Dastardly Deeds Done with Deliberation
* - “What they up to, Ter?” The Captain asks the gunner. “Looks ominous…”
* - “Oh, it’s wicked! They are comparing dastardly deeds done to main characters.” Terrio shakes her head.
* - “Ones they wrote or read?” Hel takes Terrio’s tankard and empties it. Terrio is too shaken to object.
* - “Both!” Terrio sniffs, wanting more drink but not wanting to approach the bar again.
* - A moment later shouting begins on the deck as Sin yells, “That’s nothing! I done worse!”
* - Chance bellows a reply, “Ya lily livered ninja lover, yer a flat faced liar, ya are! I done the most despicable thing…”
* - The two begin to circle, Sin reaching for her throwing stars. Chance draws her cutlass, preparing to block the nasty little throwers.
* - “Stow them weapons!” Hellion shouts out, jumping to the main deck. Marnee and Lisa come running at the commotion. “I just had the Sunday hottie swab the deck, and we be low on shamwows!” She turns to Terrio – “Remind me to order more shamows…”
* - The pirates separate the two combatants. At hearing of the controversy, a contest begins. Who can name the darkest dastardly deed, done deliberately.
Ahem. Yes I’ve done the dastardly deed again and again in my writing. I’ve taken worlds and shattered them with merciless deliberation. I may not have the finesse to do all this with emotions and subtle weapons, but I yield my big hammer with deadliness.
Not sure what it is about the fascination a good disaster. (Good disaster?) Well, a bad disaster holds for me. From a rough capture and…dare I say it…yes, I will. A rape…yes. Well…ahem…it challenges my characters to show more character (sorry) than they have before. The potential to prove themselves, to rise above the deed, whether they did it or had it done to them, is pure drama.
After they spend some time twisting in the wind with self doubt and inner turmoil, of course.
I am an action oriented author. I like it in my movies, I like it in the books I read. (Though with television, I like witty dialogue. Go figure!) But watching the world crumble under merciless meteors, rising waters, evil minions…I dig it all. Armageddon? Bring it on!
The opportunities for growth are endless. Least that is my take on the situation. But it has to serve a purpose, done deliberately to move the story along, to give rise to heroic deeds… Hard as it is to subject my characters to it all…
Though, after destroying California in my pirate saga, the rest came easy…
So, me maties…what made ya shiver as ya read, as ya wrote? Did ya chuckle as ya took yer stalwart hero and tortured ‘im? Murdered his children? Scolded his dog? Were it dark in the night when ya rubbed yer palms tagether ta plan the destruction of everyt’ing the heroine ‘olds dear? Why did ya do these terrible things? Did they serve a purpose? What scenes ‘ave ya read that made ya wince in sympathy, shake yer ‘ead, figurin’ this was something they’d never surmount? Any dastardy deed fill ya with anger, no purpose ta it? Let’s ‘ear all the grisly details now!
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67 comments:
Morning all!
I think we HAVE to do nasty things to our characters. That book from yesterday (Manuscript Makeover. I swear I'm totally plugging this author.) claims that one of writing good fiction is that an author should never run from a good fight. We shouldn't let our inner peace-maker keep us from letting them duke it out, letting them work out their problems.
And the more "dastardly deeds," the more conflict. That's a good thing.
Worst thing I've done in my writing? I had the the heroine of my first WIP accidentally kill the man who murdered the hero's first wife. As the hero needed him to prove he didn't kill his first wife, this was kinda a big deal.
It all worked out though....
And I just realized I just gave a major spoiler to my own book. LOL! We'll have to delete this if I ever finish this thing. :)
I love that she asks if we killed the children but only scolded the dog. LOL! Never kill the pet! (That's another of them rules thingies...)
I haven't technically done anything too terrible to my characters yet. I do have my hero nearly run over my heroine with a car. But it was her fault, even if she doesn't see it that way. And calls him lots of names.
I do have planned to do something dastardly, but dastardly to me means breaking their hearts. My heroine has issues with men leaving her. Abandonment issues that carry over into a deep seated belief that she's not good enough, lovable enough, just enough to keep any guy. So, when she finds *the one* (our hero) and is just about to jump off that cliff and believe this one is going to stick, she sees her best friend tiptoe out of his apartment in the early morning hours. In the same clothes she wore the night before.
