Over the span of that last few days two reviews of Scarecrow and The Madness have been published. Both of them are very good, particularly the Hellnotes review.
"What the authors and Blood Bound books have delivered is a double slice of horror very reminiscent of a grindhouse exploitation film or a hybrid graphic novel. The cover illustration is worthy of devotion whilst the stories themselves deliver exactly what is promised."
--Hellnotes
Here's the review in full: http://hellnotes.com/scarecrow-the-madness-book-review
The other review was published at HorrorNews.com. You can read that one here: http://horrornews.net/46878/book-review-the-scarecrow-and-the-madness-authors-craig-saunders-and-robert-essig/
Both reviews are very positive, and hopefully if you haven't given this book a chance, you will feel inclined to do so. It is available at amazon in print and for kindle at new reduced prices.
Cheers!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
To ebook or Not to ebook
That is the question.
I say ... DO IT!
It took me quite a while to really accept the so-called e-book revolution for a variety of reasons. There was the fear that paper books would be all but forgotten, though I never really believed that would happen. I figure mass market paperbacks will drop off a bit, and with the failings of Leisure it seems like that is exactly what's happening. I think this is a shame, but in this tech world we live in paper is becoming outdated. Schools probably don't even use paper products any longer. I bet kids in kindergarten are painting pictures with fake brushes on kiddie sized laptops. What a horrible thought!
Unlike the vast majority of the populace, I have very little interest in technology. I have a flip phone and I like it that way. I have no use for a "smart" phone. (As a side note, I hate the term "smart" for things like phones and those little death-trap cars.) It took me a while to get an e-reader, and now that I have one I can understand what all the buzz is about. It's a pretty cool invention, and it allows me to purchase books from authors I have never read at low prices (providing the publishers keep prices low, which I think they will, for the most part, considering the fact that we're talking about a transfer of data here, not something physical).
That being said, I also think ebooks have opened up an opportunity for unknown writers like myself to get their work out there. One must be careful, though. There are a plethora of authors and so-called authors dropping piles of shit here and there and everywhere. So much so that potential customers and horror enthusiasts have to wade through every X amount mediocre or just plain out terrible books for a good one, which can turn people off of trying something new, or, gulp, something self published.
Oh the horror!
I once said I would never self publish my work, and to a certain degree I have not wavered in that opinion. I will not self publish novels, however I have an idea about self pubbing some short work. I have seen many authors selling a single story for .99 cents. Ok. I have seen established authors sell their back catalogue for .99 cents apiece. OK. The established author will make money off of that kind of price due to the volume they sell. I would be doing nothing selling my books at that price because few people have heard of me and are looking forward to my next release (hopefully there's more than few, but who knows). So my thought is to publish an ebook with around 20-30K worth of short stories. Some of them new, some of them re-prints, maybe one or two of them trunk stories...maybe. I'm weary of trunk stories, and I am uncertain that a whole book of them is a good idea. Anyway, I would also include a preview of my forthcoming novel People of the Ethereal Realm, providing the publisher will allow me to do so. The price: .99 cents. A customer would get more for their buck than just a single story, and hopefully that would entice them to take a chance on my work. It would be a sort of starters guide to Robert Essig's fiction. If they like what they read, then maybe they would be willing to take a chance on People of the Ethereal Realm or Scarecrow and The Madness.
I'm working this through my mind and going to have to figure in a few other factors. I would have to hire an editor, of course, and maybe someone to do a decent cover if I couldn't manage one myself (and I probably can't). Once I see the cost going into this little venture I will decide whether I feel it is worth the effort.
Here's to ebooks!
Cheers!
I say ... DO IT!
It took me quite a while to really accept the so-called e-book revolution for a variety of reasons. There was the fear that paper books would be all but forgotten, though I never really believed that would happen. I figure mass market paperbacks will drop off a bit, and with the failings of Leisure it seems like that is exactly what's happening. I think this is a shame, but in this tech world we live in paper is becoming outdated. Schools probably don't even use paper products any longer. I bet kids in kindergarten are painting pictures with fake brushes on kiddie sized laptops. What a horrible thought!
