STORIES OF INNOCENCE AND NAIVETE

I love stories of innocence and naiveté.


This is partially the reason I'm rereading Pollyanna.


A very naïve scene that'll stay in my mind forever, and a very romantic one, too, is the scene from The Sound of Music where Maria and the captain are dancing in the moonlight on the piazza with the baroness looking on. The captain looks down into Maria's eyes as he holds her in his arms and swirls her about to the softly-playing music, and doodads dance up my spine.


As I think about this scene, into my mind come the words innocence vs. carnal knowledge; ingénue vs. seductress; virtuous woman vs. vamp.


Maria vs. the baroness.


Though the baroness is beautiful, though the baroness is rich, though the baroness is skilled in conversation and etiquette, Maria is by far the more appealing—and endearing—character.


Maria in her innocence.


Maria in her naiveté.


Maria in her refreshing zeal for life.


It isn't that I abhor stories about characters with burdens or problems or even sins they're struggling with. I enjoy the new offerings in Christian fiction, such as the first-person, contemporary novels with quirky or saucy characters and/or the ones with deep, gut-wrenching topics.


But more than those, I love reading about Maria-like characters--if they're done well. I think of Sarah, Plain and Tall; Anne of Green Gables; the girls in Little Women; Christy; Jane Eyre. I could list many, many more.

Perhaps that's why I like writing characters like this.


Oh, I sometimes wish I could write the saucy characters in chick lit, where they have the nerve to say any manner of things.


But that's not my style.


Or me, for that matter.


Recently, I pulled out my college yearbooks and read what my classmates had to say about me. But that's for my next post…


And I promise these posts are leading to somewhere…


Somewhere about writing style…


And voice…


And my metamorphosis…


And publishers…


And rejections…