Don't know if that qualifies as dastardly, but it sure will be heartbreaking.
Good Morning Chance and Revenge crew! I am feeling a bit under the weather today, so I may keep my visit short. Caught the nasty cold from my DH, who now is NOT on my good list! I find it hard to write this part of my story, I think I am such a softy I have a hard time writing the blood,guts and gore. I can do a great argument betwen H & HH, but I have not been able to do harm to anyone, YET! ( I may to my DH, if I dont feel better soon!) I think when you have the ability to do this in your writing it is so much more effective, Like Marnee Jo said, the more conflict the better! Ok, Im off to find a box of cold medicine or a bottle of brandy!
Mornin' y'all.
Chance, I couldn't wait to sign in.
I love action. I love writing the car chase, and the villians and evil, evil ways. So this is a blog after my own heart.
My first fully finished adventure has the heroine going after a Columbian drug lord. (I'd just finished watching Blow, so sue me.) All is cool until she gets car jacked. Then her car putters out - she later finds out it was a bomb that just fizzled instead of blowing. Then she goes after a lackey who almost kills her partner (bullets are deadly y'know?) then she gets into this car chase on the streets of South Beach and her new car blows up. Then the bad guy kidnaps her, does very very bad stuff to her, rapes her, slits her wrists and leaves her for dead. She dies but she comes back. It was fun to write. Challenging in first but fun. :)
Hands down, my favorite dastardly deed scene is when Davy Jones stabs & kills Will Turner in the third movie, JUST after Will & Elizabeth get married and we're all hoping for their HEA.
My 2nd favorite, the beginning of that same movie, when DISNEY opens their movie with a hanging--and they hang a KID! Come on! (But talk about setting a tone.)
In my own stuff. I'm not that mean to my characters. I mean, I shot Ben. But I did finally let him live at the end. (I mean, I did wonder about it for a while if it would make for a better story if he died.) In my first draft of Lucy's story, I had him fall in love with God's Purest Soul--and then I killed her just as he admitted his love for her. Him begging her not to leave him. (Very dramatic, soap opera worthy.) But I'm sure that's common. I haven't lopped off states into the ocean or anything.
I like killing people off. I like killing people off who are really important to the main POV. I'm a writer sadist.
In my paranormal, my POV has a sister, who is stronger than she, who's not afraid to use her power to get what she wants and destroy everything in her path. My POV finds her sister demolishing a village and this first time that they meet, my POV realizes the village is very familiar. It isn't until she sees the obvious. Her sister has come back to kill their mother and then kill her.
So my POV is faced with a tough decision right off the bat. Does she kill her mother and give herself a chance to kill her sister. Or does she run away and not look back. It's very fun to write those instances. Those scenes. My pov in this book is so scattered, so controlled and being in present day and she's used to her own world, it's so weird to write and experience things for the first time.
In Sadie's book, her sister was murdered. Then her father dies. Her sister runs off and leaves her daughter with Sadie. Her cousin betrays her. Her company lays in ruins. Sadie loses her cool and almost gets killed. It's awesomeness all around.
Hey! California died for a good cause! I needed my heroine to be absolutely free of family and everything she knew as home. It creates a vacuume in her life that is massive. And so she has survivor guilt up the whazoo...and doesn't think she is safe to love...and...
It all works out beautifully. For everyone but California, I suppose...
Marnee - That's a good twist. She destroys his key witness. Not bad. Not dastardly, but bad, in a good way.
I think my favorite dasterly deed is in Lover Eternal when Rhage has to give up Mary. And mustn't see her ever again or she will die. In exchange, Mary will live and never remember anything that happened. And it kills him. And it kills you to read it. I remember thinking my heart couldn't take it. It was just so incredibly sad. He was desperately destroyed at the thought of never seeing her face ever again. Or loving her. Or being with her.
Chance - yeah, SHE wasn't dastardly, but I felt pretty dastardly for doing it to her. LOL!!
Terrio - Ah! Now that is a good one... Best friend betrayal ranks pretty high. Nasty. No murder or mayhem, though. But a shattered heart be a difficult thing ta face. Well done.
