Ask the Author: Isa K.
Answered Questions (2)
Isa K.
Sort of. Maybe.
There is a sequel to The Condor on my WiP list (titled Fun with Dick and Shame and focusing on Danny and Jude, I posted a few early drafts of it on GR so you can check it out if you want) but the main thing holding that up is the fact that last year I got pulled into an abusive relationship and stopped doing many things that I love, including writing.
Not a single word for over a year.
I'm just now getting back into the flow, but it's hard. It's slower going than before. And the WiP on the top of the list is a new book that deals a lot with the trauma of the past year. I've become some what fascinated by the mechanics of abusive relationships, because I never thought I would be the type of person to get myself into one and because that experience has made me realize that our conversations about these sort of relationships tend to be cartoonish in nature with one partner being "the bad guy" and the other being the "innocent victim". Worse yet, our own genre tends to reinforce behaviors that make these situations more painful for everyone involved. We keep telling people that love can redeem and reform, we don't look at the natural consequences of believing that.
One of the things that surprised me the most about my own experience was how terribly difficult it was to be honest about what was going on. Not because I was ashamed, but because I was in love and I knew that if I admitted the abuse everyone would look at this man I was in love with (and am still in love with btw) and go "he's a bad guy" ... and I didn't want that. When you love someone you want everyone else to love them too. So the fact that the narrative about these kinds of relationships tends to be very abuser = evil plays a huge role in continuing and worsening the abuse. You feel guilty when you tell the truth about what's going on and make other people think this guy you're in love with is a scumbag, then you tend to twist the situation up in your head... convincing yourself you are at least somewhat to blame. You stop talking about it, maybe you stop hanging out with people who care about you just to avoid the judgments you know are coming. The whole situation just gets worse.
Ironically the character dynamics between the MCs in this book are similar to Harry and Logan from The Condor, just a bit darker and angstier. I feel like most readers warmed up to Logan by the end, mostly because Harry is not such a great person to begin with and Logan's bad behavior was never really depicted as something that hurt or threatened Harry. I'm curious and a little intimidated about whether I can keep the audience from hating one or both characters. It's a tightrope, wanting to show both sides of the story, wanting to avoid one MC from being labelled as "weak" and "pathetic" by readers or the other being labelled as an irredeemable asshole or jerk. At the same time I also don't want to fall into the "true love made him change" trap either... It's a huge, juicy challenge. Not quite sure if I'm up to it.
There is a sequel to The Condor on my WiP list (titled Fun with Dick and Shame and focusing on Danny and Jude, I posted a few early drafts of it on GR so you can check it out if you want) but the main thing holding that up is the fact that last year I got pulled into an abusive relationship and stopped doing many things that I love, including writing.
Not a single word for over a year.
I'm just now getting back into the flow, but it's hard. It's slower going than before. And the WiP on the top of the list is a new book that deals a lot with the trauma of the past year. I've become some what fascinated by the mechanics of abusive relationships, because I never thought I would be the type of person to get myself into one and because that experience has made me realize that our conversations about these sort of relationships tend to be cartoonish in nature with one partner being "the bad guy" and the other being the "innocent victim". Worse yet, our own genre tends to reinforce behaviors that make these situations more painful for everyone involved. We keep telling people that love can redeem and reform, we don't look at the natural consequences of believing that.
One of the things that surprised me the most about my own experience was how terribly difficult it was to be honest about what was going on. Not because I was ashamed, but because I was in love and I knew that if I admitted the abuse everyone would look at this man I was in love with (and am still in love with btw) and go "he's a bad guy" ... and I didn't want that. When you love someone you want everyone else to love them too. So the fact that the narrative about these kinds of relationships tends to be very abuser = evil plays a huge role in continuing and worsening the abuse. You feel guilty when you tell the truth about what's going on and make other people think this guy you're in love with is a scumbag, then you tend to twist the situation up in your head... convincing yourself you are at least somewhat to blame. You stop talking about it, maybe you stop hanging out with people who care about you just to avoid the judgments you know are coming. The whole situation just gets worse.
Ironically the character dynamics between the MCs in this book are similar to Harry and Logan from The Condor, just a bit darker and angstier. I feel like most readers warmed up to Logan by the end, mostly because Harry is not such a great person to begin with and Logan's bad behavior was never really depicted as something that hurt or threatened Harry. I'm curious and a little intimidated about whether I can keep the audience from hating one or both characters. It's a tightrope, wanting to show both sides of the story, wanting to avoid one MC from being labelled as "weak" and "pathetic" by readers or the other being labelled as an irredeemable asshole or jerk. At the same time I also don't want to fall into the "true love made him change" trap either... It's a huge, juicy challenge. Not quite sure if I'm up to it.
Isa K.
The parking pass
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Aug 08, 2014 11:55AM