Villains Part 1

 

For my blog, it's back to elements of writing certain kinds of books, often labeled suspense.

Before I go into mine, I have another aspect to share-- what amounts to real deal villains. In romances, there are two main types, maybe three. I mostly use one of them but sometimes I have a character evolve into a third. 

Villains can look like villains, but most do not. Someone who looks like a good guy (yes, most are males but not all) and doesn't show their true nature until they have someone vulnerable. This is the kind to especially watch out for in what we call real life. It is also what leads to good suspense writing.

A year or so ago, I got interested in real life crimes of the cold case sort, where the case is only solved years later.  I learned some about that by watching a YouTube called The Investigation Room, where the host is a retired California detective who now works for what I believe is called the Cold Case Foundation. When I first saw his show, I was looking into the killings of four Moscow Idaho students, which had led me to wonder what happened in such brutal killings. That's where I first heard of the kind of evidence they use to catch killers when there are no witnesses. He had on good guests who explored what sometime leads to such murderers.

Well, one thing led to another and I found other such cases on YouTube from A&E, Cold Case Files, where many of the cases were solved after many years with new techniques that were now available to the legal system. Some of the killers had done multiple killings and others just one. Either way, when the police rededicated themselves to a case, often by bringing in new minds, they could use tools not available in say the 90s or earlier.

When it comes to creating a villain for fiction, I have stayed away from serial killers. I think it's because I don't want to think about people like the recent Long Island killer. It's not only kind of yucky but not particularly interesting for exploring the mindset. 

Books do not need villains. Often the problem is between the characters, which can cause plenty of grief. But, if someone wants suspense in their books, a good villain can do it. I enjoy exploring complex minds-- next blog for more on that.

more divisions

 view out our bedroom window of Pusch Ridge and clouds typical of our monsoon season down here.

There are a LOT of things going on in our world today. Some are huge and others less important. We tend to see things so differently, which makes it all tougher when something comes up which some feel reflects not just one time racism but current bigotry.

 

When a music channel bans a song, is that big or little? Well, I don't currently listen to country music; so didn't know Jason Aldean or his music. But it showed up as a link on Facebook; and I listened to the song; saw nothing wrong with it, as to me it was about behavior and what we tolerate. I liked it. 

 

I got another link to it from a YouTuber, who is black and evaluates music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYXIzosITCQ  

 

What he said was he saw the clips all about people, of various races, doing things that were not good. They were interspersed while the singer sang. He also analyzed that it's about community standing together.

 

Here's a link to the song if you also have not heard it. Let me know how you see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1_RKu-ESCY 

 

One person criticized the lyrics, as they took it to mean it was a small Southern town and not just a small town anywhere. The YouTuber above said he thought it spoke to communities that know each other and gather together for support and control-- anywhere that happens.  

 

I guess the biggest complaint is because of the courthouse behind the singer was where a lynching happened in1927 of a mob killing a young black man, Henry Choate, accused of sexual assault of a white girl. I looked it up for the details. The stories vary a lot for what happened that night, but it was at or near the courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee where Aldean lives and many videos are shot. 

 

For anyone interested in news stories and research as to what happened, it's all out there-- ugly whichever one you read. Mob actions were wrong period, and it's happened to whites too. Was the music video shot there because of that past horror, did the ones putting together the video know about the heinous event, or to them did it represent a pretty backdrop as well as law and order? Did they know and hope it would excite interest, which it has done?

 

The last part of the Small Town music video spoke of farmers putting aside their own work to help another farmer. One man said we help each other. 

 

 

I should add a personal experience given I've lived in rural America most of my life. We had a barn burn in the middle of the night. The local volunteer fire department quickly arrived but it was too late to save the barn or the animals in it. Tragedy for me that I still feel pain from and try not to remember. Except there was another side to it when the community people offered to help us rebuild the barn. 

 

Of course, this kind of support can happen in big cities but lately we have seen a lot of times where it has not. People stand by out of fear or concern they'll be hurt or killed, which can happen (did to a white man in Portland Oregon, who tried to protect two Muslim girls being threatened and was killed for his kindness). 

