Open Question for those who write from the dangerously curious reader

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Seeley wrote: "...Readers range from ardently supportive (Like Hugh!) to flippant, petty and mean at a ratio of 10:1. (Meanies in the minority.) ..."

That's a good thing right?

[Seeley]

I, Curmudgeon wrote: "Seeley wrote: "...Readers range from ardently supportive (Like Hugh!) to flippant, petty and mean at a ratio of 10:1. (Meanies in the minority.) ..."

That's a good thing right?"

Yes!

Peace, Seeley

[Janny]

I, Curmudgeon wrote: "First, thank you for posting the link to your snake story! I'm not too peachy keen on the bathroom buddies, but it's a great story! (autobiographical even).


Fair's fair, here's the link to mine..."

Hugh, sorry for the delay getting back to your post - I had a 'horse emergency' late Sunday night, and it's been a round the clock job - the mare is FINE now, and needing less care/she will be fine - if you have EVER seen a horse choke on feed, it's HORRIFIC - they won't suffocate like a person would, but it's truly a mess - this one required vet assistance to clear/and the inflammation afterward required great care in feeding her to be SURE she wouldn't have a repeat experience until the tissues heal. So I've been run off my feet with little rest/and no presence of mind to pay this post the attention it deserves.

To answer: the 'tired old trope' - is that many books written in the past 50 years or more - by contemporary authors - are being re-examined today with a magnifier/then taken apart with a politically correct vengeance as 'being sexist' - and so very many were! I say tired old trope because the number of books being damned in hindsight is getting 'tired' - there were plenty of books that were NOT skewed at all/or were written to buck the system - some were noticed and given lots of buzz - far far more disappeared without a trace OR, due to the skew in SALES/what was popular - were never bought or published to start with.

So: the tired old trope I was referring to was the tendency of late to take Any book and look for sexist leanings, whether that is there or not. Some readers are vehement about this/some just shrug - to each their own. To my ear (occasionally) the soapbox 'opinionation' has gotten somewhat shrill. While the point is often valid, it's like damning in hindsight/does the present picture little good - I still see some very lovely books ignored for the SAME REASON....so that is why the trope of comparisons is 'tired' to me - I'd rather focus on current books getting it RIGHT and enjoy older stories for what they are When they are good stories and the skew isn't ridiculous/polarized enough to throw me out of the storyteller's enthrallment. I often read my father's books, all my life - all that action adventure stuff - and I've still got a soft spot for books we shared, and ones he'd have liked, written by the newer generation of thriller authors writing (mostly) a tale spun for men. Those books aren't tired - it's the soapbox hoopla going on. Does that clarify?

Now with the 'trope' thing outta the way - to the meat of your interest: do I deliberately set out to put 'themes' in the story? (you mentioned about 5 relating to being human/there are a lot more attached to other things - some readers see them/some slide by)

No - I don't set out to 'do this' or create a story to illumine such tangles of human nature - I create the story FIRST and then characters step in - and THEN the human issues take the stage.

This character in THAT circumstance will run headlong into THIS but of human nature - and out comes the whole living color issue - because it WILL be something that I've observed, or that bothered me/made ME ask deep questions or get enraged - I am not my characters, not a bit - but their passions are going to be reflections of every sort of thing I may have observed/puzzled over/pondered - good AND bad. The fair face and the shadow of the underbelly - what drives us to do the things we observe/and what behaviors stem from what?

I have always liked to probe many sides of an issue and it's natural to write from that standpoint. We all have known, or seen, the 'Bertarras' in their social setting - and mostly she's the butt of jokes/not taken seriously/the intrusive PIA - but - the very qualities that make her what she is - there is JUST the right degree of genuine humanity and heart - in the right circumstance, that huge, pushy curiousity and loud-mouthed opinion is going to be bang on what's needed - in the right setting, ANY PERSON could step up and have the qualities of the hero.

And many qualities that 'make' the traditional hero, in the wrong setting, makes them the fool or the criminal...I like showing multifaceted characters, and given that I don't view them onesidedly, often they'll step up and deliver the heroic surprise that Bertarra surely did - even when, admittedly, her histrionics in the second chapter WERE meant as comic relief - and all she spouted off, distorted and disruptive as it was in That setting - still was based on a grain of real truth.

[Christopher Ruz]

Honestly, it's impossible for me not to write. Maybe it was being raised in a family of storytellers that trained me this way, but I couldn't imagine writing a story and not distributing it. It's the act of sharing a story that makes it worthwhile, and to pen an entire novel and not let it out into the world... Well, it makes me shiver a bit.

[C.E.]

Iwrite because I want to see the kind of stories I tellout there. I enjoy writing them... But to be honest, if someone else did it, i'd probably have just stuck to reading, watching b movies and xboxxing.

[Dave]

Writing is another form of inventing and creating, albeit in a less tangible form. By education I'm a scientist and engineer, and my professional career has been about inventing new technology related to alternative clean energy. In writing, I can apply that background but not have to accept the often frustrating limits imposed by present-day technology. I can "invent" as quickly as the ideas coagulate into coherent thought. That's fun. Add in an engaging plot, interesting characters, and events that transpire the way I want them to ... who wouldn't find that enjoyable!

[James]

My stories rely heavily on actual experiences in my professional life, from being harassed by Russian and Cuban agents to being seized at gunpoint twice to foiling a coup d’état to assisting the Afghan mujahidin, to working in a Secret Service presidential protection detail. My books therefore rely heavily on authenticity. So much so, that my latest thriller, "Havana Queen," was denounced twice by the Castro propaganda machine in the last three days alone.

This is what makes me want to write. I've had three Amazon bestsellers so far and lots of media attention.