NAKED WRITING: Get Messy

Recently, I read The Representative, a political romantic suspense by Matt Minor. An excellent debut novel, but what I like most is that John David Dothan, freshman representative in the Texas Legislature, leads a messy life.

I quickly become bored with PERFECT story people–perfectly good, perfectly smart, perfectly evil, perfectly spiteful–you get the picture. Most of us in real life are not so carefully chiseled.

Yes, we should draw our characters succinctly, but focal characters, I think, need wiggle-room in their motivations.

When I study a menu, I’m motivated by how hungry I feel, what I want to spend, whether I feel sad and need comfort food, whether I feel like celebrating and deserve a treat and, if I’m dining with others, how much I want to impress them. Seeing my messy front yard, I weigh my guilt at neglecting it with my desire to finish the book I’m writing.

John David Dothan wants to do a great job as State Representative, but he’s plagued by feelings for three women– and he doesn’t want to be the guy who can’t control his passions.

Life gets messy.

In my own debut novel, Bitch Factor, 1998, Dixie’s desire to lock away bad guys conflicts with her desire to spend Christmas with her family. It galled her to know the man who killed Betsy was running free while the family sat with an empty chair at the Christmas table this year.

Dixie’s feelings mess with her decisions—but readers will relate to your heroes more if you show the strong passions that mess with their lives. Equally important, characters with strong passions make us better writers as we decide how they’ll deal with their messy lives.