 

If we want an orderly community, fear can't stop us. It takes us standing together against wrong actions for anything to be done-- can't just count on the police, who often are also attacked. In Oregon, where our farm is, the police are a long way off-- and with reduced budgets often can't come to all calls. That leaves it to us, of all colors, doesn't it?

Midsummer

With it being midsummer, so far no monsoons have shown up-- although we eagerly await and hope for the rain. One night we saw lightning flares, but no strikes and no rain where we are. It is hot but so far no blackouts here and AC keeps the house pleasant.

This is a lush time for some of the birds as they gobble up the saguaro fruit. People harvest them also, especially for jelly. We leave ours for the birds and when they fall, to whatever below likes fruit-- bunnies, rodents and javelina most likely. The native peoples of this region have a right to all the fruits, but on private land, we could claim ours. Natives use a long stick with a basket / can attached to get them... can't imagine that. Nature needs them. They are sticky and full of seeds when first open and the competition for them is rapid.

 

Characters interesting to write about

It might look as though I got rid of Twitter. With all the controversy and changes going around, it'd be easy to assume that. Well, I still have it with no interest in getting something new. I try to limit how much I have on Social Media. What I did do though is move the Blogger Twitter link  to way down the page. I used to have the ability to share my last Tweet here and I used that as an in-between way to share pictures.Whoever is running it now changed that where someone has to go to Twitter to see my Tweet. If this continues, I will dump the Twitter link here, as I have no interest in being an ad for them. I'm waiting to see if it's permanent...

 

My topic for today was supposed to be about choosing characters for books I write. In this case, since I write romances, it's male and female leads. I have no problem with those who write same sex romances. I just have no personal feel for it. I write what I know something about- well not all the gun fights, etc. But where it comes to relationships.

When I met Ranch Boss, we were in college. I won't go into details, but I felt I loved him that first day. I had a few caveats though-- like he needed to have a sense of humor. Turns out he did, and our sense of humor has gotten us through more than a few bad times. So, I do believe in love at first sight, but it takes something more to make it work through a lot relationship. I look for that in my book characters.

Then I tried to think-- which characters should I share here that anyone else might find of interest.....

Obviously, I have no idea but I will throw a few ideas out there for how I selected the personalities I did for my books. Since there are thirty of these, it's not that easy to narrow them down to a few.

This book is currently not out there, as it, along with the 8 Arizona historicals, is being rewritten and edited with a new title-- although close to the original one. In Echo from the Past, Holly showed up in the book ahead of this one, Rose's Gifts. She was a university friend of Grace's (who was first introduced in The Beckoning Flame). Holly got her degree in anthropology with her desire to be an archaeologist. She's beautiful, smart and dedicated to solving a mystery from her own dreams. She's a strong woman. Well, all of my female characters are strong women-- but none defined as feisty, a term I actually dislike. She has money and goals. None of which were to find a husband. 

The hero of that book is trying to run from his past as a part of an infamous outlaw family. He tried first to change his name (showed up in an earlier historical romance--first titled Arizona Sunset but will be Beyond the Broken Road, when it reappears sooner than later, we hope. He's found a new path to make a living in the wild desert world, still facing sometimes that outlaw family. Handsome, but of course, but also intelligent with a sense of ethics. I pretty much prefer heroes like that for my books. He's an alpha but not a bully.

Neither of those two are looking for a mate. Life is simpler without-- or is it!

I could go on with various characters but those two project a lot of my ideas. Strong people, who face whatever is required-- whether it's part of their goals or not. My heroines generally have career goals, especially the contemporary but even the historicals. I rarely write really young heroines or heroes as I like to delve into people with some life experience.

 

 

Choices

This subject began with a dream. I saw three men vying for a post at the Air Force Academy (remember it's a dream and hence does not have to be historically accurate for names or anything). The obnoxious one, with a terrible smile, won the opportunity to get his education there. These were high school age guys btw. 