Jane-O - We work on yer nasty streak. I know ya got one in there. Think 'bout yer son's broken engagement and it will come ta ya... Some nice bit of monkey-wrenching ta screw things up...
And I warned ya not ta bring the kitties aboard today lessen ya arm them! There goes that undead monkey after 'em!
Which brings me ta Sin. Ah, a pirate after me own heart. Killed the heroine, all right! Now, that be a nasty hard ta rise from. Though ya did it. She ain't a vampire, is she? (I always think that sorta cheats the killing off the good guys thing...)
But sounds like ya got the hang of the blood and guts issues... I was expectin' nothin' else!
Sin -AHHHH!!! That was dastardly. I thought it was dastardly that Ward gave her cancer in the first place. And then when he's yelling at her to get away from him because he wants her to go on living, even if he can't have her?! Oh my god.
*dies*
Oh, and Terrio - I actually do kill the dog in several of the novels.
Bwahhahahahahaha!
Cap'n! - Yer right, when Davy Jones kills Will, twas a brilliant bitter twist. Jus' the sort of dastardly deed that gives rise ta great gestures. Jack surrendering the chance ta be immortal so that Will can live, sorta. A delightful bit of drama. Very un-Disney like. I keep worryin' they gonna bring a kid inta the movies...
I also believe in killin' the kids if it moves things along...
OK, I put Love Eternal on me list of possible reads. I love a good bit of inner conflict and death.
Marn - Ya gots ta feel some dastardly-ness ta do the deed well. Now, I destroyed California with nary a tear, but when Miranda finally goes back ta see the memorial at the Sierra Mountains for the dead...I balled. So did she.
The key is knowing, or bein' close ta knowin' why yer doing this terrible thing.
I don't like the deeds done without purpose. Or dressed up as worse than 'tis jus' ta shock the reader/watcher.
The contrived dastardly deed has some merit, like when Bolt saw Penny hugging his replacement. But it can't last long or it just frustrates the movie goer.
No. My heroine was a plain ole Jane. Very very accident prone. Very hard to kill off. I wanted to kill her to show my hero that he couldn't live without her but the bitch wouldn't die.
My hero got the point though. He sat out to kill who started the mess in the first place. He even left her behind to go after them. She ended up getting drug back into the mess in the second round of the adventure. His ex came back and pulled my heroine into it so she could get her kid back from the villain. Then my heroine found out she was pregnant and had to hide the fact to keep herself safe and then the ex of my hero kidnapped her, got them both almost killed but my heroine got her own satisfaction when she got to kill her villain from the first adventure.
Then the second adventure villain almost killed them both; but SWAT came to the rescue in the nick of time.
My paranormal heroine won't be easy to kill. She won't go down without her soul but she'll kill a lot of people standing in her way.
Hel - I wanta read the Lucifer stuff. Sounds awesome. Killing God's purest soul off, wonderful! Lots a' dastardly there. That Lucy fell fer 'er, that be nicely dastardly.
I also liked the scene in Amadeus when Mozart was driven ta create the music that kills him. A delightful bit of nastiness from Salieri.
When Buffy had ta kill Angel right as Willow gave 'im back his soul. That was really nice...
I will never be able to sleep comfortably on this ship ever again. One eye open at all times!
Y'all are just mean. Man...
Sin - Hmmmm. The bitch wouldn't die? But you made your point. Hee, hee.
The best part of havin' a villain do something really dispicable is lettin' the heroine get 'er own back. I do delight in killin' rapists...especially in the worst way. Bleedin' ta death by havin' their prick cut off is one of me favorites. Or having it crushed and since this is the 1700's, dying from sepsis or somethin' like that.
Ah, the man who killed the dog gets 'is, too!
Sin - of all the terrible, horrific things that happened to your characters in those two books, the thing that killed me the most is still when he admits to her that he was listening the whole time...god, I can still see that scene in my head years after I read it.
Oooh! When the hero doesn't step in as some awefulness is done... Nice...
Best done when stepin' in would save the battle but lose the war. But tell that ta the dead soldiers! Or their widows! So he waits...
And then hangs despondent with guilt up to his neck 'bout the whole thing.
