Monday, 24 February 2014
'Is there one of your characters you did not like...?'
So, it's been a month since launch date for my début e-novella, 'The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife'. In that month, I've been fortunate enough to have received six reviews from book bloggers, and six interviews, with many more in the pipeline. I'm very grateful to them for their support, and thrilled at how positive the response so far has been. I'll provide a full list of links at the bottom, but for now, I'm just going to say thank you for taking a shot on an unknown indie author, and I hope you decide to stick around, because there's plenty more where that came from...
Also, thank you to the people kind enough to have left customer reviews on Amazon or Goodreads - positive reviews from paying readers are the life-blood of a new release, especially one like mine that doesn't have a massive publisher behind it with squillions of marketing dollars, so thank you to each and every one of you that left a star rating and/or some words. It really does mean everything.
So here's the thing about the interviews: You do get asked some of the same questions, but one of the pleasant surprises of doing a series of these now is that there's a lot less overlap than you'd think. So far, each interview, I've had at least one or two questions that have pulled me up short and given me real pause for thought.
The one I want to talk about today, which came from an as-yet unpublished conversation, was this:
"Is there one of your characters that you did not like when you started writing about them, but found yourself liking by the end of the story?"
Why was that such a stumper, you may reasonably ask? Well, here's the thing. I've written about murderers. I've written about psychotic torturers, and sadistic thugs, and creatures that eat children, and all manner of vile horrors, but I've never actually disliked any of them.
Now, if I can just stop you before you complete that call to the emergency services that will lead to a knock on my door, permit me to explain. Please.
My first prolonged period of creativity was not based around writing, but theatre. I was very lucky to be involved with a local youth theatre project between the ages of 10 and 14, run by insanely talented and dedicated people, and it had a lasting impact. I got to play both heroes and villains (spoilers - I preferred the villains). And one piece of advice I got that I held on tight to was 'never think of the villains as villains when you play them'. Because, let's face it, they don't, as a rule. Or as Neil Gaiman's Death would put it 'no-one is scary on the inside'.
If it applies to playing someone, it probably applies to writing about them.
So, I've written about some people I'd never want to meet in a darkened alley, or frankly in broad daylight in a crowded shopping centre (there's this one cat who calls himself Jacob, and if I ever get my novel in shape you will one day get to meet him, and you may just recall this post and shudder), but I've never disliked any of them.
Does that make me a sociopath?
And you, fellow writers - what say you on the question of dislikeable characters?
Talk soon.
Kit Power
PS - Welcome to the book review and interview URL forest! Enjoy!
REVIEWS:
Notebook Of Books (four stars)
Twisted Book Junkie - 4 star review PLUS interview
Author Ingrid Hall - 4 Star Review
Frank Michaels Errington's Horrible Book Reviews - 3.5 Stars
Author L M Langley - 4 star review
Long and Short Reviews - 3 Stars
INTERVIEWS:
You are entitled to my opinion
IndieAuthorLand - Why you MUST read Kit Power's 'The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife'
Milton Keynes Citizen newspaper - 'Debut e-novella for city writer' article + interview
The Bookie Monster
authorsinterviews
And don't forget you can buy your copy on 'The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife' for Kindle RIGHT NOW from Amazon.
KP
PPS - So busy, I didn't have time to tell you about my latest acceptance of a short horror story to a new anthology! Check back later for all that news. Good times. :)
K
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I agree with you. If you are going to successfully write someone, you have to understand them. Good bad or fugly. (I also have experience in theatre.)
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