Letters I've Written

....never meaning to send. - Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin"

Angst, regret, longing.

Have you put these in your characters and if so, did it matter?

I tend to think it didn't. Characters who do things do not live in the past in my works. They have enough going wrong in their present to make up for it.

Now, there are wonderful novels where characters are plagued with their past regrets. I'm generally not crafting those stories.

I thought I would be. I thought for a very long time that I'd find the trick of tying the past injustice of belief to the present tyranny of existence. Not so.

I turned the knob to "11" on present tyranny and liked it better. It's worked for a while.

I'm just wondering about the motivation from the past. We're driven at times to try and right past wrongs - those we've committed or those committed against us. As a primary motivation for my character - maybe not.

Repentance implies a degree of regret and an admission of wrong. My characters have none of the stuff. They've done wrong and they're comfortable with the discomfort it's caused.

I'm piling on my characters lately. Almost makes me sorry for them. Almost.

Shoot somebody tonight. Put a body on the ground. The reader could use a little chaos and there's nothing like a .38 in a lady's handbag to put some chaos on the table.

I'll have double, thank-you. Scotch. What are you having?