That be a conflict of awesomeness...great drama. Sounds like a winner in me book, Sin!
I love doing horrible things to characters - it builds empathy (or at least, that's the justification I use to do it!) In my last MS, my hero was orphaned at twelve, and taken in by this wonderful family. Then as an adult he ended up directly responsible for his adoptive father's death, and spends the whole book desperately seeking redemption.
In my current MS, the h/h are married and insanely happy and expecting their first baby. Then the villain comes in and destroys everything. They're ripped apart - he thinks she betrayed him, so hates her. She thinks he's dead, and she's been struggling on her own. Six years later, their thrown back together and forced to fight the same villain, but they have no idea who is on who's side. It's awesome! lol
Terrio - That be what the rum is for. Ta help ya sleep. We'll find a nice simple story ta soothe ya to bed tanight... OK?
Aye, Hal - Empathy is a good motivation. There also be pure stubborn meanness. I kill of Miranda at one point, have a man who loved her do it.
Course, she didn't stay dead. Ran an errand for Death ta get 'erself back. But Sagit didn't know that, all he knew was he broke the neck of the woman who carried his son... Fabulous chance her 'im ta build character!
I love the idea of not knowing who the good guy is and the bad guy...and makin' it doubly hard by having some massive personal catastophe be the point at which doubt rises. Sounds like a good story, Hal!
This reminds me of the sucky and suckier thing Deb Dixon talks about. Figure out how to make your characters' lives sucky. Then make it suckier. LOL!
In one WIP idea I have, the hero helps a damsel in distress along the roadside, changes her tire, and then learns she's on her way to the island where he lives. He really likes her. When he gets home to the island, he meets her again. She's his brother's fiance.
Again, not really dastardly, but not all that nice.
But a good sucky thing to happen. For the purpose of the WIP, that is!
Mayhap the real dastardly stuff waits for paranormal adventure. And thriller stuff. Though the bitter bits do fit in all genres...nevermind!
The difficulty with the real big disasters, the earthquakes, volcanoes, astroids... To do it right, you need some scientific basis in real life. Lessen ya write with a paranormal bent.
But the car crash, the random act of violence, the fire, flood...all of those work nicely to challenge the good guys.
And the bad guys...I can see that...
Ouch. That would kinda suck, Ter.
See, I don't write para or suspense, so cars blowing up and gunfights and characters dying only to come back again really doesn't fit. LOL!
But y'all sound really good at this. And if this helps ya get the violent tendencies out in a healthy way, I'm all for it. LOL!
Sin - I'm good at suck and I can get close to suckier. But that suckiest where death is involved, I really don't go there.
Although, I do kill a secondary character. It's by heart attack, but it's still killing him, right?
Hal, I'd sorta forgotten that I did that to him. LOL But now that you say something about it... I can remember just what I was thinking when I was writing it. "How in the hell is he going to know what she just went through. He's can't just be sympathic because of her outside wounds, but how can he know."
I pondered about it for a while. Walked away and when I came back, it just seem to come out on page and I thought, "Oh, that's just awful." I almost erased it.
I think I was more shocked how the beginning of the second story started in his POV. It was much more emotional for me writing it through him.
Aaaah Yea! I am WAY out of my league with these pirates, But I know who to turn to if I need advise on killing someone off!!! Figuratively of course!
My theory , I have enough drama in real life, I just want to have peace in my writing, well and lots of great sex to! What..... it is romance right??
Those cats dont listen at all around that monkey, I think he likes them, hmm I wont go there!
I am resorting to Kaluhua and coffee, something needs to kill this cough!
Terrio - Escapism works however you write it. No espionage or world killing for you? Great! The messy situation carry enough dastardlyness to work for you. I like some messiness mixed in. Nothing like messiness to screw things up in a comic fashion. And heart attack is dastardly, trust me!
Jane-O - I still think ya be on the verge a' bein' an erotica author...
Sin - That overhearing the dastard was written in his POV? Ooooh! I want to read this!
Don't ya love when ya shock yerself? If'n ya do that ta yerself, what will ya do to the unsuspectin' reader? Whoohoo!
LOL! I was just going to ask if Jane writes Erotica.
