Do you like to read stories with contrasting characters? I love writing such novels. Night and day. Hot and cold. Dark and light. Up and down. Positive and negative. Rich and poor. I find it fascinating that opposites do sometimes attract, when clearly the two people just couldn’t possibly get along. Or could they? Love happens, right?
I smile when I think of doesn’t-have-it-together Tina meeting the meticulously-organized Byron in the Bahamas in Smile for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 1). How do I make them get on the same boat? Incidentally, they did literally get on a boat heading for Moss Cay at one point, when Tina, of course did something Byron would expect her to do (I almost wrote a spoiler here LOL). I enjoyed writing that novel a lot, even though for the large part, I set it in a Christian school and I didn’t want to add too much drama to my idyllic island in the Caribbean sun. The art camp kept the campus busy all summer, a backdrop to the static and friction between Tina and Byron.
What about artists? Who would they be contrasted with? When I was plotting Ask You Later (Savannah Sweethearts Book 1), the assignment I gave myself was almost too hard to pull off (for me, anyway). As a creative person who loves art my whole life, from crayon to watercolor to pottery, I just couldn’t imagine someone with zero interest in art and who was unable to appreciate it. Well, had I written myself into a corner then? A technical writer who was busy writing user manuals, Sophie had to fill the shoes of such a character, and all I could see was her wearing clothes of beige, white, black, and on rare occasions, charcoal. I made folk artist and sculptor Leon notice that when he saw her walking away from him at the art gallery. Read Ask You Later for free.
Yes, and then there’s the Jane Austen contrast: rich and poor. Since there are plenty of books out there featuring poor damsels in distress meeting billionaire dudes, I decided to flip that concept around. I thought of a struggling male violinist (cue music haha) whose life is just filled with one disaster after another: debt, poverty, rundown house, dead-end jobs, and whatever else I could throw at him. Poor Ivan would meet a female billionaire or billionairess (yes, there is such a word but you knew that, even though autocorrect doesn’t LOL) who…dramatically changed his life. Or did he change hers? Better yet, did God step in to change both of their lives? All those things were in my head in those ten fun years it took me to write His Longing Heart (Seaside Chapel Book 1).
What about you? Have you enjoyed novels with contrasting characters in them? Do comment on what resonated with you when you read those books.
Jeannette says
Contrasting characters are the best because the couple have to work on their relationship which is really what any successful relationship is all about.
Ellie says
I enjoy rich and poor themed books. I think I like them because of the Cinderella like quality of them. :)
Kathleen Mattingly says
I enjoy all types of books. So yes, I enjoy reading books with contrasting characters.
Lilly says
Yes, the contrasting characters must work more on their relationship and they usually take longer to fall in love, just as I like! That totally prevents it from being too fast.
Jan Thompson says
Indeed! Lots of conflicts to resolve. I do love a happy ending when they fixed enough problems to be able to walk together with the Lord.
Thank you for your comment. Have a great weekend in the Lord!
Jan Thompson says
Oh good word there to describe it re: Cinderella. Rags to riches. I definitely like the happy endings!
Thank you for your comment. Have a great weekend in the Lord!
Jan Thompson says
Same. I like to read all sorts of books too. Fun!
Thank you for your comment. Have a great weekend in the Lord!
Jan Thompson says
Indeed. In my books, they sometimes take a long time to get through their differences. I didn’t mention another novel of mine in which two chefs were at loggerheads with each other for something like two decades. That novel took me at least 96,000 words to flesh out the story arc.
Thank you for your comment. Have a great weekend in the Lord!
Trudy says
I do like contrasting characters! I think they can make us look at ourselves differently, and the way we see things, too. We can get another perspective. I also like changing it, as you say, there are TONS of books where rich guy/billionaire meets poor female, but to switch it around doesn’t happen much! Or, to match a successful white collar woman with a successful (or not so much) working class man (thinking attorney with a grease monkey) isn’t usual, either. I like books that break the molds! I really like the “bad boy” believer meeting the “good girl” believer, and vice versa!
