Worrisome

I wonder sometimes if other writers worry about some of the same things I do. For example, having seen other authors get raked over the coals over things their characters have said and done, I worry. Or will, because my characters, for the most part, have really dysfunctional families, people think that mine was/is? I had a great family growing up. Blue collar/middle class, happy, with lots of love and laughter. Oh, there were arguments, problems and misunderstandings, but everybody worked hard and -- for the most part -- we got along really well.

But happy families are boring to read. They just are. No conflict=DULL reading. So I take the sibling rivalry and amp it up through the roof, or make the parent controlling as hell, or emotionally distant and cold and imagine what life would be like growing up that way. I've explained that to my sister, my brother, my son and my mother (I don't generally talk much about writing fiction with my Dad). But that doesn't mean they aren't going to cringe if people start thinking that they're like these fictional characters I've made up. I mean... EWWWWWW.

Another problem, prejudices. Everybody has some, whether they know it or not. So, how do you make sure you're not unintentionally offensive? I mean, you can have characters who are offensive -- racist, sexist, or whatever -- people like that exist in real life, and if your world is going to be believable, there should be some in it too. But I'm talking the actual meat of the book. How do you make sure that you haven't been insensitive when you don't even KNOW you are because the prejudice is so ingrained? For example (and it is JUST an example), I've been told, a little bit to my dismay, that some people have a hard time relating to some of my heroines because they're TOO strong and kick ass. They don't show enough vulnerability to suit a lot of readers. I'm advised that a lot of readers really still do want the hero to do the rescuing and be just a little bit stronger than the heroine. Now this hasn't been conscious on my part -- but I AM a single mother. I HAVE dealt with most of the issues in my life without having to consult somebody else. So I just don't "see" that I've short-changed the males in my books. Now that I know, I have to look for it. I also have to make sure that, while I keep my men strong and believable, I don't eviscerate my females and make them wimpy whiny types either. OY! This is harder than it looks folks!

I want my characters to be well rounded. I want them to be believable enough that people feel like they KNOW them -- that maybe they live right down the street. But I don't want people to think that *I* know them because they're friends, or relatives, or whatever. In a weird way, I suppose it's a compliment that people find what you've imagined so believable that they can't believe you just imagined it. But hey folks I can REALLY imagine some weird shit.

Anyway, I gotta go. The mystery awaits.