I woke up thinking how Ranch Boss had done that and lost out to another guy, though he'd gotten close before that happened. I hadn't actually thought of this before; but his choice to try for that school would have meant we'd have never met as we did in our reality. If he had gone elsewhere, both of our lives would have been so different without the same children we later had after marriage. So much would have been different for him especially with likely a career in the Air Force.

I'd have married someone else, as there had been someone else before him, who was still around in an off and on sense. My life though would have not been the same. There'd have been a different family, and it'd be unlikely I'd be typing at this house in Arizona right now. 

Choices are what life is about. Many are tiny. Others big. We often have no idea where a choice will land us. Turn down one road and we get where we're going. Turn the other and some idiot runs as red light. 

Often, we have no idea how choices will impact our future. Marry wrong person and divorce or worse. Marry right person and celebrate over 50 years of marriage. Do we totally know when we make that choice. We try to make it on facts and experience. Sometimes though, it's emotions or even limitations based on our culture.

Writing romances is a lot like that, other than we might have more control over the outcome, but not if the characters dictate the results. I've mentioned how themes play into what we write, followed by a plot to get our story there. Characters are a huge part of that. With that theme, what kind of characters will work with the plot. Will they feel right to us or the later (hopefully) readers.

I do generally have a theme in mind but choosing the right characters, especially the primary protagonists, that's where real thought comes into play. There are several ways the need for a certain type of characters emerge especially in romances. One of the popular tropes is enemies to lovers. I don't use that, but it could work for me when it's two different cultures or tribes-- something outside the couple. When it's though supposed to be between the two of them as enemies to lovers, I don't buy it for what I will read. I think it's a big mistake to write a romance where one person 'fixes' the other. It doesn't encourage healthy ideas for life as it doesn't tend to work out there. People fix themselves, or it doesn't happen from what I've seen.

For my books, sometimes it's friends to lovers. As in, couples who grew up together and then realize-- wow, it's more than friendship (Round the Bend). I have some where the couples broke up and come back together-- or not (Bannister's Way) Mostly, when it's a case of meeting for the first time, physical attraction is a factor. Let's be honest, that begins a lot of so-called real life relationships. It might not be what someone  else regards as good looking (happened in my Desert Inferno) but it's attractive to the smitten one. 

What attracts us in the beginning is not what makes a relationship work. Physical attraction only carries the relationship so far in real life or books. There has to be something else that cause a couple to make it work for a happily ever after. Books need that to satisfy readers. I read a lot of negative reviews for books and that's a big one to irritate a reader.

Ranch Boss and I are very different for how we see things. He's the scientist ,and I'm the artist. When the kids asked once what makes fog. He went into a scientific explanation. I said it's clouds stuck on trees. 

If we didn't respect each other for our differences, that could have been a big problem in our choices, but we did. Something else became important. We want the same things out of our life together, the same kind of life. We just came at our choices different ways. We had another advantage in that we came from similar backgrounds. Different backgrounds can make for interesting stories but also can make for a lot of complexity in what we call real life.

With romances, I think there has to be some similarities and differences for the two primary characters to be believable and interesting. How, as writer, does someone pick those people and then make what they go through work for them. Romances usually have difficulties from outside which could be the black swans of life, a villain, but also those differences between them where compromise has to happen or it's all over-- in fiction or life.

Next blog, I'll discuss some of my characters and how I decided on them as well as how it would make sense they would get a happily ever after, which romances require. I should add-- on only one of my 30 books did my hero and heroine not get that guaranteed happily ever after as I just saw too many problems for them in the future. That book was Sky Daughter. It ended well but with the understanding it might not be permanent due to major lifestyle differences for where they could live or do their life work.

Romance or...

 

To write about romances is to lose some readers with the very word as the stories have been ridiculed so much, with a fair number poorly written with a formula. Yet, romance is at the heart of many emotions. What makes two people decide to tie their lives together-- including legally? But then again, how many real life romances end, sometimes even in tragedy?  So, when writing such books, to avoid being ridiculed, what should a romance be about?

First of all, separate romance from love story. Love stories don't have to have happy endings. Some examples from the past include Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, and most of Shakespeare's plays. Love can be a violent emotion when is not accompanied by other behaviors. There are many books where love or even romantic feelings are in the story but they aren't love stories or romances. An example of that would be Where the Crawdads Sing. Different examples of passion for someone but not a love story or a romance.