Unlike the vast majority of the populace, I have very little interest in technology. I have a flip phone and I like it that way. I have no use for a "smart" phone. (As a side note, I hate the term "smart" for things like phones and those little death-trap cars.) It took me a while to get an e-reader, and now that I have one I can understand what all the buzz is about. It's a pretty cool invention, and it allows me to purchase books from authors I have never read at low prices (providing the publishers keep prices low, which I think they will, for the most part, considering the fact that we're talking about a transfer of data here, not something physical).
That being said, I also think ebooks have opened up an opportunity for unknown writers like myself to get their work out there. One must be careful, though. There are a plethora of authors and so-called authors dropping piles of shit here and there and everywhere. So much so that potential customers and horror enthusiasts have to wade through every X amount mediocre or just plain out terrible books for a good one, which can turn people off of trying something new, or, gulp, something self published.
Oh the horror!
I once said I would never self publish my work, and to a certain degree I have not wavered in that opinion. I will not self publish novels, however I have an idea about self pubbing some short work. I have seen many authors selling a single story for .99 cents. Ok. I have seen established authors sell their back catalogue for .99 cents apiece. OK. The established author will make money off of that kind of price due to the volume they sell. I would be doing nothing selling my books at that price because few people have heard of me and are looking forward to my next release (hopefully there's more than few, but who knows). So my thought is to publish an ebook with around 20-30K worth of short stories. Some of them new, some of them re-prints, maybe one or two of them trunk stories...maybe. I'm weary of trunk stories, and I am uncertain that a whole book of them is a good idea. Anyway, I would also include a preview of my forthcoming novel People of the Ethereal Realm, providing the publisher will allow me to do so. The price: .99 cents. A customer would get more for their buck than just a single story, and hopefully that would entice them to take a chance on my work. It would be a sort of starters guide to Robert Essig's fiction. If they like what they read, then maybe they would be willing to take a chance on People of the Ethereal Realm or Scarecrow and The Madness.
I'm working this through my mind and going to have to figure in a few other factors. I would have to hire an editor, of course, and maybe someone to do a decent cover if I couldn't manage one myself (and I probably can't). Once I see the cost going into this little venture I will decide whether I feel it is worth the effort.
Here's to ebooks!
Cheers!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Another First Draft Has Been Penned
This morning I finished the first draft of my latest long work entitled, for the time being, Stronger Than Hate. I have been throwing some other titles around, one of which is Eat Your Pain. I'm kind of partial to the other title, but we'll see. Things have a way of changing. The original title was That Sinking Feeling. Sounds atrocious when I read that one out loud.
The word count pre-rewrites and edits is just over 50K. I thought hitting 30K was going to be a challenge, but this story wrote itself. This was one of the more pleasant writing experiences so far concerning larger works. I actually woke up one night at three in the morning and couldn't sleep because I just had to work on the story. I told myself that I needed to sleep so I wouldn't be groggy at work the following day, but the story wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote for an hour and a half and then went back to sleep. Wasn't a bit groggy the next day, either. This morning my son woke me at 5:45. I told him to go back to bed, and he did, however my mind began swirling with the final pages of the story. I was too tired to finish it last night, but as soon as I woke, the ending became clear.
It's such a great feeling to complete the first draft of a novella or novel length work. There's still a huge amount of work before this thing will be ready to submit to publishers, but getting the story typed from beginning to end is quite a feat.
