The right to destroy lives

When I was at my RWA (romance writers of America) meeting a few months ago where we talking about the dreaded synopsis (for which, on an aside, we were given this sage advice; "synopses suck. Make yours suck less.") For those who wandered by here and are not writers the synopsis does indeed suck and is indeed dreaded so much time is devoted among writer groups and pages to these horrid little things. Somehow we got off the subject, as I often do, and we started to talk about conflict and destroying your characters lives. Where else can you do this with so little backlash?

I say try it even for those that are not writers. Take a person in your head (not talking multiple personalities or other psychosis here. I mean a fiction character.) think about what they hate the most and then make them do it. Find their biggest weakness and then exploit it. You could never do that in reality to your boss or mother-in-law. So do it on paper. How freeing. You've developed the right to destroy lives. And people wonder why I write?


Song of the day-- Long Trip Alone, Dierks Bentley. Incredibly lovely and romantic. Country without the yee-haw.


Quote of the day-- Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

Iris Murdoch, British novelist (1919 - 1999)



Amber