Hi! Lindi here! One day post Mother’s Day. I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!
I wanted to announce that Priscila and Juliejob were the winners of a copy of Uptown Flirt! If you send me your email address, I’ll get that copy to you! (authorlindip at gmail dot com.)
Mother’s Day got me to thinking about moms and reading and writing. Let’s just say my mom was scratching her head when she started reading my books.
My first published book, Her Best Catch, Allison’s mom was widowed and acting sixteen when it came to dating. My second published book, Summer’s Song, Summer’s mom was plain mean and manipulative and trying to get everything she could out of her famous daughter. Then, in my third published novel, Rich in Love, Ann’s mom had left her to do mission work around the world.
The way I see it, as a writer, if a girl can count on her mom what does why would she turn to the hero. Right? I know there are amazing romances out there with heroines who have awesome, always there moms. I have written a couple of them. But, I find it more interesting for my heroines to have challenges of all kinds. Sometimes including the mother.
My mom, who also is one of my Beta readers, has started to read my next books with this mindset. “What kind of crazy mother will this girl have?”
I really like writing quirky, funny and different moms. They often make the story interesting and can cause the heroine conflict. That conflict sometimes can push the hero and heroine closer together. In Summer’s Song, the hero, Levi, had a difficult upbringing. He was annoyed with the way Summer’s mother was treating her, yet he showed her how to see the good in her.
In Her Best Catch, Allison learned a lot about her mother. As Allison was starting to have a relationship with Ashton, she saw certain aspects of her mother that needed attention. Allison saw her mother in a different light as a result of her relationship with Ashton.
Rich in Love’s Ann’s mom was a missionary. She and Ann traveled the world together doing mission work, but when Ann became a teenager she wanted to stay in the States and go to school and do teenager type things. Ann’s mom chose to continue the mission work, so Ann lived with her Aunt Venus. When Ann meets the hero, accountant Brett, she quickly learns he’s leaving the accounting life to go and be a missionary. Uh, oh? How does Ann reconcile this? It was a process for sure!
Here’s our question for today. What types of moms do you like to read about? Stable, family-type moms who are there when their girl needs them? Quirky, sometimes difficult moms? I’d love to hear what some of your favorite books are with moms in them, or how about a true fun mom story that you would like to share?
Here’s to moms everywhere!
USA Today featured author Lindi Peterson lives in north Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and a lively array of cats, dogs and birds. She loves sharing life with her family and friends. Her passion for reading led her to writing, and then God spoke words of love into her heart and changed her life forever.
I love a good mom who is supportive and encouraging (probably like your mom). I agree absent moms make the characters rely on each other more (like growing up does down the line).
I dislike annoying, pushing moms. They actually make me stop reading sometimes, like they are unnecessarily spoiling a good story.
(And I’m pretty happy to be getting Uptown Flirt.)
I love that your mother asks, “What kind of crazy mother will this girl have?” I enjoy a quirky mother or one with flaws. A June Cleaver type can make for dull reading.
Hi Linda! Enjoyed this informative post about moms in romances. I am a daughter, mom to three great sons, and mother-in-law to two daughters. Moms are unique, just like their children. Moms learn from their children. Mom role model should be ever changing, as their children grow and develop. Therefore, moms are quirky and there will be difficult moments. Moms in romance novels need to not only interact with their daughters but with son-in-laws. After a great Mother’s Day weekend, spending one on one time with all three sons, I can’t think of an romance with an exceptional mom.
My true life mom moment, was Sunday morning at breakfast when my daughter-in-law thanked me for the family holiday dinners and celebrating family traditions. For Christmas this year we had crazy socks as stockings. For Easter we had an Easter egg hunt for young and old. In my daughter-in-law’s family, when she was seven her aunt who hosted family holiday dinners died of cancer and her parents divorced. This ended celebrating family traditions. What an eye opener. I learned how to host family holiday dinners from my mom. My mom always made me feel special, especially for Easter, my birthday, and Christmas. She supported me as a daughter, wife, and mom.
Blessings to all authors, women, daughters, moms, and grandmas.
Moms have struggles too!! And Mons sometimes makes mistakes. So yes a Mom that can aknowledge that!! You go girl!!
I like to read the gamut, but the non-supportive ones are more fun to write. (My sister gets mad at me though and says I’m going to make people think our mom is whackadoo like my characters.) :)
Lindi, this made me laugh because my characters tend to have dad issues! And I have a great dad! So I was actually kind of concerned of what my dad would start to feel if my characters keep having trouble with their dad.
As for the kind of moms I like… I don’t have a preference. Just whatever the story needs.
As an author, I tend to give my characters moms with issues, too. Occasionally dads, but more often moms. I have written a few awesome moms, and they are some of my favorite characters. Having full families, especially living in the same town, can add too many characters to easily manage, as well. I sometimes wonder what my mom would have thought about all my characters’ mothers, but she passed away a couple of years before my first book released.
Priscila—I hope you enjoy UF!! And thanks for the feedback regarding what types of mothers you like to read. :)
Hi Jill!! While I do love watching June Cleaver, (I think I’m a bit obsessed by cooking dinner in heels and pearls) I agree with you–we can have dull reading. But June did give great advice–and usually there was a lesson to be learned!
Renate—Oh–I love your traditions! How special you are with your DIL–she’ll pass those traditions down to your grandchildren I’m sure. Thank you for sharing this moment with us. :)
Carlien—Amen!! We do the best we can while raising our children. I always say my children turned out well in spite of me. :)
Elizabeth—Agreed!! They are more fun to write. :)
Sally, how funny. My dads tend to have passed on…..which is weird because like you, I have a great dad. :) Then again, a gal with a great dad doesn’t need that hero! :)
Val—I’m sorry about your mom–but hey, she probably knows all about your writing! And I know she is still influencing the characters you write. :) And you are right about so many characters. :)
Thank you. I’m looking forward to it. Did you get my email? Do you need any additional information? I don’t know when I’m suppose to expect it, but I’m traveling in a few days and have a tendency not to respond to emails (even though I read them).
As far as mom characters go, I like the loving, nurturing kind. But I’ve read a variety of stories with different kind of moms and it makes them interesting & fun! And I love them all really….as long as they aren’t manipulative & mean-spirited. Those I just won’t read :-)
I probably prefer mom characters to be loving and supportive. When they’re not (especially when they’re pushy about their opinions, etc.), it can really get on my nerves. BUT you are right that they can often add to the conflict in a story and I know that not all moms are as great as mine so I can’t expect every mom character in a book to be like that. Thanks for sharing today!