Bonnie Heringer says
I like to read all kinds of tropes. The contrasting characters trooe isinteresting and I do enjoy it. I like how the characters work at their relationships. However, I live that opposites-attract life. And let me tell you, most of the time it is not easy (at least in my life). We are both good separately, but put is together… Someone said it takes a lot to work on the relationship. And it does. But we have been married 51 years, so we are doing something right.
Jan Thompson says
Good point about changing things up. Sure makes for more interesting reads, IMHO.
In Wait for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 3), I made the wife the INTERPOL agent who protects the ex-husband instead of the other way around. In Once a Thief (Protector Sweethearts Book 1), I made the woman the good guy (PI) and the man a reformed art thief (or is he?) to change it up a bit. I think what I have written all stemmed from the fact that I’ve read thousands of books in my lifetime and I’d rather not read the same-old, same-old. So when I write, I write what I want to read. :-)
Thank you for your comment. Have a wonderful blessed weekend!
Jan Thompson says
That’s cool re: 51 years! IDK if I have an opposites-attract life but some ways we’re not the same at all and have to work at it, but other times we agree on things. But after so many years, I would think that you two have come to an understanding and equilibrium to balance each other, right? God is always good, for sure!
Thank you for your comment, and have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
RuthieH says
I love to read about contrasting characters, I definitely think differences make for an interesting story, and encourage the characters to think more about themselves and learn to value things about each other that are different. I love how a lot of your books you’ve mentioned turn the expected contrast around though, like the billionairess and poor violin player, or female agent protecting male character in danger, it’s nice to mix things up!
Jan Thompson says
Thank you, Ruthie! Yes, it’s fun to mix it up for a fresh view. Glad you like that idea. It’s not easy to write something different, for sure, which sometimes means my books take a while to produce. But I enjoy the process and love to write.
Appreciate your comment. Have a wonderful weekend!
Ausjenny says
I have read some cant remember names but one had a surfer dude going from surf carnival to another with a carefree life and heroine is a serious personal assistant who is highly organized.
I have also seen the trust fund heroine who buys what she wants racking up debt daddy will pay till he doesn’t and the Police detective who has grown up in poverty and earnt what he has and is now giving back to charity. When her dad cut off all credit and gave her a very small monthly allowance removing all perks requiring her to get a job or she would get nothing at all we see that struggle of going from buying anything to having to budget.
Ausjenny says
PS I like having a different spin on things although its often spoilt. little rich girls but I would love to see a self driven female who is wealthy on there own back from working hard not from a trust fund.
Jan Thompson says
Yes, indeed. The self-made main character who doesn’t rely on trust funds is a good one with a nice story arc. Guess what? I do have examples of them in my novels. I have a brother-and-sister duo who are self-made millionaires. Sebastian in His Wake-Up Call (Seaside Chapel Book 2) and his sister, Skye, in His Morning Kiss (Seaside Chapel Book 3) are both entrepreneurs who worked their way through the restaurant business and became successful on their own. These two novels were fun to write, especially Skye’s story, because I showed some of the aspects of how she grew her business on the islands and in a big city.
Jan Thompson says
That sounds fun re: surfer vs PA. Ooh I’d want to read that! I don’t write about surfing characters. Even though I write what I want to read, I also read what I don’t write (e.g. coz mysteries, historical fiction, legal drama, etc.). Certainly surfing is one of them.
I hear you about poverty vs wealth. Quite a gamut of possible story plots. I hate to say that we see some of that in real life also, and sometimes parents pity the poor adult children who have to try to make it on they own, but it has to be done to teach them life lessons YKWIM.
Thank you for your comment. Good thoughts. Have a wonderful weekend in the Lord!
Debra Pruss says
Yes, it makes a great element in a story. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
Jan Thompson says
Thank for your comment. May God bless you too. Have a wonderful weekend!
bn100 says
yes, fun to read
Jan Thompson says
Thank you!