Now I've got this lovely library story in my head . . . With visions of a well built man, book in hand, perusing the stacks . . . I think my MC totally digs your MC. . . She's got a thing from broken men. I once asked the librarian if I could check out a single man via interlibrary loan. She laughed at me. Now, I'm just being silly, so it's time for bed. Welcome to the forum!
Everything about this is hilarious! I suppose I could probably get you his number... Thanks so much for your help! I'll probably put part of it in writer's worshop once ive got privileges if you want to check it out.
Like @ChickenFreak I have a slight problem with "his family-owned library". How about he's doing volunteer work at the local non-private library, either as community service to get his benefits, or part of the therapy recommended by his Occupational Therapist for his PTSD?
I've actually done quite a bit of research about library ownership, and while the majority of them are owned by the government, what's to stop a rich family from using a building they own, (perhaps an old house that they don't live in anymore) and a private collection of books (accumulated over many many generations) and turning it into a library? From what I've gathered the main issue is money and my character has a more than adequate inheritance. It takes place in a fairly small community, so it's not like the library of congress or anything. That said, those are some great ideas and I will definitely look into them! Thanks
It's not impossible, but it's unusual enough that it's likely to draw a lot of focus, and may distract the reader from your story. If the fact of the family library is the whole point of the story, it might be fine; if you just need a place where the male character has a history and some authority, you might be better off choosing something else. Also, the private collected-over-many-generations collection of books probably wouldn't be patronized by a five-year-old; they'd probably be mostly adult books, and be fairly fragile. Maybe the family collected lots of children's books, but, again, the more unusual the situation, the more it's likely to distract.
I think I have a method for resolving this problem. Have the girl move away for around 20 years to return as an adult. That helps seperate the two types of relationships.
Okay, that part actually doesn't make sense. Funny the things you can miss when you're the one writing... I guess the background needs a bit of work. Oops
Thanks for the suggestion The only problem there is that cuts out the whole friendship aspect of the story... A five year old moves to a neighborhood, spends a few weeks visiting the library, moves away and comes back 20 years later and decides to cultivate a romance with a drunk, mentally unstable librarian who is significantly older? I think that seems really unlikely without knowing each other for a long while.
I know a few people who married with a large age discrepancy, and by large I consider anything over 10 years different by large. You could perhaps have her older (10-11?) and him younger (22-23?). Or perhaps, he's a foreigner that grew up in hostile land, where his traumatizing events occur significantly earlier then if he was a soldier, which could then explain why he could be significantly younger (20) for example. This could allow you to add some interesting background to his life, and perhaps his illegal drinking habit due to being underage (I believe drinking age is USA is 21 if I am not mistaken). But then I suppose you would have a problem explaining why he owns or runs a library, but then that would be a good way to resort to what @Shadowfax said about him volunteering to the library.
