
Family reunions. ::shudder::
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing?
I write them despite myself, I think. I have no real desire to write love everlasting, but as a plot device and a character motivator, there is nothing so powerful as undying devotion of the heart-rending, eye-bleeding kind.
While cynical, I do appreciate the quiet, undemonstrative kind of romance that is kept under wraps until the last moment, tortured and strained and yet still unwavering even as it despairs. That sort of angst is all kinds of tasty-delicious.
And, frankly, I'm not a prude. If I think that sex should happen, I'm game for trying my hand at it. I'm well aware that this is one of my weakest areas (why does sex seem to make every iota characterization go soaring out the window?) but I'm not afeard.
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
Uhhhhhhh, hmm. The first thing that comes to my mind is Cook, but he's more of a side-protagonist (if that makes any sense), and the second thing is Mad Jeremy Matthews, so I'm gonna split the difference and fuck the police.
Cook is the side-kick Beta to my werewolf protagonist Alpha, and is actually a very intelligent, sensitive guy; he just never acts like it. I modeled him after an uncle of mine, who has made an art form out of inactivity. You're fairly sure that they move around in real life, but you have to watch them for a long time to try and catch them at it. Sedate and unflappable.
Mad Jeremy Matthews is just plain fun to write. He's my first real male protagonist, and writing him is like an exercise in Victorian comedy. He's got all the moves and graces down to an art, but underneath all of that, he is still mad as a hatter. His inner monologues crack me up even as I'm writing them.