No espionage for me. Just ordinary people dealing with everyday PITA stuff like a boss who has a strict policy against mixing business and pleasure. Grounds for immediate termination. Then the heroine (who works for this lady) falls in love with her client (the hero). So, does she choose her career (which she's worked really hard for) or the hero (who is another man who will likely leave her in her mind)? Not the toughest decision in the world and no bombs or anything. Just ordinary stuff.
Ordinary be what the world is made of, Terrio.
See, ifn' that were my plot, the dastardly boss would end up falling out her chair, against a window and plummetin' 30 stories to the ground below. To land on the heroine's car. Solvin' one problem, but creatin' another!
I think the difference is - internal conflict, created by internal forces and internal conflict created by external forces.
Miranda has problems 'afore CA is destroyed, but it all cascades when CA is gone.
Maybe it be about finding focus... Or forcing yer H/H to focus... Hmmmm, food fer thought.
It be early, but anyone want some rum? I gotta go get me cheerios!
Chance, I wrote the first chapter of the second adventure in the hero's POV back from the point where he finds her almost dead on the concrete floor with a puddle of her own blood surrounding her like a death halo. Then after that, he leaves her in the hospital to follow a lead on someone who was connected to the bad guy. He gives him his just desserts. Chops off his fingers, gets a shark into a blood frenzy and then throws the guy in the tank after the hero gets what he wants out of the bad guy. It was fun to write. The heroine could never have done such a thing but he did it with little to no thought of the consequences.
Sin - I like the shark twist. I like those kinds of things where the villain gets his/her comeuppance through a kind of secondary way. And those ways are never quick.
It's almost noon. I say, any time is a good time for rum.
I'm with Terri. Sucky I can handle. Dastardly I not only cannot write but usually cannot even read. I did read Anne Gracie's Stolen Princess even though AG poisoned the puppy, but I didn't forget the poor puppy.
Even though external conflict is very limited in my books, I think my black moments work. My conflicts are relational and internal, but I am convinced that for many of us the greatest darkness we confront is the darkness within ourselves.
Chance - That boss isn't really a villain. She's out of town for most of the book and has no idea what is going on in her absense. It's just an old policy that comes into play in this particular case. It all works out in the end. And no chairs or cars will be hurt in the process. LOL!
Janga, I love it! Sometimes the darkest of black moments are caused within and not by something that is externally done. (Even if the externally done is a trigger for the inner darkness, I still figure that's an internal dark moments- emotional dark moments are the hardest to fix, I think.)
Dastardly deeds got layers! Who knew?
Jango - Welcome aboard!
Is it the personal dastardly ya don't like? Or all dastardly? I admit, it be harder to write the personal dastardly, where the villain does something super nasty. Like hook the heroine on drugs...
But there also be the impersonal dastardly. What of the car crash? The earthquake? (me favorite!) The storm?
Aye, persons who poison puppies must die. Period.
The darkest moments are always internal, I agree. It's jus' how ya get there. How ya see 'em react ta the dastardly, be it jus' a dastardly thought or a dastardly deed.
Errr. scenario. Pardon me, maybe I puts the rum away...
You know, we talk about death and bombs and torture as being these terrible things, but I think the most angsty, gut-wrenching book I ever read was SEP's "It had to be you" (yes, you knew I was going to bring it up again!) where external conflict all revolved around who would win a football game. The stakes don't have to be life-and-death, they just have to be important to that particular character. And a character's heart is always important to them. Viola, sucky and suckier!
Aye, a shark tank, that is inspired. I also like the fallen inta an open septic tank and drowning scnerio...
Might be noon fer you! It be 9ish fer me!
Ter, I just thought it seemed really dirty to kill someone that way. Especially when they were still living and breathing; but my fingers said that was the way to do it. LOL
Mayhaps the difference between sucky and dastardly is in the level of disaster. A dastardly always sucks, but a sucky isn't always dastardly.
I feel like I be creatin' a whole new vocabulary!
Be the key word deliberation?
A misunderstanding is sucky.
A set up so the heroine sees her best friend leaving her lover's apartment is dastardly.
The friend having slept on the couch because she was drunk and he wouldn't let her drive home so late at night is a misunderstanding, and it sucks.
