Ravens vs. Steelers… Too Much Fun!

Anyone who really knows me knows I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Which means I’m automatically anti-Baltimore Ravens. We’re supposed to hate each other. Or so I’ve been taught ever since moving to this proud-of-purple area.

Bleck!

Yet “Moves and Countermoves” main character Thomas Evans is a Baltimorian born and bred. And he’s a man’s man. So I had to make him a football fan in general and a Raven’s fan in particular. It just made sense that way.

Surprisingly for someone whose eyes narrow and lips purse whenever she sees anything Ravens, I had an absolute blast getting into Evans' head and trashing the Steelers a few times over. That’s especially since I made continuing character Rodney Andiluigi – a definite antagonist in at least the first half of “The Politician’s Pawn” – giving allegiance to Pittsburgh.

Which means I got in a pretty decent dig against quarterback “Big Ben” Roethlisberger at one point. Which made me giggle. Which probably makes me a really bad Steelers fan.

Oh well. I redeem myself in Dirty Politics Book 3: “Amateurs Play Elsewhere.”

Come to think of it, I trash the Ravens in that story more then I do the Steelers in this one. Though that’s not because I’m horribly biased. It’s not even my muse Katrina’s fault.

There would be a few more pro-Ravens comments in “Moves and Countermoves,” except that my darling editor – a New York Giants fan all the way – struck them out as being pointless.

So I tried, boys and girls. If it doesn’t come across that way?

Well, we can’t win ‘em all.

Just ask the Ravens.

Okay. Okay. And the Steelers.

But we still have more Super Bowl rings. Don’t forget that.

Same Story Line, Different Main Character – Totally Fascinating!

In last Wednesday’s blog, I admitted – WARNING: SPOILER ALERT – that I meant to kill Kayla at the end of “The Politician’s Pawn.”

That didn’t happen though. And since I didn’t figure that wasn’t going to happen until the last two chapters, I was left with three possible options:

1.       End the story on an inconclusive note

2.       Write a really, really long book in order to resolve everything

3.       Start figuring out a sequel

As usual with my stories, I didn’t get any say in the matter. My muse took over and chose (i.e., demanded, mandated, put a gun to my head and said, “Do this or else”) that a sequel it would be. Moreover, it was going to be a sequel from blue-eyed, conflicted-bad-boy Evan’s perspective.

I genuinely don’t remember ever consciously making that decision. It just happened. One chapter, I was writing from a familiar female point of view; the next, I was doing my best to think like a guy.

A guy who used to be in the military. And turned to crime. And then grew a conscience again.

Now, I’ve never been a guy, or in the military, or turned to crime. Though I have shed and regrown a conscience a time or two. So I figured this was going to be three-quarters of a major challenge.

Except that it wasn’t. My gun-toting muse (I really should name her if I keep bringing her up. How about Katrina?) was about as benevolent a story-line kidnapper as possible.

The first thing she did was prompt me to start out “Moves and Countermoves” – WARNING: SPOILER ALERT – back in Kayla’s living room after Evans has handed a manila folder full of evidence over. So it rehashes a dozen or two lines of dialogue from the very end of Dirty Politics 1. Only it’s Evans’ eyes we see it all through, and his thoughts we get to listen in on.

Here’s the first thing I discovered writing that same scene from a new perspective: Male and military-trained or not, he’s not nearly as impassive as Kayla thinks he is. And he definitely wasn’t the night before, when – WARNING: SPOILER ALERT – he saved her from becoming another sad, D.C. crime statistic.

Fictional though both Kayla and Evans are, it provided me a rather fascinating example of a real-life truth… that we never really know where another person is coming from. They might be acting badly. They might even be acting in a downright evil manner, in which case they have no excuse.

But they might just have a reason nonetheless. And sometimes that reason is pretty darn heavy.

Just ask Evans. Which you can do as of June 24, when I publish “Moves and Countermoves.”

If This Character Had Listened to Its Author, It Would Be Dead

Major spoiler alert here.

If you’re planning on reading “The Politician’s Pawn,” then go away. Unless, of course, you’re the kind of person who can’t stand edge-of-your-seat possibilities and always skip to the end of your novels to make sure everything ends happily ever after. In that case, keep reading.

Everyone else, you’ve been warned. Here’s the major spoiler…

Main character Kayla was supposed to die at the end of the book. That’s how I intended it to be right from the beginning. I didn’t know how I was going to kill her, but it was going to happen. Why? Because I was sick of politics and politicians, and she and my readers were going to suffer for it.

So there!

I’d like to say that I matured or grew a conscience, or something noble like that. Except that’d be a big fat lie. I had no such change of heart.

Kayla just wouldn’t die.

It wasn’t until the second to last chapter that I realized the stubborn little thing was dead-set on surviving the worst D.C. – and I – had to throw at her. Like a swung election, I had no say in the matter, author or not.

Moreover, I had no say about writing a sequel. As I finished those last twenty or so pages, it dawned on me that the way “The Politician’s Pawn” was going to inevitably end wasn’t going to resolve much of anything. And if there’s anything I can’t stand in the world of writing, it’s a lack of resolution.

So “Moves and Countermoves” was officially begun.

The funny thing is that there’s so much about “The Politician’s Pawn” that was begging for a sequel. I don’t know how I could have been dense enough not to see it until the second to last chapter.

I suppose I was too busy running the show to see where the show was running.

I’m sure my creative muse got a good kick out of that. I can just see her lounging on my shoulder, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“Silly author,” she might have said. “Who said you were in charge?”

Switching From Fantasy to Thrillers – Why Do I Write Across Genres?

I might be working on Faerietales 4, but I’m done publishing fantasy fiction for the year. I’m now switching over to the world of thrillers. Political thrillers, to be precise.

Which means that as of the 24th of May, I will have published Christian fiction, historical fiction, fantasy and modern fiction.

All I need to do is add in some mystery, chick-lit, young adult and sci-fi, and maybe the next “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and I’ll be a mini Barnes & Noble.

Just kidding about “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I have soooooo much more dignity than that. Not to mention talent.

I also don’t have plans to plot out mysteries, not because I don’t like them but because I’m not sure if I have the right type of mind to write that way. More power to those authors who do though.

But other than those two genres, I’m open to whatever the muse strikes me with. And since my particular muse likes to strike me with a whole lot of randomness, that means, in some ways, she’s a lousy one to have.

You see, most authors make a living for themselves by building up an audience. And how do you build up an audience? You appeal to the same people over and over and over again so that they keep buying up each new book that you debut.

Most people do have a particular genre they consistently turn to. Hence the reason why fantasy writers stick to writing fantasy.

Christian fiction writers don’t write anything but Christian fiction.

Historical fiction writers and thriller writers? Yeah… It’s usually the same thing.

My muse, however, apparently isn’t a capitalist. Or maybe she is, but just isn’t the brightest entrepreneurial spirit in the box.

Go figure I’d get a flighty one.

With that said, I cannot wait to tell you more about Dirty Politics 1: “The Politician’s Pawn” next month.

Because as inconsistent as my muse is, she sure can come up with one heck of a story line…