PoV Idea

[Thaumaturge02]

I figured I'm put up this proposition and see if anyone knew of any stories that had a similar premise.

To put it simply, it is a novel from two points of view:

* The Lawful Neutral Insufferable Genius Wizard that is Allergic To Routine, but secretly isn't and has a major Jerkass Facade.
* The Neutral Good Girl that is just learning about the magic world and tries to do good as much as possible.

(in case you haven't noticed, I am a troper)

They are NOT love interests, but partners and foils.  The story is their private investiagtions of crimes involving the magical world.

So, what do you think?

[jeno]

I think if you really want to stay away from any love interest angles, you'll need to have at least one of them already in a relationship, or make them somehow related. Otherwise reader expectations may work against you.

[Thaumaturge02]

Yeah, I figured as much on that part.  Already got a plan for a love interest for one of them.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I think if you really want to stay away from any love interest angles, you'll need to have at least one of them already in a relationship, or make them somehow related. Otherwise reader expectations may work against you.

Reader expectations are there to be subverted, no ?

[Snowleopard]

I figured I'm put up this proposition and see if anyone knew of any stories that had a similar premise.

To put it simply, it is a novel from two points of view:

* The Lawful Neutral Insufferable Genius Wizard that is Allergic To Routine, but secretly isn't and has a major Jerkass Facade.
* The Neutral Good Girl that is just learning about the magic world and tries to do good as much as possible.

(in case you haven't noticed, I am a troper)

They are NOT love interests, but partners and foils.  The story is their private investiagtions of crimes involving the magical world.

So, what do you think?

Careful with the Jerkass Facade - too much and readers won't like your character or have patience for him.

Could this idea be possibly slightly similar to one of Barbra Hambly's wizard tales?  I can' think of the series name, sorry.
The neutral good girl sounds similar but not sure bout the wizard.

[Thaumaturge02]

Careful with the Jerkass Facade - too much and readers won't like your character or have patience for him.

Could this idea be possibly slightly similar to one of Barbra Hambly's wizard tales?  I can' think of the series name, sorry.
The neutral good girl sounds similar but not sure bout the wizard.

Never actually heard of that series before.

And thanks for the advice on the facade.

[Snowleopard]

Never actually heard of that series before.

And thanks for the advice on the facade.

I apologize for not knowing the series name.  The woman in the story is pulled from our Universe into a parallel one with magic.
But the Wizard isn't really like yours.  More an oddball, character based in part on Tom Baker from the Dr.Who TV series.

[jeno]

Reader expectations are there to be subverted, no ?

True. But if you set up everything that way, you may be taking on more work than you necessarily want to handle. 

[Piotr1600]

Dunno.. The unresolved sexual tension worked well for "Moonlighting", "Beauty and the Beast", and others - and seems to be working in TDF, IMO...

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

True. But if you set up everything that way, you may be taking on more work than you necessarily want to handle. 

there's only so much one can do at a time, agreed.

I just.. this may be naive of me, but it seems to me that if someone reads, say, Harry Potter, and loves it so much that what they want is the experience of exactly the same story again, they just turn the book over and start again from the beginning; that if somebody picks up a new book, there must be at least some degree of wanting something new involved in the motivation.  hence that there is limited point to telling a story that is too familiar.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Dunno.. The unresolved sexual tension worked well for "Moonlighting", "Beauty and the Beast", and others - and seems to be working in TDF, IMO...

It's one of the things I like least about the series, fwiw.  UST is a thing I am way short of patience with in general; outside of well set-up strong in character reasons for it, my default reaction is to think "Why can't you just damned well have a conversation and settle this like sensible adults ?" particularly if the characters in question are meant to be sensible adults, and particularly if they're meant to be friends and trust each other.