August 24, 2009 07:34:14
Posted By The Write Editor
Relationships.
 
They are the driving force behind great acts of courage and daring as well as the most heinous crimes man can imagine. They bring out the best in us and challenge us to greater heights. They bring out the worst in us and dare us to violate our core values.
 
Sex. Power. Control. These are catalysts for forming and merging relationships. And then there’s love. We can’t help but dive into a relationship head first when we’re crazy in love.
 
Society runs on relationships—an economic stimulus no government can manipulate. Our country is strong when godly relationships surge. But when relationships are built on greed, mistrust, deception, our country suffers and stumbles.
 
A successful relationship, no matter if it’s business or personal, formal or familial, is built on one simple principle our mothers taught us when we were toddlers: To have a friend, be a friend.
 
Enough said.
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Categories: values, power, greed, Relationships, love, hate, society, government, economics
 
September 14, 2008 10:15:53
Posted By The Write Editor
Last week I talked about what kind of book characters touch me: “I want characters who feel deeply. I want to feel what the characters feel, see what they see, smell what they smell. I want them to take risks, to go to the edge—and over. I want to go over the edge with them, to experience everything the main characters experience—except sweating. (I hate sweat—that’s why I don’t read or watch Westerns.)”
 
Some characters who attach themselves to me are those who, if they were real people, I probably wouldn’t be friends with because we don’t share a vital core value. But some characteristics, skills, or talents they have resonate within me. These characters make me think about how I react to life, to others, and to situations.
 
Character number 1: Lieutenant Eve Dallas, homicide detective in futuristic NYC, created by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts). Eve is a complex person. She comes across as tough, confident, and totally lacking in people skills. And when it comes to her work, she is. She examines the crime scene, analyzes the evidence, and interrogates with finesse—doesn’t mess with the good cop, bad cop routine. She’s tenacious, going against all odds to solve the murder.
 
Though she struggles with relating to people—even those she considers friends—she knows how to read criminals; she understands their baseness, which feeds her cop instincts and lets her always get her man, or woman. It is in her struggle with relations that we see her weakness, her curiosity of relationships between family members, friends, and lovers. She is always surprised when someone loves her for who she is—warts and all—and doesn’t always know what to do with the affection.
 
Character number 2: Kinsey Millhone, private detective, created by Sue Grafton. Kinsey is a loner—independent and self-sufficient. We can count on one hand those she considers friends. When she’s on a case, like Lt. Dallas, she doesn’t let go. She will not give up until she solves the case. Also like Lt. Dallas, she struggles with relationships. She holds back part of her heart, doesn’t trust others with it. Yeah, she’s been burned a few times, but even before that she never felt secure enough to open herself up to others. Her parents died when she was a young girl, and she lived with an aunt, estranged from the family, who didn’t really want the responsibility of raising a child. This contributes to her holding back, but she never (so far) learns to let herself fully love.
 
I’ll continue next week with more examples and a wrap-up of what I’ve learned from these characters and what I don’t like about them.
 
Tell me about your favorite characters!
 
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Categories: characters, empathy, fictional, Kinsey Millhone, Lt. Eve Dallas, J.D. Robb, Sue Grafton, values
 

 

 
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