When People Make Me Mad, I Just Murder Them
Lori Soard is visiting me today, and she seems to be in a mood.
This is what she has to say for herself:
Photo Credit: Rune
T via Compfight cc
Links:
And from me:
Lori is a busy woman. She has been helpful to my career with promotion. Thank you, Lori, for joining me today.
It seems like everywhere you go, there is at least one
difficult person to contend with. You know who I mean. That loud person, or
that bossy person, or that downright mean and crazy person can drive you up the
wall. I can overlook all of that, but if you come after me, my family or friends,
I am going to kill you – in my next book.
The Gossip
The gossip appears in a lot of my books. She is a useful
tool to distribute information to my characters. In real life, she often comes
out smelling like a rose, but in my books, she gets called out for her nosiness
and for spreading rumors.
The gossip isn’t actually a character I tend to kill off in
my books. The gossip does die a social death though, as her true nature is
revealed to those around her. Readers often ask me if my characters are based
on real people. While each character is completely unique, bits and pieces are
based on people I’ve encountered. Sometimes, it is simply someone who sat
behind me in a restaurant and proceeded to talk about everyone on her contact
list.
The Sociopath
The sociopath… ahh where to start with him or her. When this
person appears in my books, it is based on a real person. I don’t write and
tell, but suffice it to say that this person hurt me and my family and anytime
I can write her into one of my stories, it adds another layer to the book.
Life is a good teacher and while I’m working hard at
forgiving this person, I am not quite there yet. Therefore, the anger I feel
comes across on the page and my characters experience real emotions. The
sociopath goes farther than the gossip. She doesn’t just call the neighbors and
tell them that she thinks you’re an alien… she sneaks across to your yard in
the middle of the night and plants a space ship there.
This character adds so many layers to a book as the main
character battles the sociopath to survive. The sociopath appears in The Elixir and Dear Viking. The two villains in these books are quite different,
but the underlying psychosis is the same. I usually kill off the sociopath in
my books, but in real life, I’ve simply killed any and all communication,
because that is the only way to survive a sociopath.
The Cheater
I’m fortunate to be married to a wonderful man, but I’ve
seen friends go through infidelity and the pain it causes. I’ve also seen my
daughters’ and their friends deal with heartbreak. The MO of the cheater is
always the same.
We don’t want to kill the cheater. That is too good for him.
We want to make him suffer. If you’ve ever seen the movie with Diane Keaton
called the Ex-Wives Club, then you
know what I mean. Dying is too easy for the cheater.
The cheater appears in my book The Lipstick Diaries. Like the gossip, he dies a social death. If
he cheated on my heroine, then she may get revenge and then kick him to the
curb. Of course, sometimes he didn’t actually cheat at all, as is the case in
that book.
The Mean Girl
You went to school with her. You work with her. She might be
a family member. The mean girl is out for number one. She doesn’t care about
other people’s feelings. She is selfish. She cares mostly about appearance. She
makes a great villain. In my romances, she is usually the other woman that is
trying to grab the hero’s interest. She never wins, because she is a shallow
character, but she can be used to make the heroine realize what she really
wants. You can kill the mean girl if you want, but you don’t have to. She’s
already her own worst enemy.
Writing Is
Therapeutic
Writing is very therapeutic for working through feelings and
difficult situations. I’ve kept journals off and on since I was in third grade.
I almost always work through grief, pain and even joy through the pages of my
books. If I can dig deep and share that sorrow that comes only from losing a
beloved pet or a young cousin and it helps just one reader work through their
own grief even in a small way, then I feel that I’ve accomplished far more than
just writing out my feelings.
Links:
Lori's Bio:
Lori Soard has a PhD in
Journalism but she's hardly the stuffy professor type. She enjoys writing
romantic comedies, such as Finding Ms. Right, gets excited over a good comedy
and has even seen one of her books turned in a Manga comic. When she isn't working
on fiction, she is writing articles, designing websites and promoting authors.
Lori is a busy woman. She has been helpful to my career with promotion. Thank you, Lori, for joining me today.
Comments
I think most of us can relate to having run across a few or all of those personality types. Great post! You've given a fair warning, too.
Thank you for stopping by. Yes, we've all dealt with them and that is why I think they work so good in books. People will instantly recognize the gossip or the villian, etc.
I went and saw a movie last weekend with my best friend called "The Other Woman" and it made me think of the cheater character. In the movie, the women take revenge on the cheater. It is funny and perfect. This is exactly the type of scenario I love to write into a book.
I'm really not that mean. I could put it in a book though.
Marja McGraw
That's great and she is so right in saying that. I think writing out these things is a great way to turn a negative into a positive, too.