As for the story itself, well, it's crazy. For some reason I've been on an extreme horror bender for the past year or so. I told myself after I finished my second novel last year that I would explore an idea I have that is more psychological and less violent and depraved, but when this idea struck, I couldn't let it go. I had started the story early 2011, but hit a snag and couldn't figure out where it was going. After seeing the behavior of some of the Wall Street protesters--the pissing and shitting and raping and such (yes, I know those people don't represent the entire movement, so back off!)--I was inspired and the story bloomed from there. I was watching a program on ID last night about several people who kidnapped an elderly woman and put her body in the back of her car, of which they stole. They carted her around town and showed her to several of their friends and family (fingerprints on the trunk of her car belonged to at least ten different people!). If I thought my story was too much, and that people really wouldn't gather together in the name of something evil and heinous, the deplorable behavior of some of the Wall Street protesters and the people who didn't report that kidnapped woman's body validated my pessimistic look at certain facets of society.
Stronger Than Hate is extreme, however the horrors of this book, for the most part, are very real. I am continually surprised at what humans are capable of.
What a hell of a sad note to end this post on.
So be it.
Cheers!
The word count pre-rewrites and edits is just over 50K. I thought hitting 30K was going to be a challenge, but this story wrote itself. This was one of the more pleasant writing experiences so far concerning larger works. I actually woke up one night at three in the morning and couldn't sleep because I just had to work on the story. I told myself that I needed to sleep so I wouldn't be groggy at work the following day, but the story wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote for an hour and a half and then went back to sleep. Wasn't a bit groggy the next day, either. This morning my son woke me at 5:45. I told him to go back to bed, and he did, however my mind began swirling with the final pages of the story. I was too tired to finish it last night, but as soon as I woke, the ending became clear.
It's such a great feeling to complete the first draft of a novella or novel length work. There's still a huge amount of work before this thing will be ready to submit to publishers, but getting the story typed from beginning to end is quite a feat.
As for the story itself, well, it's crazy. For some reason I've been on an extreme horror bender for the past year or so. I told myself after I finished my second novel last year that I would explore an idea I have that is more psychological and less violent and depraved, but when this idea struck, I couldn't let it go. I had started the story early 2011, but hit a snag and couldn't figure out where it was going. After seeing the behavior of some of the Wall Street protesters--the pissing and shitting and raping and such (yes, I know those people don't represent the entire movement, so back off!)--I was inspired and the story bloomed from there. I was watching a program on ID last night about several people who kidnapped an elderly woman and put her body in the back of her car, of which they stole. They carted her around town and showed her to several of their friends and family (fingerprints on the trunk of her car belonged to at least ten different people!). If I thought my story was too much, and that people really wouldn't gather together in the name of something evil and heinous, the deplorable behavior of some of the Wall Street protesters and the people who didn't report that kidnapped woman's body validated my pessimistic look at certain facets of society.
Stronger Than Hate is extreme, however the horrors of this book, for the most part, are very real. I am continually surprised at what humans are capable of.
What a hell of a sad note to end this post on.
So be it.
Cheers!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Resolute Disillusion 2012
This morning I submitted four short stories to various publishers. Two of the stories went to the same publisher by invite, though they still have to go through the submission process and aren't guaranteed a spot in the book. The other two went to separate publishers, one in Australia and the other here in the states. I made my notes and marked each submission with the month and year, and that's when it occurred to me that it is indeed 2012. Sure, there was the same old drinks and celebration last night (very low key this year) but I believe it's when you first write 2012 on a check or document that it becomes a reality (or when you write 2011, curse yourself, and have to change it).
What does this all mean? Well, I started thinking about my writing...hobby (I can't truthfully call it a career--I don't make enough money to live off of, so I feel I must call it a hobby). I realized that it has been five years that I've been seriously submitting my work to publishers and collecting far more rejections than acceptances. That got me pondering where I am with my writing and where I should be and where my fellow writers are.
When it comes down to it, we all go our own pace no matter how talented we are or however much we are mindlessly chasing a dream that will never come true. For some it will come true, for many it has, but for most it will not. That's a sad truth, but reality stings, doesn't it? There's no reason to live in denial or have ridiculous expectations, and I think that's how I made it through the past five years writing and submitting my stories. Besides, I have to write. It's therapeutic and necessary.
