Everyone has some core need to protect This is so true in life and in writing. It’s like that old Robin Williams quote: “This is the line of death. You cross it, you die. imitates crossing the line OK, this is the line of death. You cross it, you die.”

It’s that line that we – or our characters – will not cross, the core aspect that defines them or that feeds the lie they tell themselves and/or others. And then it’s just how far will they go to protect it or even to perpetuate that lie? What – if anything – will make them finally give it up.

Ohhhhh. Good stuff.

Sherry and Meredith – really, really love your books. I’m extremely psyched for a summer with the both of you.

LOL. Get used to it. This place might change looks regularly. Although the layout shouldn’t change much. And welcome to the new blog.

This place looks different. I’ll have to nose around a bit to get used to it.

I like the latte art and the fountain pen, though….

I like the fact that we both jumped to different conclusions immediately.

I do too. It goes to show that ideas can go in myriad directions.

As somebody once put it, “A lot of clowns are alcoholics, you know? Doesn’t mean they’re not really good at being clowns.”

(Okay, so maybe no one actually said that…)

LOL, Meredith Duran has said it. It has I think been pointed out that a lot of famous comedians have died of tragic overdoses. Humor is often a mask…

It’s looking at the past from the inside out before making judgment.

That’s a really good way of putting it. Maybe that is also why I have a strong preference for primary documents when it comes to research (an activity I do not love). With newer books, the author’s contemporary perspective is inserted in, and for me at least, it often acts as an antidote to the magical pull the past can have. Not sure if this makes sense, but there you have it…

I actually do find myself unable to really dig into my characters without a primary source to piggyback from. I don’t feel I shall do them justice unless I view them through their “eyes” rather than looking back through the filter lens of my eyes. Particularly when it comes to male/female relations. The dynamics were completely different, yet in some manners the same, which enriches a romance set in a particular setting. It’s looking at the past from the inside out before making judgment.

Maybe you could ask what kind of comedy could emerge from these same backstories?

Exactly, that’s precisely the stage I’m at. As somebody once put it, “A lot of clowns are alcoholics, you know? Doesn’t mean they’re not really good at being clowns.”

(Okay, so maybe no one actually said that…)

Figuring out what they’re lying about seems like the key to unlocking them.

I tend to be just as interested in what they are lying to themselves about as in how they are deceiving others. That can be tricky to write when I want the reader to realize things the characters won’t admit.

I want to write a more light-hearted romp this time around, and I keep coming up with these back-stories that are all gloom and psychological doom. Aargh.

Maybe you could ask what kind of comedy could emerge from these same backstories? I forget who it was who said that comedy is just tragedy with perspective.