Favorite themes
Are there real life reasons why you have favorite themes, characters, scenarios and plots?
I like to explore people who have had a traumatic background overcoming their issues to lead a normal, or at least functional, life. This is likely at least on some level due to my own struggles with PTSD, and my desire to prove that it is possible to be a functional being in spite of whatever life has thrown at you. That's pretty much the basis for Val's story. Characters like Hans who have allowed their past to make a monster of them, and now seek redemption - allow me to explore whether it is possible to have a dark side that once consumed you and come back from that. I think that is because I have known so many people who went over that edge and didn't, and because at one time I was very close to that edge myself. I want to know if redemption once you have passed a certain point of social deviance is possible. Abuse also figures somewhat prominently in my stories, whether it's physical or emotional. Dysfunctional relationships with parents and significant others. Those are also likely due to my own issues with such.
As for a change of POV, It's hard for me to ever write a true villain, one with no hope for redemption or redeeming qualities. Even the bad guys in my stories have their own set of motivations and are usually acting out of a feeling of rightness or entitlement that stems from their own issues, more than any true evilness. It would be difficult for me to write a character who hasn't had any traumatic events because I think that most lives have at least one. The protagonist I am exploring for my nano story this year is going to be actively experiencing his life-changing event through the story though. That's fairly new - most of my characters have those traumatic events happen in the past rather than the present. So Iggy's going to be a bit of a difference in that way.
I like to explore people who have had a traumatic background overcoming their issues to lead a normal, or at least functional, life. This is likely at least on some level due to my own struggles with PTSD, and my desire to prove that it is possible to be a functional being in spite of whatever life has thrown at you. That's pretty much the basis for Val's story. Characters like Hans who have allowed their past to make a monster of them, and now seek redemption - allow me to explore whether it is possible to have a dark side that once consumed you and come back from that. I think that is because I have known so many people who went over that edge and didn't, and because at one time I was very close to that edge myself. I want to know if redemption once you have passed a certain point of social deviance is possible. Abuse also figures somewhat prominently in my stories, whether it's physical or emotional. Dysfunctional relationships with parents and significant others. Those are also likely due to my own issues with such.
As for a change of POV, It's hard for me to ever write a true villain, one with no hope for redemption or redeeming qualities. Even the bad guys in my stories have their own set of motivations and are usually acting out of a feeling of rightness or entitlement that stems from their own issues, more than any true evilness. It would be difficult for me to write a character who hasn't had any traumatic events because I think that most lives have at least one. The protagonist I am exploring for my nano story this year is going to be actively experiencing his life-changing event through the story though. That's fairly new - most of my characters have those traumatic events happen in the past rather than the present. So Iggy's going to be a bit of a difference in that way.