My Confession
Okay, so I can confess. I am in love with Anthony Bourdain. Not quite in a stalker way, but he's definitely my celebrity crush.
It's serendipity that I was planning on blogging about him when the Gabwagon (link at right) also was doing a post about heroes.
You see, Anthony could very well be a character in one of my books. The love interest. I don't have "hero" love interests. Mine are messy. I can go back through my books and not one is a typical swoon-in-love kind of guy.
Spanish Disco? Big reveal of a handicap at the end of the book.
Diary of a Blues Goddess? Completely penniless Irish bluesman who doesn't have a pot to piss in. Secondary love story is an African-American trannie and her closeted white boyfriend who is a foot shorter than her.
Billie Quinn series? First love interest is a convicted felon. For rape/murder. Second a Japanese detective who doesn't talk much.
Freudian Slip? Apparently angels are impotent.
Blood Son? The guy is half-vampire.
See a pattern? Yeah. Neither do I. Except that they are flawed. Like Anthony. But in a good way. An interesting way. Anthony drinks too much, smokes too much, is brilliantly clever. I would like to have his baby. Failing that, I'd like to talk about "Black Death" (from one of his shows).
Why do I like flaws in an industry that often creates "perfect" heroes and heroines? Because I never quite believed all that knight in shining armor crap. I am not waiting for someone to rescue me. I can rescue myself--and have. I don't NEED someone to "complete me" (thank you very much, Jerry Maguire). I am WHOLE. So I would prefer someone EQUALLY whole. Someone I can lift a shot of Black Death with and converse. I don't care if he drinks to much or smokes to much--is he smart? Funny?
In short, I think I have a lot of anti-social heroes. Guys on the cusp of really dropping off the map, slipping back into junkie status. Something. But they intrigue me.
My confession is over.
Celebrity crushes? And do they make it into your books somehow? Men? Are your main characters sleeping with Pamela Anderson (she frightens me)?
Confession time.
It's serendipity that I was planning on blogging about him when the Gabwagon (link at right) also was doing a post about heroes.
You see, Anthony could very well be a character in one of my books. The love interest. I don't have "hero" love interests. Mine are messy. I can go back through my books and not one is a typical swoon-in-love kind of guy.
Spanish Disco? Big reveal of a handicap at the end of the book.
Diary of a Blues Goddess? Completely penniless Irish bluesman who doesn't have a pot to piss in. Secondary love story is an African-American trannie and her closeted white boyfriend who is a foot shorter than her.
Billie Quinn series? First love interest is a convicted felon. For rape/murder. Second a Japanese detective who doesn't talk much.
Freudian Slip? Apparently angels are impotent.
Blood Son? The guy is half-vampire.
See a pattern? Yeah. Neither do I. Except that they are flawed. Like Anthony. But in a good way. An interesting way. Anthony drinks too much, smokes too much, is brilliantly clever. I would like to have his baby. Failing that, I'd like to talk about "Black Death" (from one of his shows).
Why do I like flaws in an industry that often creates "perfect" heroes and heroines? Because I never quite believed all that knight in shining armor crap. I am not waiting for someone to rescue me. I can rescue myself--and have. I don't NEED someone to "complete me" (thank you very much, Jerry Maguire). I am WHOLE. So I would prefer someone EQUALLY whole. Someone I can lift a shot of Black Death with and converse. I don't care if he drinks to much or smokes to much--is he smart? Funny?
In short, I think I have a lot of anti-social heroes. Guys on the cusp of really dropping off the map, slipping back into junkie status. Something. But they intrigue me.
My confession is over.
Celebrity crushes? And do they make it into your books somehow? Men? Are your main characters sleeping with Pamela Anderson (she frightens me)?
Confession time.
posted by Erica Orloff at 5:12 PM
12 Comments:
Erica, Pamela Anderson scares me too.
My celeb crush is Johnny Depp. Love the Pirate movies. Why is he my crush? Cause he's talented, intelligent, and flawed.
My characters are flawed. I so enjoy reading about characters who are flawed. That's what makes them "real", don't you think?
