Themes and Threads
A shout-out to author Karmela Johnson, who reviewed Trace of Innocence on her blog. She pointed out that my main character, Billie Quinn, was surrounded by one of my trademark posses of oddballs and eccentrics. And that got me thinking . . . I was once accused in a flaming, nasty discussion on an online writing forum, of having an "agenda"--one I'll decline to expound upon here, but suffice it to say it involved child abuse, gay themes, and a few other things this person preferred I not write about. Or if I did, they decided I should have a warning label on my books, like an NC-17 label.
I don't have an "agenda." I'm not, when I write a novel, hitting the keys on my keyboard, thinking, "Let me convert the world into having a posse of gay men, drag queens, alcoholics, and hit men for friends." :-) Though certainly the world might be more interesting if we all did. But there are definitely threads through all my books--whether they're YA or about the mob--and Karm picked up on one of them. I almost always have a cobbled together family. It's rarely the family someone is born into, and is usually a hodgepodge of eccentrics. They always value loyalty above all else, and they intensely love each other, even if sexuality or some other reason means they never go to bed together.
I almost always have heroines who live in a world of gray. Unlike people with actual agendas (I'll leave politics out of this), I don't think of the world in black and white. If a hitman (like the dad in The Roofer) flips a few people off of rooftops, but comes home and cares for his children and tucks them in and does the best he can . . . I have to say he's in the realm of gray. It's where most of us reside, struggling to do right in a complicated world.
And there's always, or nearly always, a point in which my protagonist has to take a leap of faith, because I believe we are all defined not by how we behave on our good days, but at that moment, that dark night of the soul when the hurricane is banging at the door and we have to decide whether to open the door or hide forever.
I guess those are the themes that resonate with me, though there are a lot more. I wonder about you all . . . what themes in books just hit you close to home?
I don't have an "agenda." I'm not, when I write a novel, hitting the keys on my keyboard, thinking, "Let me convert the world into having a posse of gay men, drag queens, alcoholics, and hit men for friends." :-) Though certainly the world might be more interesting if we all did. But there are definitely threads through all my books--whether they're YA or about the mob--and Karm picked up on one of them. I almost always have a cobbled together family. It's rarely the family someone is born into, and is usually a hodgepodge of eccentrics. They always value loyalty above all else, and they intensely love each other, even if sexuality or some other reason means they never go to bed together.
I almost always have heroines who live in a world of gray. Unlike people with actual agendas (I'll leave politics out of this), I don't think of the world in black and white. If a hitman (like the dad in The Roofer) flips a few people off of rooftops, but comes home and cares for his children and tucks them in and does the best he can . . . I have to say he's in the realm of gray. It's where most of us reside, struggling to do right in a complicated world.
And there's always, or nearly always, a point in which my protagonist has to take a leap of faith, because I believe we are all defined not by how we behave on our good days, but at that moment, that dark night of the soul when the hurricane is banging at the door and we have to decide whether to open the door or hide forever.
I guess those are the themes that resonate with me, though there are a lot more. I wonder about you all . . . what themes in books just hit you close to home?
posted by Erica Orloff at 5:02 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks for the shout-out, Erica! It amazes me that for all your books I've read, you've always managed to come up with such compelling secondary characters. I have trouble coming up with compelling LEADS, let alone supporting players! :-) Your books always make me want to literally jump into them and join your characters for a beer. Or a rousing singalong.
Hi Karm:
For whatever reason, the secondary characters always interest me. I think, as a writer, I figure the main character's choice of friends says a lot about them in terms of "show, don't tell" so they are always huge clues into what kind of person my hero or heroine is.
E
Hi Erica,
Last summer, my friends and I decided to sum up in one word what our stories were about. Mine? Family. And like you, family doesn't necessarily mean blood relations, but people who are fiercely loyal to one another and offer support. That is important to me; therefore, it's reflected in my writing.
Great post!
Michele
Geez, Erica - I miss reading for a while, and you put something so beautiful on your blog it brings tears to my eyes. Family is all about those who love with intense loyalty and a lot of times they aren't the people you were born to - you capture that so well, and it is always something I identify with.
Yeah!!
Traci
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