To date, I have had 39 short stories and two novellas published from early 2008 - 2011. My debut novel People of the Ethereal Realm is due out in 2012 from Twisted Library Press as well as a short story called Tale of the Abnormal Beauty Queen which will appear in the anthology Darker Minds.
Not too shabby. There are a lot of writers who have accomplished far more than that in the same amount of time, but as I said earlier, we all work at our own pace and some of us are far superior at the craft than others. I fancy I'm somewhere in the middle.
Here's to bigger and better things in 2012.
Cheers!
What does this all mean? Well, I started thinking about my writing...hobby (I can't truthfully call it a career--I don't make enough money to live off of, so I feel I must call it a hobby). I realized that it has been five years that I've been seriously submitting my work to publishers and collecting far more rejections than acceptances. That got me pondering where I am with my writing and where I should be and where my fellow writers are.
When it comes down to it, we all go our own pace no matter how talented we are or however much we are mindlessly chasing a dream that will never come true. For some it will come true, for many it has, but for most it will not. That's a sad truth, but reality stings, doesn't it? There's no reason to live in denial or have ridiculous expectations, and I think that's how I made it through the past five years writing and submitting my stories. Besides, I have to write. It's therapeutic and necessary.
To date, I have had 39 short stories and two novellas published from early 2008 - 2011. My debut novel People of the Ethereal Realm is due out in 2012 from Twisted Library Press as well as a short story called Tale of the Abnormal Beauty Queen which will appear in the anthology Darker Minds.
Not too shabby. There are a lot of writers who have accomplished far more than that in the same amount of time, but as I said earlier, we all work at our own pace and some of us are far superior at the craft than others. I fancy I'm somewhere in the middle.
Here's to bigger and better things in 2012.
Cheers!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Let the Write One In
As always, I have a lot of writing projects going on at once, though I am taking a new approach by only allowing myself to dedicate time to two specific projects rather than three or four as I usually do. For me, that just doesn't work. It's too difficult to spent the proper time with each project and then one gets terribly neglected and forgotten about. Could you imagine having four children and completely forgetting about one of them? You'd probably leave the poor thing in a shopping cart somewhere, and then what?
A world of pain, that's what.
Two at a time works fine with me. I'm still working on Stronger Than Hate and I have begun the second draft of Through the In Between, Hell Awaits in hopes that I have the manuscript ready for a novel length competition with an April deadline. So far I'm impressed with my own work, but then again I'm biased. It's quite a violent and bizarre story, and I'm curious as to how it will be perceived. I hope to work out a PDF--something I've never done before--of the second draft and send it to a few beta readers while I'm toiling away on the third draft. I've never done that before with novel length work. I really don't know how many people will be interested, but any feedback will help, and I want to get this thing polished before submitting to the comp.
Stronger Than Hate is coming along nicely. I passed the 40K mark last week. I didn't think this novella was going to make it past 30K, but it has feet and it's running wild. I think it's becoming out of control enough to finally end, but who knows. The shit's really hitting the fan for my protagonists.
I have so many stories that need to be written, but I just don't have the time. There are folks out there who pop out five plus books a year, but that's not me. It's a slow process that cannot be rushed. After having a novella rejected a while back, I was given the opportunity to re-write it into a novel. It's not a sure thing as far as being published with said press, but it's something I will be working on as soon as I am finished with one of the two projects I'm currently working on. If I try and take on three projects someone is going to be left in the shopping cart at the store, and I don't want that to happen.
Cheers!
A world of pain, that's what.