Romances, on the other hand, always end happily-- or are supposed to. The teasers might suggest they won't, but they will-- or they're not romances.

The issue though for a writer is what makes two people drawn together and then have the probability the relationship will last? A writer can't just set them up and assume they'll fall in love and it will (after some crises) work out. It has to be believable to the reader. Well, unless someone is writing formula and then they just follow the pattern; but what if the author wants it to feel real and bring the reader along for the ride?

All of Jane Austin's books are romances. Her own life never got that happy romantic ending but her lead characters always did-- despite the problems to getting there. 

Romances can be about more than romance but it does have to be at the heart of the book. A writer can't just say they fell in love. Readers have to believe it would have happened. I often read reviews for other authors of romances and readers get quite irked when they don't believe those two people would have chosen each other.

One of the things that makes a couple feel real is when they have things in common to draw them together. But, there should also be those opposite elements that lead to conflicts between them. Otherwise, there's just -- and they lived happily ever after. I'll write more about that in the next blog as this one is already getting too long.

What If?

 

Sometimes, it's obvious from where the idea for a book has come. I have been thinking about this topic and then looked at books I've written and tried to figure out from where the idea for them had come. Characters? Themes? Plots? One that I hadn't thought of right away was setting. With some books, it becomes easier to figure out. You have to remember that I've been writing far longer than I've been publishing. With most, I had no idea if they were even publishing possible. They just had to be written-- following a popular pattern or not. 

The one that stumped me required delving into my own past. I kept thinking-- what made me ever write Sky Daughter? I wrote it in the mid-1990s. It had a lot of complexities. From where did all that come? Then I knew-- the beginning for it was place, the setting and a lot of What Ifs followed that. 

Years back, we had been driving through northern Idaho, with its tall peaks and trees, the beauty of the scenery, often its isolation. On one of the trips, we had the van radio on and found a show where the talk was about militia and the need to protect themselves from the outside world. I hadn't heard talk like that before. What would it be like if that's all a person heard? That part of Idaho has a very mystical feel, in a good way, but I wasn't trying to recreate what was based on reality but that question that inspires many books-- what if.

I began with a heroine (if that word can be used today). I saw her with Celtic heritage, a folk singer, who had come back to the mountain home of her grandfather. She'd had little experience there and mostly wanted to recenter herself after many losses. I was listening to a lot of Celtic music at the time. So, if that's the music she had been singing, writing, how had that influenced her soul? She was red-haired and looked much like from where her roots had been.

Then-- what kind of hero would be right for her? One of the mountain boys? Not hardly. He had to have come from outside, no more understanding its culture than she did-- although thanks to the time she'd had with grandparents, she did understand nature. What if he was from New York City, a Jewish Puertorican who was looking for healing from wilderness-- though he knew even less about it than the community into which he was heading.

From there, the story took off with more characters, some still there and some influencing who she was, the parts she hadn't recognized-- like a grandmother who had been a witch, hence the title-- Sky Daughter, what she had called her granddaughter with the time she got with her. Her mother had no use for mysticism and had sheltered her daughter from contact with it. 

At the time, I had read a book on modern witchcraft, which flowed into what the book became. Some think witches are supernatural beings but what if they are those who chose to develop natural spiritual abilities using age old rituals? What if those rituals do have power? What my heroine in this book discovers is her grandmother's Book of Shadows, which she left for her granddaughter when she died. Such books were supposed to stay in the hands of witches. The whole thing is a shock to her but does she need to learn something as that mountain has more there than she had could see-- though she felt it.

So, the What If, thinking begins with something. It might be people but it might be a place. I've had that lead to books more than once. The places are real but the rest of what is there is fiction-- or is it? What If?

To be or not to be

 

 To start, I want to define a word, esoteric-- intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest. Where it comes to the subject of writing, I think some of that applies. If we just enjoy reading, then specific understanding of what we read is not of interest. On the other hand, if we want to write, it does apply.

