Subverting the Big Reveal

The Big Reveal in a story or film has always charmed me. Two potential sweethearts spend much of a film looking slovenly or at least very casual. Then, in the final act, they suddenly appear at the dance or the ball or the wedding and, wow, are they suddenly fancy and gorgeous.

The girl often swans down a grand staircase into the guy's arms:

"Wow," says the guy. "You clean up nice."
"So do you," says the girl, nearly losing her balance in her new high heels. 
He catches her elbow and their eyes meet.

One of the freedoms of going the self-publishing route with the WILFAIR books is being able to try what I want to try and toy with the standards. This isn't to say traditionally published writers aren't given awesome freedoms to stretch and subvert and experiment; I'm quite sure they are. And, as I've said before, I'm sweet on the traditional route. I'll never harsh on anyone's mellow regarding self-pub vs. traditional. To each her own and high fives all around.

WILFAIR's first two potential sweethearts (oh yes, there are more to come -- hi, Carly) are Fair Finley and Gomery Overbove. The hotel heiress and motel employee deserve their Big Reveal, too, but because Fair is usually in vintage movie gowns and Gomery's in his tie and button-up, their Big Reveal naturally has to go in the opposite direction.

In short: Can two characters go from dressy to dressed-down and still wow each other? Would it be kind of exciting to see your crush, a person who is typically gussied up, appear in your doorway clad in a t-shirt, denim skirt, and clogs?

Nope, it isn't a major subversion of a tried-and-true theme and I'm not saying I'm rewriting any rules. Goodness no. But I am gaining plenty of pleasure from lining up a bunch of tiny subversions, one after the other, in these books, and seeing how they stack up. Because the tiny and quieter subversions, I find, ultimately pack more punch.

I hope you're enjoying them, too.