Comments on: There be Monsters out there

By: Jordan

Jordan — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 03:28:12 +0000

Cece, That sounds interesting.

By: cece

cece — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 01:19:40 +0000

I think unapologetic is the word I’m looking for.

By: cece

cece — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 01:19:07 +0000

As easily as I can be a smart a** I can be angsty. I just finished reading The Art of Being Lost (or something like that). It wasn’t literature but it wasn’t quite mainstream fiction either. My point being I guess that it was dark and sorta edgy (everyone’s got a story in it) but not heavy, if that makes sense.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:20:03 +0000

Ursula, That’s so cool that your book came out to you in that manner. I think the explanation definitely illuminates some of the stuff surrounding my characters. Thanks so much for sharing.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:50:08 +0000

I did my annual Tarot reading party last night at a friends, and before I started with my clients, I had a reading by one of the other Tarot readers. I’ve been doing meditation on my next book, and I can’t escape the dark hero, so I wanted to understand better how he fits into my writing. I know the story is a dark paranormal, but this guy, he’s coming up all shades of black. The reader keyed right into it, as did the cards. Per the reading, the hero came up as a knight of swords, but evolves through the story to the king of swords. The transition comes through, of all things an Emperess. They guy reading had no idea my questionr related to a book, or a hero: but had this message: “to know the beauty of light, one must know the absence of it, know the shadow. And even in this darkness, the knight carries a speck of that light, so he can recognize it and appreciate it, but it takes the Emperess and all that surrounds her to open the path into the dark.” So it’s like that yin, yang you describe. You become dark, but the redemption is that much more potent as a result. You open the path into darkness as the writer, and take us there with the hero, and you don’t pull your punches. Your world may be dead, but your hero is not, and we live the darkness with him. To me, that’s powerful mojo you’re cooking up. I like writers who go deep and long into the cave, so deep sometimes you don’t know if you’ll make it out. The writing is more visceral, the story more evocative and enjoyable. I think as readers it allows us to view our shadow self, one step removed. Very shamanic.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:43:11 +0000

Linda, Maybe that will happen sometime later in the book. I’m only sitting at 128 pages right now.

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:14:15 +0000

I tend to do both at once. I write mysteries and they’re dark and creepy. But humor creeps in at the oddest times. I think the contrast makes for a stronger story. The light makes the dark seem darker and the dark makse the light brighter. I think humans lives are both light and dark, so I’d be surprised if most people don’t do both in some way or other.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:30:29 +0000

Silma, I actually think you hit the cause for your dark writing on the nose. It was mood inspired. Mine, isn’t so much that (I’m not depressed.) as me trying to write the stuff I enjoy watching. (ie Underworld, Vampires, etc.) They aren’t happy movies. The worlds are harsh and the women kick ass.

By: Silma

Silma — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:59:42 +0000

I used to write this dark stories, with these dark heroes. Then again I was kind of depressed most of the time. So the dark stories reflected my mood. Now that things are going fine with me, I find myself writing lighter stories and totally unable to do the dark stories. Is that a ying/yang thingie? I think it’s more an age thing. I’m not the same at 40 that I was at 28.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:52:41 +0000

Charlene, I know exactly what you mean. There just aren’t many ‘natural’ places to lighten my book up. It’s a post-apocalyptic world that has supposedly moved beyond murder.