A conversation with a friend made me realise that one of the newer entrants to the romance scene was the Cougar. Now the older man-younger woman romance has been around forever - Emma and Mr Knightley, Rochester and Jane Eyre, Blake and Crystal ;-) -but the older woman - younger man story was not out there. Hmmm, now there's a book idea!
Research told me that Cougars fall in the age group 40-59! Those wanna-bes aged 30-39 are Pumas! If following the "half your age plus 7" formula their 'prey' are Tigers those young men aged 21-29 or Badgers - aged 30-39. Some though may hunt cubs...16 to 20 year olds! The only problem in this is that Badgers often want to be flirting with Chicks - the 21 to 29 year olds! Life is so complicated! So it looks like the Cougars should be hunting Tigers and leave the Badgers to the Chicks!
Searching "Cougar" brings up many very informative websites....it is a lush field of research! So I decided that the subject of my book would be a 40 year old woman who is pursued by a maybe 27 year old man - age to be decided upon. Any younger and the rule is broken! And if she is younger she transforms into a Puma! I decided that she would be a reluctant cougar. This would make for more of a chase. So the working title became the reluctant cougar.
Seek guide to love across the generations
Madatoms.com cougar guide
I worked out a character list and found photos to represent everyone so I had an idea in my head of what people looked like and might behave like. Woo hoo! We had a goer!
I started writing it and it was going very well. But then the characters got out of hand! Well the Tiger did! He decided he wanted to be in a biography. I'd be happily writing and then an action or discussion similar to something a friend had said or done would sneak in! And because of the reality of it, it was often the best piece of writing. So I'd leave it in and resolve to change it later when I knew where things were going. And so 12000 words were written and when I read them I decided I didn't like the way things were going! So today I scrubbed most of the book and changed the whole story! Take that Tiger, oh you think you're the male lead now but I have a twist ahead! You are merely an amusing trick! It's smoke and mirrors and soon the true main male will emerge from where he has been standing!
I am a people watcher. Everything I see is stored away for later use. The guy walking to his car with the old lady in the rain...he has an umbrella and she does not!, the man who paints a beautiful picture of himself to the woman in his life and then it cracks, the woman who thinks she hides her feelings but you can see everything she's thinking written across her face. So anyone who spends time with me runs the risk of a small part of their soul being pinched off and added to the brew! Or in the case of some, a large part because they are just so fantastically full! Alas that happened with the Tiger. And so I will carry on writing and then I'll puff and twitch and change his story so the innocent will be protected.
Today
Today I wrote over 2700 words. The Tiger was rarely glimpsed, the Cougar had a revelation, and maybe the main male made an appearance! I'd like to think so but sometimes I feel I don't have complete control! The Heroine is quite compliant but who knows how she'll react to finding out her love is being turned in a different direction. At least the character who I'd originally critically injured has instead simply decided that he's 'just not into her'. A lucky escape from a terrible neurological injury! And there are characters who are dying to be plumped out and to have their moment in the sun! What a joy to be creating my own little Universe!My plan is to write on average 850 words a day. Naturally I won't! I might do 200 tomorrow and 2000 the following! It depends on how the Muse is feeling!
Todays word count: 2764 words
Total word count: 9388 words
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