Two at a time works fine with me. I'm still working on Stronger Than Hate and I have begun the second draft of Through the In Between, Hell Awaits in hopes that I have the manuscript ready for a novel length competition with an April deadline. So far I'm impressed with my own work, but then again I'm biased. It's quite a violent and bizarre story, and I'm curious as to how it will be perceived. I hope to work out a PDF--something I've never done before--of the second draft and send it to a few beta readers while I'm toiling away on the third draft. I've never done that before with novel length work. I really don't know how many people will be interested, but any feedback will help, and I want to get this thing polished before submitting to the comp.
Stronger Than Hate is coming along nicely. I passed the 40K mark last week. I didn't think this novella was going to make it past 30K, but it has feet and it's running wild. I think it's becoming out of control enough to finally end, but who knows. The shit's really hitting the fan for my protagonists.
I have so many stories that need to be written, but I just don't have the time. There are folks out there who pop out five plus books a year, but that's not me. It's a slow process that cannot be rushed. After having a novella rejected a while back, I was given the opportunity to re-write it into a novel. It's not a sure thing as far as being published with said press, but it's something I will be working on as soon as I am finished with one of the two projects I'm currently working on. If I try and take on three projects someone is going to be left in the shopping cart at the store, and I don't want that to happen.
Cheers!
Monday, December 26, 2011
X-mas and Other Stuff
Been a while since I posted here. Shame on me.
Just had a fantastic Christmas. Three days that were so full with family, good food, good cheer, and opening gifts that it's all a blur. The house is still a semi-mess from our Christmas Eve party. My 2 (almost 3) year old son had a blast. Such a drastic change from last Christmas. I hope everyone out there had an equally great holiday.
That being said, I got some cool stuff. Cassette tapes (yes, I still listen to those in the car), Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box (been looking forward to reading that one), clothes and other things too numerous to list. I also got a Kindle touch, something I was almost certain I would never get because I was so adamantly against e-readers when they came out, fearing that their presence would mark the end of the paper book, which, for a variety of reasons, I don't believe is going to happen (that's fodder for another post).
My parents bought the kindle for me and my mother had already had it linked to her amazon page, so it had several books on it. Stuff she reads like Danielle Steele that I'll never read, however two books containing novellas I wrote were on the Kindle. I kept those ones so I could read the other authors (yes, I have print copies, but this is a great way to begin my Kindle experience). I also went on amazon and bought a few books, most of them only a buck. You can't beat that with a dead rat.
I finally read Craig Saunders' Scarecrow from our book Scarecrow and the Madness. An excellent read. Craig has a fluid style and weaves a masterful story of an ill fated meeting with a band of gypsies. I appreciated the bits of humor here and there, which makes me look forward to his Grand Mal release, of which, if I'm not mistaken, is a humorous tale. Craig is a pal of mine, and also a writer who will always be on my radar.
I bid you all farewell. I have a Kindle that needs to be broken in, and there are stories to be written.
Cheers!
Just had a fantastic Christmas. Three days that were so full with family, good food, good cheer, and opening gifts that it's all a blur. The house is still a semi-mess from our Christmas Eve party. My 2 (almost 3) year old son had a blast. Such a drastic change from last Christmas. I hope everyone out there had an equally great holiday.
That being said, I got some cool stuff. Cassette tapes (yes, I still listen to those in the car), Joe Hill's Heart Shaped Box (been looking forward to reading that one), clothes and other things too numerous to list. I also got a Kindle touch, something I was almost certain I would never get because I was so adamantly against e-readers when they came out, fearing that their presence would mark the end of the paper book, which, for a variety of reasons, I don't believe is going to happen (that's fodder for another post).
My parents bought the kindle for me and my mother had already had it linked to her amazon page, so it had several books on it. Stuff she reads like Danielle Steele that I'll never read, however two books containing novellas I wrote were on the Kindle. I kept those ones so I could read the other authors (yes, I have print copies, but this is a great way to begin my Kindle experience). I also went on amazon and bought a few books, most of them only a buck. You can't beat that with a dead rat.
