Are You Writing Me Into Your Book?

This weekend I diligently worked on my books while I was in attendance at my daughter's softball game. Since my computer battery envies the lifespan of a lightning bug and my Alpha Smart cord has gone to the computer junk yard, I was writing by hand again.

People often make comments when they see me writing. Perhaps it would be different if I had my computer or my Alpha Smart instead of a cheap pad of paper and pen. Maybe not.

Most of the comments are probably meant to be friendly and joking, but occasionally they seem condescending. I'm not usually one to speak my mind and I usually keep the peace, but enough's enough.

One of the team fathers asked, "Are you writing about me?"

He was probably teasing. WHY would I write about someone I barely know?

But I said, "Why? Do you want me to?" (I've had more than a few people who want me to write their story.)

He shook his head, chuckled and said, "No!"

I almost said, tongue not so in cheek, "Only if you make me mad."

Unfortunately, that might be true.

It's not a good practice to write about people you know. You can be sued and fired, maybe even shot for doing something like that. At most, you might make a composite of several people you know or have observed, to create a single character.

But sometimes, when someone infuriates me, in particular when they're very mean to me, I'm ultra tempted to make them my villain and do lots of dastardly things to them in my books that I could never do to them in real life, at least not if I don't want to go to the deepest levels of hell and get locked in Alcatraz for the rest of my days.

So now you know my deepest, darkest secret--I'm human. Or maybe I'm an extremely wicked person. Somehow, however, I doubt I'm the only writer who has tortured or killed off their villain(s) to work out real aggressions.

So bwahahahaha! If you don't want to be in my book, don't piss me off. If you do want to be in my books, piss me off. Now you're warned. :)

Recent posts you might like to read:


Dont Give Up Too Early

Snippet Saturday: Kick Ass Heroes and Heroines
Nudists on Strike
Kudos to Harlequin  (It's their anniversary month - lots of free books if you hurry)
Kenzie Michaels Guest Interview
Twitter Works Do You Really Want To Post That?

 

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook,
Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch,
Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape
are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

I Want To Fly!

I want to fly. We discussed dreams at lunch Friday. My boss told us he often flies in his dreams. I teased him that he was "Superman". Well, he is in lots of ways so I shouldn't be surprised. Another friend admitted that she has enough presence in her dreams to tell villains and monsters or bad things "Stop" and they listen to her and stop. Me? Unfortunately, I've been chased by ravenous T-Rex's more than once. I've seen them eat (quite grossly) some of my unluckier dream companions. At least they haven't eaten me - yet. I've had houses crumble beneath me. I've ridden busses to the tops of garbage dumps. Why are my dreams so much less glamorous or self-fulfilling? Are they trying to tell me something? God, if they are, what? I bought a dream analysis book awhile back but it didn't explain much to me. There were at least three ways to interpret dreams and they left it up to the reader. So that tells me we have to go with our gut instinct. Right now my gut is telling me I must be in trouble. Instead of flying and taking charge of my dreams (my life), I'm falling prey to bad things. So how do I learn to fly in my dreams? In real life? How do I learn to take charge of my dreams? My real life? What about you? Do you fly in your dreams? You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Enemies, Rivals, and Villains

Enemies, rivals, and villains - they're people we hate in real life. At least we dislike them and they make us miserable. Well, they make me miserable. Maybe you like them. Yeah, I have a few enemies and rivals that are my personal villains. I won't name names but trust me, they're real. I wish they weren't. I don't like conflict in my personal life. I don't like unpleasantries. I don't like to be hounded or disliked or stalked. I don't like arguments and fights. Heck, I work in customer service because I like to soothe and appease people and make everything better. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, what would a fictional story be without conflict, enemies, rivals, and villains? BORING!!! Yep. Unlike real life, it's not fun to watch someone have a hunky dory day without conflict all day long, every day. What's the point? The story's over and one. Or it's not started. Imagine "The Mummy" without the mummy. Or Indiana Jones digging up artifacts without any evil, creepy guy chasing him. Yeah, he'd still be cute and sexy, but the story would be pretty boring. Or "Star Wars" without Darth Vader and the evil Empire. So what if Luke can swing a light saber and make things levitate? That alone would be ho hum. Or "Independence Day" without the homicidal aliens. I can go on and on... Even in romance we need conflict - that's part of the definition of romance. Overcoming the conflict is a lot like foreplay, or maybe it is foreplay. :) Think "The Cutting Edge" and "Runaway Bride". Lots of conflict. Sometimes the hero and heroine are enemies in the beginning.

