Sometimes, just when you need it to, something lovely comes along...
You know, I think there is a fine line when you're a writer, between simply being tickled by something, and self-indulgent squeeing and self-promotion. I'm very much afraid this post is going to drift over into the second category, and I'm not nearly as ashamed of that as I should be. But I'm having an "OMG you guys" moment, (thank you, Legally Blonde; the Musical).
Whenever you write something, and create characters, of necessity I think, you fall in love with them. When I was writing "Grand Jete'", the characters were very clear to me. I knew Jordan (actually, I know Jordan; he's based on a very dear friend) and I knew Davis. Davis is sort of an amalgamation of people I've known over the years, but as I wrote him, he emerged to me as a very real person. So, we love our characters, and we want everyone else to love them, too. That doesn't always happen.
I had one reviewer for 'Beautiful Forever' write that she didn't think any of the characters had particularly redeeming qualities. There was a moment of 'ouch', because I loved the main protagonist, Brady, but being fair, I could see what she meant. Lucien is a hundred and fifty year old vampire who is lonely, and therefore selfishly zero's in on Brady for companionship, and Tess, the main antagonist dressed up as a best friend is... well, antagonistic. And Brady, bless him, is hopelessly naive. So, I got her point. I didn't like it, but I got it.
But today, I read this absolutely lovely review of Grand Jete' at Queer Magazine Online, and it just made me smile because the reviewer so 'got' the characters. When that happens, man, let me tell you; it makes it all worth while. All of the beating of the head against the keyboard, and the kvetching and angsting. No character, at least none of mine, are born easily. You try to imbue them with depth and personality, and make them real, and you never know if you hit the mark or not. What made me so happy about this review was that, for this reviewer at least, she saw Jordan and Davis as I saw them, and that was enormously satisfying. So, without further ado, before I segway off into my own personal Sally Field moment, here is the link to the review:
Review of Grand Jete' by Nerine Petros
Now, back to finishing the extraordinarily complicated tale of the hunky homicide detective and the very cute medium who 'talks to dead people'. Nothing convoluted about that! *g*
Whenever you write something, and create characters, of necessity I think, you fall in love with them. When I was writing "Grand Jete'", the characters were very clear to me. I knew Jordan (actually, I know Jordan; he's based on a very dear friend) and I knew Davis. Davis is sort of an amalgamation of people I've known over the years, but as I wrote him, he emerged to me as a very real person. So, we love our characters, and we want everyone else to love them, too. That doesn't always happen.
I had one reviewer for 'Beautiful Forever' write that she didn't think any of the characters had particularly redeeming qualities. There was a moment of 'ouch', because I loved the main protagonist, Brady, but being fair, I could see what she meant. Lucien is a hundred and fifty year old vampire who is lonely, and therefore selfishly zero's in on Brady for companionship, and Tess, the main antagonist dressed up as a best friend is... well, antagonistic. And Brady, bless him, is hopelessly naive. So, I got her point. I didn't like it, but I got it.
But today, I read this absolutely lovely review of Grand Jete' at Queer Magazine Online, and it just made me smile because the reviewer so 'got' the characters. When that happens, man, let me tell you; it makes it all worth while. All of the beating of the head against the keyboard, and the kvetching and angsting. No character, at least none of mine, are born easily. You try to imbue them with depth and personality, and make them real, and you never know if you hit the mark or not. What made me so happy about this review was that, for this reviewer at least, she saw Jordan and Davis as I saw them, and that was enormously satisfying. So, without further ado, before I segway off into my own personal Sally Field moment, here is the link to the review:
Review of Grand Jete' by Nerine Petros
Now, back to finishing the extraordinarily complicated tale of the hunky homicide detective and the very cute medium who 'talks to dead people'. Nothing convoluted about that! *g*