So Long, Ross
Over the last few months I’ve been revising (re-writing) an as-yet-to-be-published novel called Reston Peace. It was originally entitled Come Undone, but like many things, there have been changes.
As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, this is my third version of this novel. It focuses on Kenny Reston, an adult survivor of incest. His story becomes a case study in a book about sexual abuse, and that book proves so popular that it gets optioned as a movie. So, Kenny watches as his life is translated into entertainment.
In the original version of the story, Kenny not only has to deal with an incestuous relationship with his mother but also with the physical brutality of his stepfather, Ross. Ross is the worst-case scenario of a stepparent – prone to physical violence – and partway through the novel he loses it and kills his wife in a murder-suicide.
In other words, very melodramatic. Not that these tragedies don’t happen, but I kept finding that Ross’s presence was becoming a distraction from Kenny’s story. I was spending more time on his cruelty than on the sexual abuse. Initially it was meant as a social smoke-screen: the characters in the novel could recognize Ross’s terrible nature and its effect on Kenny, but somehow overlook the clues to the sexual abuse.
But this third time through the story, I jettisoned Ross altogether, and reinstated Kenny’s birth father, who has a very different temperament and purpose in the story. Ross’s departure gave me more room to focus on the important points of the story and not to get sidetracked into masochistic writing.
For a while, I considered reducing Ross to a fabricated character in the screenplay on Kenny’s life, something the director and screenwriter decide to make up to fit the needs of their story. In the end, I decided that Ross needed to leave the stage entirely. I recognize that I wrote the character from a very different viewpoint years ago, and he no longer serves a useful purpose in Kenny’s story.
So, so long, Ross. May you find peace and rehabilitation before you step on stage again.
As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, this is my third version of this novel. It focuses on Kenny Reston, an adult survivor of incest. His story becomes a case study in a book about sexual abuse, and that book proves so popular that it gets optioned as a movie. So, Kenny watches as his life is translated into entertainment.
In the original version of the story, Kenny not only has to deal with an incestuous relationship with his mother but also with the physical brutality of his stepfather, Ross. Ross is the worst-case scenario of a stepparent – prone to physical violence – and partway through the novel he loses it and kills his wife in a murder-suicide.
In other words, very melodramatic. Not that these tragedies don’t happen, but I kept finding that Ross’s presence was becoming a distraction from Kenny’s story. I was spending more time on his cruelty than on the sexual abuse. Initially it was meant as a social smoke-screen: the characters in the novel could recognize Ross’s terrible nature and its effect on Kenny, but somehow overlook the clues to the sexual abuse.
But this third time through the story, I jettisoned Ross altogether, and reinstated Kenny’s birth father, who has a very different temperament and purpose in the story. Ross’s departure gave me more room to focus on the important points of the story and not to get sidetracked into masochistic writing.
For a while, I considered reducing Ross to a fabricated character in the screenplay on Kenny’s life, something the director and screenwriter decide to make up to fit the needs of their story. In the end, I decided that Ross needed to leave the stage entirely. I recognize that I wrote the character from a very different viewpoint years ago, and he no longer serves a useful purpose in Kenny’s story.
So, so long, Ross. May you find peace and rehabilitation before you step on stage again.
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by
LaRita
(new)
Mar 25, 2014 05:52PM
Maybe you can write a story about Ross....like why he is so violent...what happened in his life to make him that way..why continue the violence toward his son/family and why killing his wife and committing suicide seemed a better option...
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That's definitely a possibility. Thanks.
