10 Ways You Know It Was Written By Me
I read this over on Fangs, Fur, and Fey. It seemed cool and interesting, so here's mine.
1) THERE ARE GUNS, LOTS AND LOTS OF GUNS.
Really, my books are pretty violent. I love guns and use them often in my writing. They are not the answer to everything, but when in doubt, shoot the damn thing.
2) THE MONSTERS ARE MONSTERS, DAMMIT.
It us against them folks. Humans against all the ooglies and the booglies. If you are a monster in my book then you will have no redeeming quality whatsoever. Evil is as evil does. No sensual, romantic, tortured monsters here, just evil on epic levels.
3) THE HERO IS LARGER THAN LIFE.
He just is. I am bigger than almost anyone you will ever meet (6'4, 340lbs). I relate to it. My hero will be bigger and stronger and faster, than a normal human.
4) THERE ARE MORE LYCANTHROPES THAN JUST WOLVES.
Any kind of animal can show up as a strain of lycanthropy. And shapeshifters covers a lot more than just lycanthropes. And lycanthropes are not always monsters, in fact, they are human the majority of their lives, at least they usually are.
5) ALL BETS ARE OFF AS TO WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES.
I'm with Joss Whedon in the that if noone ever dies then nothing matters. You can go into any fight without a sense of true danger and a lack of danger is boring. I kill my characters. They live in a deadly world after all.
6) IF YOU DIE IT WILL NOT BE BORING.
Again, my characters live in a world of fire, and blood, and monsters. Nobody dies in their sleep. Nobody dies of old age. In my book a death by gunshot is natural causes.
7) NO MATTER WHAT MYTHOLOGY I PULL FROM IT MUST FIT IN A WORLD WHERE GOD AND THE DEVIL ARE REAL.
Like it or don't, I don't care. The world I have built has a God and all that goes with it. My characters hold belief in God. Now, what that means for them is different that what you may have learned in sunday school.
8) MY WOMEN ARE HOT.
Just like the hero is larger than life, there are no plain women in my books. It is fantasy, and I am a man, and I know beautiful women exist in this world. I am married to one.
9) I WRITE FROM A MALE POINT OF VIEW.
I know a lot of this genre is written by women writers and has female main characters. Not me. I am a man, I am very male, and I write from a very male perspective. No it's not degrading or demeaning to women, I wouldn't do that to women. I wouldn't write them as lesser. I'm actually referring not to relationships like that, but the way the main character veiws everything in his world, from other people, to conflict, to food, to his car. He's not a barbarian or a brute, But at the end of the day, my main character will be a man because that is what I know.
10) MY BOOKS ARE SET IN THE SOUTH.
I was born and raised in the south. I love the south. Plus it gives me the freedom to write about monster truck driving vampires who live in trailer parks. White trash werewolves and zombies who survive on brains and grits. Sweet tea and country music are the fuel for my writing. Y'all come back now, but polish your crucifix before y'all do.
1) THERE ARE GUNS, LOTS AND LOTS OF GUNS.
Really, my books are pretty violent. I love guns and use them often in my writing. They are not the answer to everything, but when in doubt, shoot the damn thing.
2) THE MONSTERS ARE MONSTERS, DAMMIT.
It us against them folks. Humans against all the ooglies and the booglies. If you are a monster in my book then you will have no redeeming quality whatsoever. Evil is as evil does. No sensual, romantic, tortured monsters here, just evil on epic levels.
3) THE HERO IS LARGER THAN LIFE.
He just is. I am bigger than almost anyone you will ever meet (6'4, 340lbs). I relate to it. My hero will be bigger and stronger and faster, than a normal human.
4) THERE ARE MORE LYCANTHROPES THAN JUST WOLVES.
Any kind of animal can show up as a strain of lycanthropy. And shapeshifters covers a lot more than just lycanthropes. And lycanthropes are not always monsters, in fact, they are human the majority of their lives, at least they usually are.
5) ALL BETS ARE OFF AS TO WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES.
I'm with Joss Whedon in the that if noone ever dies then nothing matters. You can go into any fight without a sense of true danger and a lack of danger is boring. I kill my characters. They live in a deadly world after all.
6) IF YOU DIE IT WILL NOT BE BORING.
Again, my characters live in a world of fire, and blood, and monsters. Nobody dies in their sleep. Nobody dies of old age. In my book a death by gunshot is natural causes.
7) NO MATTER WHAT MYTHOLOGY I PULL FROM IT MUST FIT IN A WORLD WHERE GOD AND THE DEVIL ARE REAL.
Like it or don't, I don't care. The world I have built has a God and all that goes with it. My characters hold belief in God. Now, what that means for them is different that what you may have learned in sunday school.
8) MY WOMEN ARE HOT.
Just like the hero is larger than life, there are no plain women in my books. It is fantasy, and I am a man, and I know beautiful women exist in this world. I am married to one.
9) I WRITE FROM A MALE POINT OF VIEW.
I know a lot of this genre is written by women writers and has female main characters. Not me. I am a man, I am very male, and I write from a very male perspective. No it's not degrading or demeaning to women, I wouldn't do that to women. I wouldn't write them as lesser. I'm actually referring not to relationships like that, but the way the main character veiws everything in his world, from other people, to conflict, to food, to his car. He's not a barbarian or a brute, But at the end of the day, my main character will be a man because that is what I know.
10) MY BOOKS ARE SET IN THE SOUTH.
I was born and raised in the south. I love the south. Plus it gives me the freedom to write about monster truck driving vampires who live in trailer parks. White trash werewolves and zombies who survive on brains and grits. Sweet tea and country music are the fuel for my writing. Y'all come back now, but polish your crucifix before y'all do.