I realize that the “mysterious and sexy but emotionally damaged broken bird” trope is central to this story, and we all must wait patiently for Liz to emerge from her shell/be healed by the warmth and down-to-earth kindness of our MC, etc. And a rather long wait I expect it will be.
But in real-life relationship terms, I can’t help but think of one of the best pieces of advice from a therapist: “Nobody is a mind reader”—if you don’t speak up and say what’s going on with you, you can’t blame other people for not knowing. (This is the antidote to those, “If you really loved me, I wouldn’t need to say it” emotional traps.)
I know, I know, if characters in almost any kind of story communicated like normal, healthy people ought to, we’d have a hell of lot fewer stories.
But it does put a limit on my sympathy for Liz, and until she opens up in some substantial way, on my interest in her as a character.
last edited at Apr 14, 2018 11:25PM