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Character Studies – He’s a Killer who Loves Puppies…..

28 Oct

Writer’s Note: This is Saturday’s Column….

I have a writer friend (who shall remain nameless) who loves to attempt to write murder mysteries. Keep in mind that she is a successful writer, she’s sold hundreds of romance novels but more than anything she would love to write a murder mystery that sells….but she can’t. What she does end up with when she tries is a hilarious comedic attempt usually involving a murderer who wears plaid or loves puppies or can’t stand the sight of blood…

My friend, we’ll call her Meg, doesn’t have the writer’s killing gene. What does that mean? Well, I think, (and this is my opinion) that certain writers have certain genes that allow them to be good at certain genres. If you are a mystery-thriller writer, like me, you have …the killing gene, the mystery gene, and the I-love-to –torture-people -in-my-sleep gene….all genes that help you create mysteries. Meg has the romance genes…the sweet gene, the love gene and the I-can-write-great-sex-scenes gene. Now some for these are cross overs but for the most part each gene pool is different and each writer has their own pool to swim in.

So what happens when a writer crosses gene pools….say from romance to spy novels? Well I think that they simply open up the drain and drain several pools into the same giant pool. (I wish I could do that) So should a writer feel bad that they are oriented to a certain genre? No….having different writing talents allow us writers to meet the needs of all types of readers and that is a good thing.

My point is, don’t feel bad because your killers all like puppies or cooking (unless your killer likes cooking puppies and then you may be on to something…) it’s okay…you just might be better skewed towards something else…something nicer…something less violent. Every writer marches to the scribbling of their own pen and we should all be proud of that no matter what we write. I will never discourage Meg from trying to kill something….maybe someday she will and who knows where she will go as a writer from there…but in the mean time I will continue to enjoy that her attempts at killing end up looking like something out of Monty Python…at least she makes me laugh….

 

© The Writer’s Advice, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 

About thewritersadvice

Jai is a full-time writer in the Pacific Northwest. An award winning journalist and published author, Jai writes mystery thrillers, ghost writes articles and books as well as feature articles for several national magazines.
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Posted by on October 28, 2022 in Character Studies, Writing

 

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