Today I am very happy to have Cassiel Knight from Nurture
Your Books Tourz for her blog tour stop. Key of Solomon is the first
book in her Relic Defender Series.
for more details on the author and her books.
Welcome Cassiel!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other day, I was listening to a recording from the 2008 RWA Nationals about evoking emotions. The speaker said something that resonated with me. Not because I agreed with it (parts I definitely did) but because I thought it really spoke to why I write. The speaker said, basically, that people go to movies and read books not for special effects but for an emotional experience. And by emotional experience, she meant characters, not the excitement and thrills you get when things are blown up.
When I say I disagree, it’s not that I disagree with the workshop. It’s completely accurate for those who write character-driven stories. It’s more of the context of how she said it and not so much my interpretation. You see, when I craft a story, sure, I want it to be emotional but I want the special effects too. Same thing when I go to a movie. I want to feel awed, thrilled and amazed. Like watching Avatar. There was a message there. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. But what I loved about Avatar, what caused an emotional reaction in me, was the special effects – the world-building. When I thought about the message, I got it. I didn’t care and I wasn’t looking for it when I watched the movie. Nor is it what I look for when I’ve watched the movie for the 10th time.
Of course, I care about characters. I care what happens to them especially when I’m watching them deal with attacking monsters, transforming machines (call me a Transformers junkie), demons and other assorted menaces. The more action the better. I’ll take some emotion, but that’s not why I read books and watch movies. If you look at my movie collection, you’ll find 80% more action/adventure, alien and horror movies then you’ll find romance.
Not because I don’t like romance. Oh, I do. I love to watch two people find each other even as they battle whatever the writer throws at them. However, I’m happiest when the writers spend more time throwing things for the couple to fight versus slowing down to explore their emotions or find a deeper meaning in life.
I think that’s why Relic Defender: Key of Solomon was rejected as often as it was. Not because it wasn’t a good story or that I was a terrible writer (hey, I have proof I’ve grown as a writer hiding with the dust bunnies under my bed), but because it was more plot intensive than character-driven and romance, if anything, tends to be more character-driven. And that’s okay. It’s just not me.
A close friend of mine, author Susan Lute, writes more emotionally and character-driven romance and I admire her ability to craft stories that tug at the heart strings. She’s great at it; it seems to suit her even as she’s spreading her writer wings and wrote a paranormal romance about dragons. I haven’t read it but I suspect, even being paranormal, it’s still much more of an emotionally driven story than I write. Again, that’s great but it’s not me.
In fact, book 2 of the Relic Defender series, The Death Skull (you can read the first chapter by visiting
(www.relicdefender.wordpress.com), is already starting out to be more action oriented than the first one. Sure, the characters have their issues and emotions which they’ll have to deal with – while they are fighting dictators, evil demons and a soul-sucking succubus.
This is why I write, read and watch movies. For the thrills, chills and explosions. Might make it harder for me to find a place shelved strictly under romance. I’m okay with that. And I’ll bet I find readers who are okay with that too.
How about you? Are you a character-driven or plot-driven reader?