Now we are talking Rum, Kaluha and coffee! I should feel better by the minute! LOL!
What? A lady adds a little "spice" to her writing and she is deemed an erotica writer. Well..... I wasnt getting anywhere writing that sweet little historical! So I added some excitement to it! Well not chopping off someones head excitement, but you know more pleasurable aspects! LOL!
This is a little off subject (sorry chance I know how that irritates you hehehe)One of you wrote last week about a guy who would come and change your tire at three am and how that is romance to you. Heres one...
My husband just drove twenty miles in the middle of the day for no reason, to bring me a box of tea and a bottle of vicks vapor rub,because he was worried about me being sick! Now thats a romantic... or he is desperate to get me well for ummm.... ya I am going to nap now!
Janga - My sister in the internal world. You say that so perfectly. I'm all about the heartbreak. Not so much the broken bones. Though the broken bones can lead to heartbreak, that's true.
My characters have more trouble with emotional scars and trying to live with them. Trying to stuff them down until they won't be stuff down anymore. Insecurities are probably my greatest friends. LOL!
Mr. L wins the sweetie award for today! I'm sure there was no ulterior motive at all...LOL!
See? I tol' ya she is writin' erotica. Romantic erotica, wit' 'er DH as inspiration.
Now, how can I parlay that inta the discussion of sucky and dastardly? Well, it sucks that Jane-0 is sick. And this be an external conflict that sparks the DH ta be loverly wonderful...
Sleep well! (Rum, Kahlua and coffee...ought to spark some interesting dreams!)
Terrio - But dastardly deeds are not always about broken bones. As I said, I think it be a dastardly deed ta set up the heroine to see something that makes her heart break. A real villain tactic that is quite effective. And quite dastardly!
Ah see, I was going to fast and missed Janga's post. She said it much more eloquently then me!
I'm off ta walk me Bonnie dog...carry on! No bloodshed now, we be outta shamwows!
It says a lot about this crew that I take Chance confirming I did something dastardly as a compliment. LOL! It's hard these days to make a book sound interesting when you're not talking about FBI agents or vampires or movie stars. A chef and a PR chick just don't scream excitement. LOL!
If someone breaks my heart, that's dark. If I mature enough to admit that my own flaws contributed to that heartbreak, that's darker IMO.
Janga - definitely!
Janga - Now you're hitting a little too close to reality for me. Can we talk more about blowing stuff up. :)
In the end, we all be responsible fer our reactions to events. I be learning that in my meditation class, BTW.
I think the external conflict that sparks the internal is just funner to write and mayhaps easier fer me. It's hard to do the internal from the very beginning. We all be in deep denial of how much we turn the pages of our own lives...
It's like reading about the survivors of man made horrors...how do they survive and go on to thrive? But acknowledging that how they react is up to them, on an internal level. It be deep stuff.
Being the writer certainly gives us the chance to work out these kinks and address the internal.
What ya want ta blow up, Terrio?
Since I'm of the less dastardly crowd, maybe if I could just shoot some cannon balls into the open seas. That would make me feel better. And I'll be too deaf to hear the taunting voiced in me head.
Well...why don't we lob cannon balls at some illegal whalers...jus' so's somethin' will blow up with a nice bit a' sparkles.
Be that the voice a' reason? Or some other diabolical bit a' voice?
That would be the "I told you so!" voice. Very annoying.
Whaler be the target. Where's the Powder Monkey with the artillery?
We can paint a sign on a cutter, launch it and take aim at the HMS 'I Told You So'...
Mind if I add a subname? The 'You Shouldn't Feel That Way'...
I want to blow that sub up too!
Anyone else have a name they want to paint on our target practice vessel?
I love how the convo over here stopped when we took it to email.
;)
Yeah, I was wondering where everybody went, then decided to just go with the flow...
So, we discussed whether dastardly deeds by definition must be done with deliberation. Whether by character or author... Me DH and I talked 'bout it. As author, I destroyed CA, as author, I had a villain rape a side character. Be they different? They are to me!
Side note...If immitation be the sincerest form of flattery...hmmm. Done with deliberation, it can be dastardly. If acknowledged, it be compliment. If done through blind ignorance, it just be annoying? ;)
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