I finally read Craig Saunders' Scarecrow from our book Scarecrow and the Madness. An excellent read. Craig has a fluid style and weaves a masterful story of an ill fated meeting with a band of gypsies. I appreciated the bits of humor here and there, which makes me look forward to his Grand Mal release, of which, if I'm not mistaken, is a humorous tale. Craig is a pal of mine, and also a writer who will always be on my radar.
I bid you all farewell. I have a Kindle that needs to be broken in, and there are stories to be written.
Cheers!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Rooting for the Bad Guy
I just can't connect with any of your characters. I didn't find your protagonist "likable". In the end, I really didn't care what happened to your protagonist. There was no one in this story to root for.
Do you consider any of these things while reading a book or short story? Do you?
I don't.
Perhaps I'm an anomaly, again, but I have no other criteria for reading fiction other than: is this a good story? I don't ask myself whether or not it is a good story because that will make itself clear when I continue to read and enjoy the story. I don't ask questions, I just read. I like well developed characters, of course. That's what makes a story breathe, and if a story can't breathe, people will lose interest. Two dimensional characters can sink a potentially great story quicker than the Titanic. But do those well developed characters have to be traditionally good and evil? Does the "good" character--the protagonist--have to be likable?
I don't think so.
This is a subject I tread upon from time to time mainly because a good portion of my work deals with unlikable protagonists, and I have had my fair share of rejections stating that those very protagonists that one cannot feel sympathy for is just reason for passing on a story. And it is--it's their publication after all, they can reject stories for what ever reason they want to. The question of whether people would read stories based upon something bad happening to an unsympathetic and sometimes evil protagonist turned into the anthology Malicious Deviance, of which hasn't sold very well at all, unfortunately. Maybe the poor sales is the answer to my question. With a subtitle like: Stories About Bad People, perhaps potential customers are being led away for fear that they might enjoy a piece of fiction focusing on characters they don't "like". I'm glad I did the anthology, and, of course, I would love to see it pick up steam, but... That waits to be seen.
The crux of this post, however, is more or less the question of whether the masses could ever divulge themselves in a plot that centered around a person they would scoot away from on a bus or cross the street to avoid if faced with in public? Could the masses enjoy a tale that depicted the struggles of someone who is more than merely flawed, but down right criminal? Or would that type of protagonist have to go through a complete transformation for the story to appeal to the general populace?
It's an interesting question. If one has to be able to "feel" for the protagonist, or "care" about what happens to said protagonists, then I would have to assume that a book centering on a problem and solution in the case of a dastardly man or woman would be very popular within prisons, and, at best, would only be mildly popular in society amongst deviant low-lifes and politicians. But what if the story is beautifully written from top to bottom, and the story, at its core, is one that the majority of people could really enjoy ... if only that damn protagonist wasn't so BAD! Because I love the story, but I HATE that bastard of a main character. How the hell did that slimy snake ever get the lead role in this amazing story in the first place?
Because bad people have stories too. It's as simple as that, yet I don't think that kind of story will receive the popular vote. Although there are always anomalies, and I'm certain there are great examples of this type of tale receiving critical acclaim--I'm just therapeutically spouting off my thoughts here; I really couldn't be bothered with researching such tales, but I will have to do so at some point if for nothing else than to stifle my curiosity.
That being said, I think the idea of writing a story that sympathetically centers on the feelings, trials and tribulations of a child molester, rapist, or deviant of such heinous crimes is not acceptable. But take heed to the wording of that statement. I'm talking about sympathy here. The closing story in Malicious Deviance is a real doozie--one that I almost rejected because the subject matter was so vile, yet after much consideration I realized that the author merely walked to the edge of the taboo pond and dipped a toe, gaining just enough nastiness to create a powerful and thought provoking story about the horrors of human power harnessed and used for evil. There's not a good person in the bunch, but the story works very effectively.
