Thanks, Jim! I'm timid about posting these installments. Will Dovedale is the worst character, I think, to ever visit me. His behavior shocks me. His backstory hurts my heart and disgusts me equally. I despise him...and yet, he is my creation. Maybe this is how Victor Frankenstein felt?
Evelyn, thank you for this very thoughtful comment! When I read dark or heavy pieces by confident writers, I so admire their facility with the material. And I’ve written some nasty characters…but I’ve always shied away from this kind of thing in my own stories. For myself, it just always felt too real, too ugly—and I don’t want to sicken readers (at least, not too much). I also don’t ever want to write this kind of material just for shock value. I wouldn’t have written this (or, I’m afraid, some scenes to come), but Will is…a different sort of character than others I’ve created. He just won’t be subtle or polite, and he’s stuck in my head.
I can well understand your nervousness about posting these. Like self-censorship. I'm very much the same with some of the stuff I have posted and some of the stuff I may intend to do. The problem is it's all necessary for the story and without it the story is hardly even half-told and then not worth it. I think it's a fear that the reader might associate us - the writer - with what a character is like. So I am trying to convince myself that the reader is more intelligent than that, and will understand that when one can't portray evil without writing some very dark stuff, and that it doesn't mean the writer is the same.
That's my hope, anyway.
That dark bit in the second half was brilliantly done, by the way. Definitely a sense of dissociative alters there. So I'm guessing he was the subject of trauma in his backstory, as that's how multiple personality arises...
Fantastic one of your best can’t wait for more❤️
Thanks, Dad!
Just beautifully done. Poetic, violent and dark. I can't wait to see more.
Thank you, Jean. Will lives in a dark place. He's...outrageous, horrible.
And you capture him perfectly.
Thanks, Jim! I'm timid about posting these installments. Will Dovedale is the worst character, I think, to ever visit me. His behavior shocks me. His backstory hurts my heart and disgusts me equally. I despise him...and yet, he is my creation. Maybe this is how Victor Frankenstein felt?
Evelyn, thank you for this very thoughtful comment! When I read dark or heavy pieces by confident writers, I so admire their facility with the material. And I’ve written some nasty characters…but I’ve always shied away from this kind of thing in my own stories. For myself, it just always felt too real, too ugly—and I don’t want to sicken readers (at least, not too much). I also don’t ever want to write this kind of material just for shock value. I wouldn’t have written this (or, I’m afraid, some scenes to come), but Will is…a different sort of character than others I’ve created. He just won’t be subtle or polite, and he’s stuck in my head.
I can well understand your nervousness about posting these. Like self-censorship. I'm very much the same with some of the stuff I have posted and some of the stuff I may intend to do. The problem is it's all necessary for the story and without it the story is hardly even half-told and then not worth it. I think it's a fear that the reader might associate us - the writer - with what a character is like. So I am trying to convince myself that the reader is more intelligent than that, and will understand that when one can't portray evil without writing some very dark stuff, and that it doesn't mean the writer is the same.
That's my hope, anyway.
That dark bit in the second half was brilliantly done, by the way. Definitely a sense of dissociative alters there. So I'm guessing he was the subject of trauma in his backstory, as that's how multiple personality arises...
"Her new gown of bruises"....what a line. What a story. Just terrific writing. Each new story is your best. - Jim