Surprised Laura Hale – by Jon ‘ShakataGaNai’ Davis
At the risk of earning a permanent place on Santa’s naughty list, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done (as a writer) to one of your characters?
31 thoughts on “Confess and Tell Us Your Worst”
I recently left someone floating face-up in a fountain…I thought this was a new move for me until I remembered the old man who was murdered and used as fertilizer…oops!
Dastardly, Julie. And you look so sweet.
In Aztec Midnight, drug cartel goons kidnap the protagonist, Jon Barrett, and steal the knife his late father gave him.
Bad enough he’s abducted, but they steal a precious irresplaceable family heirloom. NICE!
Me?
Little Brittany tattled too much. She ended up an organ donor. Neener neener
I once had a teenage daughter of my protagonist kidnapped and held hostage by the bad guy, and treated pretty horribly. For which I got one scathing review that said this demonstrated “violence against women.” I guess that never happens in real life.
No wonder so many authors of the past have turned to drink.
I’ll drink to that. Cheers!
Do these people understand the meaning of the term “fiction”?
I know, right? And reality.
Now you’re speaking my language. In my latest, Wings of Mayhem, I skinned the victims from the neck down, leaving only the face, and then separated the ribcage from the sternum and peeled them back to create wings. Posed the victims in various poses and stuck a black feather between two ribs, jutting from their back.
Nice to see you have an artistic eye, Sue. Well done.
My detective had a female client, whose father is kidnapped. The detective recovers the father, then the antagonist kidnaps the client. While recovering his client the detective shoots the antagonist.
Just don’t kill the one paying the bills, Tom. Good rule of thumb.
In my WIP I have an eleven year old boy with type 1 diabetes shipwrecked on a tropical island full of giant man eating lizards.
You’re a man after my own heart, Dave. As if man eating lizards aren’t enough, you give him type 1 diabetes. Naughty naughty.
We’re a pretty twisted group here at TKZ. No wonder I feel so at home.
In a story that turned out to be not very polished, I had a character I really liked. A young Mexican man, thin with long, straight black hair who led a small gang in a southwestern town. They rode around in low rider Chevys playing loud music and selling dope. His name was Doroteo Arango, which happens to be Pauncho Villa’s real name.
His personality was nothing like you might expect. He had gone to college, in fact held a Master’s degree from an Ivy League university in Library Science. But he couldn’t get a job so he joined the street life.
He had a clever, self-deprecating sense of humor and never took himself too seriously unless you owed him money. I had a great time crafting his personality so that it was different than expected, yet fit who he was.
When I killed him off, I grieved for a week. The whole megillah from shock to acceptance. I still miss him.
Wow, Brian. I love this.
I had one of my victims sexually violated…after she was murdered.
OMG! (evil laugh)
Does getting stabbed in the neck with a canapé fork count? My perpetrators are usually very genteel but when you have to do what you have to do, you turn to what’s handy…
I’d say…very practical, Clare. Indeed .
She was arrested–got caught dumping best friend’s body in the Everglades.
What are besties for?
Oh, gosh. Reading these posts makes me feel better about being so ruthless and bloodthirsty. In my thriller Shock and Awe, characters get shot, beat up, tied up, cut up, blown up, and infected with a horrific bio-weapon that causes excruciating pain and agonizing death. And that’s just the physical part. I also put my poor characters through tons of good old-fashioned emotional hell.
All in a day’s work…. 🙂
I love how you think, Michael…workin 9 to 5.
A little girl started dragging her younger brother into the bay via a rope around his neck while an older man saw it happening and then walked away.
Hard to believe you could write something like this, Sweet Joseph. Bwah Haa HAAAAA!
In my WIP I sadly made my protagonist O. D. on sleeping pills while antagonist pointed a gun at her lover’s head.
I recently left someone floating face-up in a fountain…I thought this was a new move for me until I remembered the old man who was murdered and used as fertilizer…oops!
Dastardly, Julie. And you look so sweet.
In Aztec Midnight, drug cartel goons kidnap the protagonist, Jon Barrett, and steal the knife his late father gave him.
Bad enough he’s abducted, but they steal a precious irresplaceable family heirloom. NICE!
Me?
Little Brittany tattled too much. She ended up an organ donor. Neener neener
I once had a teenage daughter of my protagonist kidnapped and held hostage by the bad guy, and treated pretty horribly. For which I got one scathing review that said this demonstrated “violence against women.” I guess that never happens in real life.
No wonder so many authors of the past have turned to drink.
I’ll drink to that. Cheers!
Do these people understand the meaning of the term “fiction”?
I know, right? And reality.
Now you’re speaking my language. In my latest, Wings of Mayhem, I skinned the victims from the neck down, leaving only the face, and then separated the ribcage from the sternum and peeled them back to create wings. Posed the victims in various poses and stuck a black feather between two ribs, jutting from their back.
Nice to see you have an artistic eye, Sue. Well done.
My detective had a female client, whose father is kidnapped. The detective recovers the father, then the antagonist kidnaps the client. While recovering his client the detective shoots the antagonist.
Just don’t kill the one paying the bills, Tom. Good rule of thumb.
In my WIP I have an eleven year old boy with type 1 diabetes shipwrecked on a tropical island full of giant man eating lizards.
You’re a man after my own heart, Dave. As if man eating lizards aren’t enough, you give him type 1 diabetes. Naughty naughty.
We’re a pretty twisted group here at TKZ. No wonder I feel so at home.
In a story that turned out to be not very polished, I had a character I really liked. A young Mexican man, thin with long, straight black hair who led a small gang in a southwestern town. They rode around in low rider Chevys playing loud music and selling dope. His name was Doroteo Arango, which happens to be Pauncho Villa’s real name.
His personality was nothing like you might expect. He had gone to college, in fact held a Master’s degree from an Ivy League university in Library Science. But he couldn’t get a job so he joined the street life.
He had a clever, self-deprecating sense of humor and never took himself too seriously unless you owed him money. I had a great time crafting his personality so that it was different than expected, yet fit who he was.
When I killed him off, I grieved for a week. The whole megillah from shock to acceptance. I still miss him.
Wow, Brian. I love this.
I had one of my victims sexually violated…after she was murdered.
OMG! (evil laugh)
Does getting stabbed in the neck with a canapé fork count? My perpetrators are usually very genteel but when you have to do what you have to do, you turn to what’s handy…
I’d say…very practical, Clare. Indeed .
She was arrested–got caught dumping best friend’s body in the Everglades.
What are besties for?
Oh, gosh. Reading these posts makes me feel better about being so ruthless and bloodthirsty. In my thriller Shock and Awe, characters get shot, beat up, tied up, cut up, blown up, and infected with a horrific bio-weapon that causes excruciating pain and agonizing death. And that’s just the physical part. I also put my poor characters through tons of good old-fashioned emotional hell.
All in a day’s work…. 🙂
I love how you think, Michael…workin 9 to 5.
A little girl started dragging her younger brother into the bay via a rope around his neck while an older man saw it happening and then walked away.
Hard to believe you could write something like this, Sweet Joseph. Bwah Haa HAAAAA!
In my WIP I sadly made my protagonist O. D. on sleeping pills while antagonist pointed a gun at her lover’s head.
Wicked torture. It’s our job.
all is well…that ends… Well?