Hi Kathy:
Flawed is far more intriguing. I would have to say that I overlook a lot in the name of genius--the single thread running through all my main characters and their love interests is brilliance.
E
In my first WIP, my protag is a one-legged thief and his love interest is a 1000 year old blind witch.
In my current WIP one of my protags is a socially inept computer geek with deep seated issues of commitment and trust. The other is a tattooed biker with a slight lycanthropy problem.
Flawed is good for fiction... not sure how well that works out in real life though. Its not like we're all perfect. Most of use hide our flaws on the inside and hope people don't notice.
The real question that I am trying to answer is this: are our flaws truly flaws? Or is it only a flaw because it makes us different? Or is it only a flaw if we choose to make it a wrong, thereby making it a flaw?
Could it be that flaws are just that part of our individuality or uniqueness that falls outside of the bell-curve of acceptability?
Hmmm... *goes off to ponder*
ewoh:
I think when you reach the glorious part of your journey through this life, where you realize everything that has happened occurred for a reason and brought you to this point, there is an amazing moment of acceptance of "flaws" and a moment of self acceptance.
E
E,
That sounds an awful lot like Jung's Journey of the Hero... but, yanno, in a good way :)
Take away all the artifice and story and just "be" with yourself. By accepting yourself you can finally accept others because there is no difference anymore.
ewoh:
I've never read that, oddly enough. I am a big Viktor Frankl fan. And Thich Nhat Hanh.
But yes. A viewing one another with compassion.
E
See, I get tired of talk about making sure our characters have flaws, and I love the way ewoh said it. I can't recall ever reading a romance that featured a character who was perfect, who didn't have strengths and weaknesses (and isn't that a better way to describe it? Much less like examining fruit *g*).
And Erica, I never read one of your books and thought there was anything out of the ordinary about your love interests. EXCEPT, in Knockout, it wasn't who we thought it was, and I love that. I guess that says more about me as a reader than about you as a writer. :)
As for celebrity crushes, yes, I always have them, and they don't USUALLY make it into my work. But The Passion of Tanner Black is total personal fantasy inspired by Orlando Bloom, and the book I wrote in November had two heroes who are inspired by Sam and Dean of Supernatural and therefore look like Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles.
But those are aberrations. My celebrity crushes usually don't make it into my books for the same reason I don't cut out pictures of my characters--they don't exist anywhere outside my head.
Katie Holmes has my number. I'm expecting a call any day now, when she's finally done with geek boy. :)
Ewoh: Carl Jung is one of my long-time heroes of the 20th century. What a fabulous mind he had. It's scary, really, how in touch with the human psyche he was.
Erica: Frankl is one of my new-found heroes. Just astounding.
>>I don't NEED someone to "complete me" (thank you very much, Jerry Maguire
A to the MEN!!! hehehe
Celebrity crush? Angelia Jolie. I don't deliberately attempt to match celebs to my characters but sometimes it's nice to fit a face to a person. Yes I've used her but not deliberately and it was more attitude than looks, though she did resemble my heroine.
Natalie:
>And Erica, I never read one of >your books and thought there was >anything out of the ordinary >about your love interests.
Well . . . I don't know what to say to that.
E
I have a crush on the character of Det Julip Sanchez from The Closer. He's a chauvenist, crass and probably not always loyal to his wife ... the sin, the terrible sin!
I also love Bobby Flay. I based one of the men in Switchcraft on him.
Mary
Well . . . I don't know what to say to that.
I know. *feels miserable* It's totally NOT a dis! It's a compliment, although I don't know how to say it that doesn't sound like the opposite.
I guess what I'm saying is that I seek books with characters who are unique and fully developed, which means they're the norm in my reading world, which makes your unique and fully developed characters not unusual, though they're not like any other characters I've ever read.
Does that make any sense?
If I think about it harder, I guess I'm slightly defensive at the huge jab at an industry I love:
Why do I like flaws in an industry that often creates "perfect" heroes and heroines?
It's a generalization that I don't see, which is probably because I seek...blah blah blah...and I don't read the books that might fit into that description (quoted).
To say you "fit in" is not what you want to hear, I expect, but to me, you do. At least, in the books of yours that I've read.
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