We, romance writers and readers, love our tropes. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trope_(literature) ), the word trope has “come to be used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works.”
One of our favorite tropes is The BIG Misunderstanding. The heroine (99 percent of the time, it is the heroine) sees or hears something, interprets this something the ‘wrong’ way, and this interpretation drives a wedge between her and her love interest, causing big problems for them.
The reader can get frustrated with The BIG Misunderstanding because she knows if the hero and the heroine simply had a conversation, the misunderstanding would go away. Their lives would be honky dory again. Everything would be sunshine and rainbows.
She also knows if hero and heroine can’t have a simple conversation, their relationship is likely doomed anyway. Barring unusual circumstances, people in healthy, lasting relationships talk. That’s how we deal with the (borrowing one of Hawke’s favorite phrases) shit storms in life.
However, there are ways to make The BIG Misunderstanding work.
Unusual Circumstances
Writers can create an unusual yet believable situation where the characters can’t talk about The BIG Misunderstanding.
Some examples of such a situation are…
The heroine isn’t where she’s supposed to be when she sees/hears the misunderstanding. She’s a proper Regency miss and somehow ends up in a bawdy house, witnessing the hero’s conversation with a lady of the night. If she confronts him, she’ll have to admit to being there.
The heroine isn’t doing what she should when she sees/hears the misunderstanding. She’s stealing her nemesis’ diamond necklace out of a safe and sees the hero in her nemesis’ bedroom. Again, if she confronts him, she’ll have to admit to her wicked ways (in this case, possibly getting the hero into legal trouble).
On the legal theme… she’s a lawyer and, her client told her the information, invoking lawyer-client confidentiality. To compound things, the hero is a member (tee hee – I said member) of the opposition’s legal team, and the circumstances surrounding the misunderstanding could be used against her client.
Digging For More Information
The heroine could investigate farther with her results supporting the BIG Misunderstanding.
Perhaps the proper Regency miss asks one of the ladies of the night if the hero frequents the bawdy house frequently. The (not-so) happy hooker tells her the hero is a regular (not knowing he’s a spy, using one of the helpful ladies of the night as a source).
Having The BIG Talk
Writers can, of course, allow their characters to talk about The BIG Misunderstanding. This discussion, however, should make the shit storm worse, not better.
Our proper Regency miss leads the hero into a discussion on nobles visiting ladies of the night. He thinks she’s being judgmental and sprouts off about how ladies of the night aren’t too different from some of the wild widows in the nobility. Our heroine interprets this as confirmation.
In Sinful Rewards 3, Bee has the BIG talk. She sees an image and doesn’t like the conclusion she draws. Being a sane (and very stubborn) woman, she confronts the person in the photo. Although she doesn’t directly address the misunderstanding (she can’t without looking like a crazed stalker), everything this person says confirms her unhappy conclusion.
The Length Of BIG Misunderstandings
A well-crafted BIG Misunderstanding can be the primary plot device. She’s a princess in disguise. He assumes she’s a peasant, falls in love with her anyway. She allows him to believe this because she likes how he treats her and thinks his lovey dovey treatment will change if he knows she’s a princess.
A (not-so) BIG Misunderstanding can be a slice of the plot. Sinful Rewards is 12 novellas long. The BIG Misunderstanding in Sinful Rewards 3 is cleared up by the end of the novella.
There are usually some pages left in the story after The BIG Misunderstanding is cleared up to reassure readers that the hero loves the heroine for whom she truly is (or vice versa). Will the hero love his princess as much as he loves his peasant girl? How does he fit into her real life?
The Number Of BIG Misunderstandings
Writers should be careful about how many BIG Misunderstandings they have in a story. A heroine who constantly forms the wrong conclusions can be seen as irrational (unless this is her default conclusion – in Bee’s case, she always assumes men will leave). It signals a lack of trust between the love interests, putting the happy ever after in peril. Readers will assume The BIG Misunderstandings continue and that, eventually, one of these misunderstandings will tear the couple (or more) apart.
Have you read a well-written BIG Misunderstanding? Please share the title, author, and some of the premise!
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Bee Carter’s carefully constructed world is tumbling down around her designer knockoff heels. Pleasing others isn’t working for this small-town fashionista. Bee decides to throw caution to the Chicago wind for one night and release her inner bad girl, accepting a sexy challenge from an unknown texter, exploring the backseat of a limousine with gorgeous billionaire Nicolas, and entering a rough, tough biker bar with the mysterious Hawke.
Two hot men, one wicked night. When this good girl goes wild, who will make her erotic dreams come true—the enigmatic billionaire or the tattooed bad boy?
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Rewards-Billionaires-Bikers-Novella-ebook/dp/B00I7V89JS
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sinfulrewards3-1613793-149.html
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sinful-rewards-3-cynthia-sax/1119919837
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