There is a difference between a theme for a book versus its plot. Theme is the heart, the message throughout the book. Plot is what takes the reader there-- or does it have to? I have read popular books (many are like this) where I'd say the theme is all that mattered. Plot? What plot? It's not about that but rather the feeling, the heart of the story. Yes, things happen, but not in the sense of a plot. I must add that often life itself seems without a plot.

I like writing plots. All of my books have them. In the case of Moon Dust, there is a plot along with the theme. Are both needed? Maybe not for many readers. But, we are talking now about my interest as a writer.

From where do my plots come? Some from the characters and my own desire for an interesting book. I learned some of what I use from reading but also from Joseph Campbell's books regarding the journey of the hero. What made some mythologies survive until today and others be forgotten?

Campbell encouraged a book to begin where the hero starts (which could be heroine). Where is the life they led and what would it take to remove them from it? That's the gatekeeper experience. We start with a stable experience and then along comes-- why would that person leave it for something else, maybe scarier? It has to be strong and seem worthwhile to the reader. The fact that it has lasted in mythologies means it has lasted.

One of the things I learned, a long time ago with writing, is the W. There is a moment of huge energy and then a moment of relaxation and peace, of considering what had happened,  before another high energy event. Life  does not have to, but can do that. Fiction isn't always about life itself. It's about writing on emotional events. Plots provide this. We would like many peaceful moments, but they aren't always what makes us grow the most.

So, plots give us the W, the ups and the downs, that in the end take the story where the theme intended it to go. I believe that happened with Moon Dust. Two people without a lot of professional energy to create dynamism (a principal and decorator) but it's what happens to them in the plot that forces them to grow beyond their expectations for themselves. This excitement is what takes the reader along for the ride.

when it begins with a theme

 

As I said before, I can't tell you how to create books here. What I can do is relate how it has worked for me with some of my own. The following will be an example of when I used a theme, the book, Moon Dust.

First, I need to better define what I mean by theme. Frankly, I went to the dictionary for some synonyms that might explain how I am using the word. There were a lot of good ones including: subject, concept, essence, marrow, pith, gist. I don't know if that gets to the heart of what I am trying to describe, which is that, where the topics range from abuse to brainwashing, heartbreak, education, etc. the real theme is healing, and it fits with all that comes up in the book.

My interest in writing the story began with knowing that not only girls are sexually abused but also boys. It's not been taken as seriously when it's a male because they are supposed to be enjoying it. The thing is-- abuse is about power taken away. It's not enjoyable for any victim.

Before I began writing, I researched by reading several books on what the abuse can be when it's a boy as well as what the impact was when they grew up. Men have been too often denied counseling for it. That means its impact can be hidden under other emotional issues.

Moon Dust had another subject that isn't so popular for romances. It begins with a divorce. The male protagonist was a high school principal, who has much responsibility for the teachers and children under his wings. To flesh out the character, I remembered the high school principals I had known. Having a hero involved in concern for kids, led to what education should be and the downside of it-- what about youths who are being brainwashed by those who seek power over them. Principals run into all sorts of problems.

What? That doesn't sound like a romance. Well, romances often aren't what readers expect. They can be; but for me, I need something more and this theme was about people needing to recognize what happened to them and when to get treatment.

Writing this book, even with a difficult subject, was one I enjoyed because I cared about the topics. I helped myself by the heroine being a home decorator, which enabled me to explore what it takes to help someone else find the right decor for their home. It was a lighter touch to add to the heavier theme of divorce and adult emotional disorders due to childhood trauma.

Of course, there was a love story, if not the usual one. Some violence, growth of the characters through what they are learning, and, naturally a happy ending- if not what's expected.  

Moon Dust has not caught on with romance readers maybe because it's more woman's fiction. How do you label books? Don't ask me! I write what works for me and hope it finds readers looking for a little something more in their reading. That key word-- finding-- is always the problem.

I have started other books with a theme in mind, but this is probably one of the strongest. I  like this book. I hoped to write about it here to encourage other writers to also look for what interests them. That will lead to the characters and the plot. Yes, plot and theme are not the same thing.