I struggle with the subject of likable characters because so many of mine are heavily flawed. Or maybe I just like writing through the perspective of the bad guy. I'm not sure. I do write a fair amount of traditional stories with likable characters (always flawed, though, because we're all a bit flawed, right?), and I cannot bring myself to consistently write like that, to consciously reject what my mind tells me to write just for the sake of what people generally like. If my story is about a rotten SOB, so be it.
Cheers!
Do you consider any of these things while reading a book or short story? Do you?
I don't.
Perhaps I'm an anomaly, again, but I have no other criteria for reading fiction other than: is this a good story? I don't ask myself whether or not it is a good story because that will make itself clear when I continue to read and enjoy the story. I don't ask questions, I just read. I like well developed characters, of course. That's what makes a story breathe, and if a story can't breathe, people will lose interest. Two dimensional characters can sink a potentially great story quicker than the Titanic. But do those well developed characters have to be traditionally good and evil? Does the "good" character--the protagonist--have to be likable?
I don't think so.
This is a subject I tread upon from time to time mainly because a good portion of my work deals with unlikable protagonists, and I have had my fair share of rejections stating that those very protagonists that one cannot feel sympathy for is just reason for passing on a story. And it is--it's their publication after all, they can reject stories for what ever reason they want to. The question of whether people would read stories based upon something bad happening to an unsympathetic and sometimes evil protagonist turned into the anthology Malicious Deviance, of which hasn't sold very well at all, unfortunately. Maybe the poor sales is the answer to my question. With a subtitle like: Stories About Bad People, perhaps potential customers are being led away for fear that they might enjoy a piece of fiction focusing on characters they don't "like". I'm glad I did the anthology, and, of course, I would love to see it pick up steam, but... That waits to be seen.
The crux of this post, however, is more or less the question of whether the masses could ever divulge themselves in a plot that centered around a person they would scoot away from on a bus or cross the street to avoid if faced with in public? Could the masses enjoy a tale that depicted the struggles of someone who is more than merely flawed, but down right criminal? Or would that type of protagonist have to go through a complete transformation for the story to appeal to the general populace?
It's an interesting question. If one has to be able to "feel" for the protagonist, or "care" about what happens to said protagonists, then I would have to assume that a book centering on a problem and solution in the case of a dastardly man or woman would be very popular within prisons, and, at best, would only be mildly popular in society amongst deviant low-lifes and politicians. But what if the story is beautifully written from top to bottom, and the story, at its core, is one that the majority of people could really enjoy ... if only that damn protagonist wasn't so BAD! Because I love the story, but I HATE that bastard of a main character. How the hell did that slimy snake ever get the lead role in this amazing story in the first place?
Because bad people have stories too. It's as simple as that, yet I don't think that kind of story will receive the popular vote. Although there are always anomalies, and I'm certain there are great examples of this type of tale receiving critical acclaim--I'm just therapeutically spouting off my thoughts here; I really couldn't be bothered with researching such tales, but I will have to do so at some point if for nothing else than to stifle my curiosity.
That being said, I think the idea of writing a story that sympathetically centers on the feelings, trials and tribulations of a child molester, rapist, or deviant of such heinous crimes is not acceptable. But take heed to the wording of that statement. I'm talking about sympathy here. The closing story in Malicious Deviance is a real doozie--one that I almost rejected because the subject matter was so vile, yet after much consideration I realized that the author merely walked to the edge of the taboo pond and dipped a toe, gaining just enough nastiness to create a powerful and thought provoking story about the horrors of human power harnessed and used for evil. There's not a good person in the bunch, but the story works very effectively.
I struggle with the subject of likable characters because so many of mine are heavily flawed. Or maybe I just like writing through the perspective of the bad guy. I'm not sure. I do write a fair amount of traditional stories with likable characters (always flawed, though, because we're all a bit flawed, right?), and I cannot bring myself to consistently write like that, to consciously reject what my mind tells me to write just for the sake of what people generally like. If my story is about a rotten SOB, so be it.
Cheers!
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