comes of taking something you don’t like and trying to make it into something you do. Now that’s a challenge.
Or I could just be crazy.
Are there character types or particular plots that drive YOU batty?
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You know, I tend to cringe at “virgin widow” and “secret baby,” but I’ve read some excellent books that employ these heroine types and plot devices. It can’t become a cliche unless it’s popular, and it became popular for a reason.
Your hyperactive heroine description reminds me of an Amanda Quick novel! I love her zany, overzealous sleuth characters.
Heroes who think they’re irresistible to women annoy me. Especially if they think no means yes.
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Okay, I have to add that HEROINES who say no when they mean yes are the worst! Definitely TSTL.
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I’m with Jill: 99 out of a 100 secret baby plots will make me grind my teeth. Of course, if it’s well written, I’ll read to the end, but I’ll still bemoan the use of that particular contrivance. (I can’t help but think of the poor kid, and want to throttle the mother for *not* doing the same.)
by azteclady
on March 18th, 2008 at 9:12 am
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I pretty much like anything — there just might be specific books that I wasn’t fond of or didn’t work for me. But if I were to try to number the various plots in a list from number one favorite to least, I’d still probably tell you plenty of books of the least that I loved, and some of the first I didn’t care for. It’s all a matter on how it’s done! 
And I loooooooooooooooved Crimson Rose. . . so, can I bug you on when the next one’s coming out? 
Lois
by Lois
on March 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
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I think the thing that drives me the craziest is mis-interpreted actions/statements taken out of context that keeps the hero and heroine from admitting they’ve fallen for each other. Which is the backbone of pretty much EVERY romantic comedy film. You see it coming, you want to yell and tell the character, STOP! He didn’t mean it that way! I think the latest example I saw was in the film “27 Dresses,” where the hero had been writing an article on the heroine’s sister’s wedding and an early draft, that he begs his editor NOT to print, makes the heroine look like a wishy-washy doormat. It prints, she gets furious, just as they are about to have a happily-ever-after of their own.
I guess this is more prevalent in films than books. Although there is one historical romance book I can think of where it happened, “New Orleans Legacy,” by Alexandra Ripley, the heroine naively gets mixed up with the wrong crowd, a brothel to be exact, but runs away before she can be, um, pressed into service. The hero sees her in this context, and the rest of the book, as they run into each other, it shapes how he treats her.
Also, I wouldn’t put the end of “Pink Carnation” into this category, because Amy and Richard are hating themselves, not each other. So it’s OK.
by Jessica
on March 18th, 2008 at 10:47 am
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Ooh… I’m with Jill–can’t stand secret baby plots or TSTL heroines or heroes. I’m also somewhat annoyed by the plain-Jane stories where the heroine has a miraculous make-over partway through and suddenly her true gorgeous self is revealed for all the world to see. Please!
by Fedora
on March 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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I don’t care for secret baby plots.
by Estella
on March 18th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
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Hi, all! It’s funny, I can’t really think of that many secret baby books that I’ve read. Maybe I’ve just blotted them all out? The only one that comes to mind is Eva Ibbotsen’s “The Morning Gift”, which I otherwise adore, but has that very random, out of the blue secret baby bit.
Jessica, I’m so excited that I’m not the only person who’s read “New Orleans Legacy”! I love that book, although the Big Misunderstanding drove me mad the first time I read it– but on re-reads, I’ve come to appreciate the way his repudiation helped drive her to become a more interesting character. (I’m dealing with something similar in the book I’m working on now, although I hadn’t thought of the connection to “New Orleans Legacy” before).
Lois, thank you so much for your kind words about “Crimson Rose”! I don’t know exactly when the next one is coming out (still no title!), but I’m guessing it will be January of 2009. I’m posting a little blurb about Book V on my website next week.
Fedora, I’m with you on those Plain Jane stories– I love the ones where the plain Jane stays plain. It’s somehow much more moving.
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Lauren, have you also read “Charleston” and “On Leaving Charleston,” also by Alexandra Ripley? If not, do, when you have a minute (ha, ha). They are both fabulous and no plot devices to drive you crazy, that I can think of.
by Jessica
on March 18th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
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Jessica, yes, I have! They’re so dark and yet so compelling (the bit where Garden’s marriage goes sour gets me every time). I’ve also read “Fields of Gold.” But I have to confess, despite big misunderstandings and all, my favorite of the lot is still “New Orleans Legacy”, perhaps because it has the happiest ending of the lot– or maybe just because Val is such a gloriously jaded sort of hero.
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My pet peeve is the mistaken identity plot. I usually see this in contests I’m judging. Typically, the hero arrives on scene, and the heroine reacts in a drastic way. Either she has raw, wild sex with him, or she hates him on sight and gets into a huge argument with him, or she does something equally as destructive — only to discover the next day that he’s her new boss, or the man she needs to convince to save the ranch/give her a job/rescue her failing company. This plot device drives me nuts.
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“Fields of Gold” was great. Not sure which is my favorite…I do really like “On Leaving Charleston,” because Garden wins in the end! But the part where her marriage goes sour, as you put it, gets me, too, every time. All the manipulation! I do love the ending of “New Orleans Legacy,” too. Agh! Now I have to re-read them all.
So I have to ask now: how do you feel about “Scarlett”? Personally I think it was a great book but only when taken separately from GWTW…I just don’t think it would have ended that way. That’s not Margaret Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara. Great story, though, and I always like it when books take me to Ireland…
by Jessica
on March 19th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
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