My photos from a visit to Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland Oregon

amazing place to spend much time.

Purpose in writing

 

In a book's first pages is the ground on which all the rest is built. Who was this person? Why should I care about them and read their story? From where have they come? Why would a reader believe they might have something interesting ahead? As a writer, I ask myself the same questions. I will be putting a lot more time into these characters than it takes for a reader to read the book. I need to care and believe in them.

If the writer jumps right into the action, will the reader believe in the character’s abilities or reasons? There are, of course, books, with no real plot-- just a constant stream of thinking or talking with no seeming direction. Some people love such books. For me though, I want meaningful action in mind for what I read or write.

I also like hidden motives, characters who realize what they really want through time, based on what they experience; for me, this goes along with some fast action, and yes discovered love. My books are romances, but that alone wouldn't interest me. I want a reason for what is about to happen-- a reason I believe is possible. It's not always easy, but that kind of writing is the most rewarding-- the hidden purposes.

When writing about writing, it has to be from my perspective including some from how-to books that I have read. I often have ideas germinating for a long time before I begin writing. Writing leads to more ideas. I try to give that time to happen.

Although I never say the story takes over, I do discover things along the way, things I hadn't seen until the story begins unwinding. I never outline but do have a clear idea of where the story will end up. What I see to begin is not always what is real. All of my stories are fiction, sometimes with a real character or so inserted, but fiction has to feel like it could happen to make it powerful-- at least for me.

Look at the bougainvillea flower below. Most would assume it's the bright red, but it's not. It's that tiny white flower in the middle. The red is leaves. Discovering the unexpected is the joy of creating.

Step by step

 

When I thought about how to write about writing, my mind went blank. We are getting ready to head north to the farm, we dealt with the loss of a cat, and there's all the cultural stuff going on. Plus, I am trying to get all eight of the Arizona historicals improved, edited, and making them all I want them to be. Mentally, I am not even sure what's going on in my head.

I dream a lot and sometimes, I have to wonder from where did that come!. An example is a recent dream in what I call a movie type dream-- where I am not in them; but I am watching the story unfold. In that one, there is a young woman, who has a crush on a man probably 20 years older than her. She follows him and his woman friend through a door with no idea that it will bring her into a parallel world. Supposedly, the parallel world is alongside her world except you can't go back without finding that or another portal. 

In that dream, she begins to find that the parallel world looks to be great, except it's not. That world is dystopian with the way everything is controlled; with death sometimes the price people pay if they get in the way of the supposed perfect new world order.

From where do such events in a dream like that come as it got more and more violent. I have never watched any of those movies. When I woke up, I knew it was no book I'd ever want to write. How do I get such dreams??? It wasn't really a nightmare, because I wasn't caught up in the bad stuff, but still had to wonder as I know such ideas are out there.

So, back to writing and how a person puts together a book. I have had a few come from dreams but mostly just small scenes. I don't use dreams for overall plots. I can't really say from where my stories have come. Yes, they are all romances, but there is always a lot more I need to find to make a story worth spending time writing.

The first book I ever wrote was set on the Oregon Trail. The second was a contemporary rodeo story. The third was set in Arizona, again historical, but very different than the Oregon series. 

This is a  marketing mistake not to write in consistent genres that will draw readers to follow the stories. Genres are a big part of successful selling of books. I had one series where I called them paranormals. I got the idea for them while driving through one of Tucson's old neighborhoods and thought-- what if these interesting looking ordinary people had extraordinary powers-- what if they saw what the rest of us do not. Seemed like a fun idea for me but what genre is that? It went nowhere with readers as paranormals...maybe a sub-genre of fantasy.

So, I guess the essence of what I believe is find a genre you as the writer like. Select characters in which to believe. Then, come up with a meaningful and interesting plot-- ideally related to those characters. For me, books take a good setting that the writer knows well enough to describe and give the feel to the reader. Finally, some strong secondary characters-- a few might get a book of their own and some might be animals. 

For what I know of these issues, it'll come next in between driving north and trying to not feel all stressed by travel. I can only use my own stories to illustrate what I think, as right now not reading a lot of fiction.