Thursday, March 01, 2007

For Good or Ill...

I was paranoid to submit to Miss Snark's "Happy Hooker" crapometer, but for some reason I felt compelled to try with Rachel Vater's "Got Hook" critique. Here's what I sent, for good or ill:

ROMANCE (MAINLY HISTORICAL): Physicist Elizabeth Clarke was supposed to be in Scotland for her honeymoon. Instead, she’s there alone—hoping the land of kilts and clans will distract her from the heartache of her fiancĂ©’s betrayal. A trip to explore the ruins of an historic castle takes her on an unexpected journey: 300 years into the past. There she is taken captive by “Grey” John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane. The politically avaricious Earl has found her historical notes and, believing her a Seer, intends to exploit her knowledge of the future for his own gain. She manages to escape the castle and comes under the protection of Alasdair “Alec” MacAlpin, son of a local chief. Dubbed “Elspeth” by him, she tries to find a place among his clan, even as she deals with Campbell’s attempts to recapture her and a growing attraction to her handsome (and unavailable, to an outsider like herself) protector. Together, she and Alec try to prevent the Campbells’ now-infamous massacre of the Glencoe MacDonalds. During the struggle at Glencoe, Alec’s true clan—the outlawed MacGregors—is revealed, and he is captured and sentenced to death. Elspeth bribes her way into his cell and spends one night with him on the eve of his execution. She leaves him with a promise to try to return to her own time, but instead goes to the Earl and secretly bargains for Alec’s release with the only thing she has—herself. Will she find a way to escape to her own time? Does that mean losing any chance to be with the man she loves?

ETA: At the very least, if this gets posted in public it will light a fire under me to finish the book, just in case someone else does like the idea and starts writing a similar one. Doubly so if Rachel actually likes the idea, though I'm not getting delusions of grandeur just yet. *g*

1 comment:

Beth said...

Jenny, I saw Rachel's comment on your entry, and I thought it was a bit of a cop-out on her part. She doesn't like time-travel, OK, but at least she could've said something about whether the hook itself works!