Brace yourselves kids, lyn can't sleep, and that means crazy ramblings.
I got a feedback form-mail for Claris recently that said basically 'I like your story but why is everyone crazy?' I don't really think my characters are all that nuts. Some of them are more 'out there' than others (Sean and Donovan being obvious examples; Lucius and Delilah are kind of unhinged too, but they're on the opposite spectrum), but in my (admittedly limited--I am only eighteen after all) knowledge of people, no one is really sane. I don't know anyone I would classify as normal, and my definition of normal is a person who never does or says or thinks anything that would strike anyone else as odd. In other words, a person who is utterly dull. My mother, for example, is what my brother calls 'a tool', since she eats up even the most obviously emotionally manipulative TV and movies. But she's still crazy, in her own Mom-way.
Most people I know are 'crazy' in some way, and if I know you, I don't mean that as an insult. I mean that as saying that everyone I know has something--and usually a lot of things--that would cause others to think maybe they're a little bit mad. For example, I have a sincerely religious friend, and by this I mean, she takes the Bible VERY literally. Some people might think that she is a little bit mad for these beliefs. The fact is that everyone is kind of crazy, and in fact if you ever MEET someone that seems dull and sane, then chances are that person is actually a serious fucking psycho.
However, I know writers that create characters who are cruel bitches or whores or whatever in an attempt to make 'real' or 'human' characters. In my (again, limited!) experience, no one is actually that nasty. Yes, some people treat others like crap. But at the same time they're kind to other people, and at their hearts ninety percent of people THINK they are good human beings. And if not good, at least in some way noble or elevated. The world is full of sick people yes. But most people aren't that bad. They're just crazy.
Which is OK, because we all are.
I try to reflect that in my characters.
(I hope this post made something resembling sense. perhaps i will edit it after I have done the sleep)
I got a feedback form-mail for Claris recently that said basically 'I like your story but why is everyone crazy?' I don't really think my characters are all that nuts. Some of them are more 'out there' than others (Sean and Donovan being obvious examples; Lucius and Delilah are kind of unhinged too, but they're on the opposite spectrum), but in my (admittedly limited--I am only eighteen after all) knowledge of people, no one is really sane. I don't know anyone I would classify as normal, and my definition of normal is a person who never does or says or thinks anything that would strike anyone else as odd. In other words, a person who is utterly dull. My mother, for example, is what my brother calls 'a tool', since she eats up even the most obviously emotionally manipulative TV and movies. But she's still crazy, in her own Mom-way.
Most people I know are 'crazy' in some way, and if I know you, I don't mean that as an insult. I mean that as saying that everyone I know has something--and usually a lot of things--that would cause others to think maybe they're a little bit mad. For example, I have a sincerely religious friend, and by this I mean, she takes the Bible VERY literally. Some people might think that she is a little bit mad for these beliefs. The fact is that everyone is kind of crazy, and in fact if you ever MEET someone that seems dull and sane, then chances are that person is actually a serious fucking psycho.
However, I know writers that create characters who are cruel bitches or whores or whatever in an attempt to make 'real' or 'human' characters. In my (again, limited!) experience, no one is actually that nasty. Yes, some people treat others like crap. But at the same time they're kind to other people, and at their hearts ninety percent of people THINK they are good human beings. And if not good, at least in some way noble or elevated. The world is full of sick people yes. But most people aren't that bad. They're just crazy.
Which is OK, because we all are.
I try to reflect that in my characters.
(I hope this post made something resembling sense. perhaps i will edit it after I have done the sleep)
posted by lyn at
7/01/2002 12:27:00 AM
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