Please!!! Make my kids stop fighting so I can write lots of fantasy conflict.

Sometimes, my real life villains inspire my fiction villains. This is the legal way to act out my aggressions and kill somebody without really killing somebody. I wonder how many authors write about murders and corpses when they're mad at somebody. I'm probably not the only one. That or go to the batting cages and whack the hell out of a lot of balls - softballs, I mean. that's also legal.

Oh, you know what I mean! You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Villains we love to hate

Not all stories need villains, but some stories demand them. The better (dangerous, threatening, more 3-dimensional) the villain, the better for the story.

Imagine an Indiana Jones story without his slew of villains. Even though he’s a sexy, fascinating man, how fascinating would it be to watch him dig in the dirt or teach a class? He’s at his best when he’s thwarting the bad guys whether they be Nazis or Russians or aliens.

One of my favorite movies is “The Mummy” with Brendan Frazier. Without “The Mummy”, the story would also fall flat despite how dashing and handsome the hero is.

In comparing the villains in The Mummy vs. any of the Indiana Jones movies, the mummy’s character is by far the best villain.

Why?

The mummy’s motivation and backstory are shown. The audience is allowed to become invested in the man behind the mummy. We don’t necessarily want him to win and take over the world, but our hearts go out to him when we find out he fell into his evil ways because of his all-consuming love for his girlfriend, and the wonderful love story behind the scenes. Indeed, the mummy doesn’t see himself as the villain, but as the knight in shining armor, riding in on his white steed to rescue the love of his life. We sympathize with his plight. The guy’s willing to risk the world to save the love of his life. That’s pretty romantic.

In this case, it shows the flip side, the dark side of life which is nicely foiled by the romance between the good guys.

The perfect villain is one who could also be the perfect hero in another setting. If he could be redeemed, he could be quite something. Indeed, there are instances in which the villain later becomes the hero, or is shown I his more heroic days in a prequel (think “Scorpion King”).

In fact, one of my own stories, “Eternal Damnation” published by New Concepts Publishing features a very evil villain, perhaps the most evil one I’ve ever created – Nikolai, an extremely evil vampire who does something so dastardly even the other vampires think him evil.

Do you know what?

I received fan mail for Nikolai requesting that he be given his own story, that he become the hero.

Guess what?

Finally, I wrote Nikolai’s story. It’s on submission now so my fingers are crossed. It took awhile to percolate in my mind just how I could redeem someone so evil and make him into a hero, but I did it. And again, love was the key.

Stephen King also writes wonderful villains. He introduces us to their background and how they were normal people (usually) who were so tormented in some way, that they turned to the dark side. At least those are his best villains. When we aren’t treated to the behind the scenes view, the villain is one-dimensional and the entire story suffers.

Who are other wonderful villains, people we love to hate? People who would be pretty awesome if redeemed? Lex Luthor jumps to mind. He’s definitely not a one-dimensional, evil dude, but a complex, compelling man.

Another famous villain who got his prequel, whom people loved to hate and then learned to love, is Darth Vader. Once we met Anakin Skywalker, got sucked into his timeless love story, felt his acute anguish, he became 3-dimensional and we learned to forgive him his transgressions – or at least to understand and root for his redemption.

Who do you love to hate? Who would you like to see redeemed? Who is your favorite villain?

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)