Please Note: I’ve tried very hard not to share any spoilers for this movie. The scene that I mention happens right at the beginning of the movie and doesn’t give major plot points away. But you still might wish to read this post AFTER you’ve seen the movie.
I also recommend you rewatch the first movie (The Quiet Place) before watching the second movie. The Quiet Place Part II assumes you remember everything about that movie. The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I had watched the first movie when it first came out, hadn’t rewatched it and we were a bit lost at the beginning.
Creating sympathy for major characters is key to crafting stories readers love, especially in romance. Readers continue reading about characters they care about.
There’s a technique we often use to accomplish this, especially for more challenging to like characters.
The name of this technique is Save The Cat.
We show the harder-to-like character doing something heroic or nice at the beginning of the story. The gruff assassin saves the cat (or, in the case of Léon: The Professional, fusses over his beloved plant). The seemingly hard-hearted businesswoman buys a bagel and coffee and stealthily gives those treats to the homeless woman in the alleyway.
These actions hint that the otherwise unlikable character is secretly nice. She or he is worth saving, worth caring about.
The Quiet Place Part II does this simply and brilliantly. Emmett (played by Cillian Murphy) is a curt-talking, tough-looking male. He has seen sh*t, been through some battles, and he would be hard for viewers to like.
Except he takes a moment at the beginning of the movie to learn how to relay a word in sign language to his friend’s deaf daughter.
This is a generous act. It is done solely to make Regan (played by Millicent Simmonds), the daughter, feel loved and accepted…though Emmett would likely never say that.
I went from not trusting this character to adoring him in that one moment.
This moment is magical in other ways. It ensures we all know Regan is deaf, which is key to the movie working. It hints at a future (don’t worry it isn’t romantic) bond between Regan and Emmett. The word Emmett learns is important to the plot. And it adds a touch of humor.
It does all this with three or four sentences of dialogue. That’s great writing.
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Baring Grudge
No one in the universe is more determined than a cyborg warrior tracking his female.
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Grudge, a C Model cyborg, has been assigned a mission – safeguard a Humanoid Alliance space station for his kind. Honor was once all he had, and he is determined to fulfill his duty.
That resolve is tested when a tiny human female enters the space station and sets the prettiest little explosives the warrior has ever seen. She is Grudge’s genetic match, the one being manufactured for him. He wants to touch her, kiss her, claim her in all ways, but first he has to stop her from blasting him into the next galaxy.
Taelyn has a self-appointed mission—to destroy every battle robot the Humanoid Alliance has ever manufactured. A huge gray-skinned, blue-eyed cyborg warrior with mismatched arms won’t prevent her from achieving her goal. She’ll escape him, leaving destruction in her wake.
Before she departs, she’ll experience one toe-curling moment of hatred-edged passion with her handsome foe. She’ll show him how skilled with detonations she truly is. He will have his universe rocked.
Then she’ll disappear.
Her cyborg, however, has no intention of ever letting her go.
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Baring Grudge is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a determined, damaged warrior, an equally resolute human female, and an explosive game of predator and prey played across galaxies.
Baring Grudge is the third of five core stories in the Rebel Cyborgs Series.
Book 1: Containing Malice
Book 2: Under Strain
Book 3: Baring Grudge
Book 4: B Free
Book 5: Seizing Power
Pre-order Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/baring-grudge/id1559566673
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/baring-grudge-cynthia-sax/1139086727
