Lourie Nolan's Blog - Posts Tagged "jackass"
Jackassery
I'm currently working on book 13 in my "The Deep End" series; "Possessing". It will be the final installment in the story of Justin Troy and Kirsten Hayes. I've really had fun writing about these two.. especially Kirsten. She's a very complex character with nuances that draw me in to her emotionally. I don't know if it's the same for the reader. I certainly hope it is.
The next book in The Deep End series will be "Jackass". It will be told from Jake's point of view. I expect that one to be my greatest challenge so far.
For Dave's sport-bike hobby, I was able to access the psyche of a friend who is a sport bike enthusiast and raced AMA in the past. For Justin and Kirsten's fishing trip... my brother Donnie was a wealth of information.
Jake will be harder... as I have no real-world frame of reference for a sociopathic, misogynistic, serial-rapist. It will be every bit based on research and my own training and dealings with offenders in my work. It will be interesting to see how I take all of that and form it into a believable, if not somewhat sympathetic, character and actually have the reader give a shit what happens to him.
I can tell you this much... it will not be sexually graphic... at least not the rape scenarios, so if that's the reason someone wants to read it... they will be disappointed. It will have some consensual sex as well and that will be written as any other sexual encounter, however, I can't stomach the notion of profiting from graphic depictions of rape. Too many women, men, and children have suffered it. It's not for mass entertainment purposes.
Oh well... back to "Possessing". Games are afoot!
The next book in The Deep End series will be "Jackass". It will be told from Jake's point of view. I expect that one to be my greatest challenge so far.
For Dave's sport-bike hobby, I was able to access the psyche of a friend who is a sport bike enthusiast and raced AMA in the past. For Justin and Kirsten's fishing trip... my brother Donnie was a wealth of information.
Jake will be harder... as I have no real-world frame of reference for a sociopathic, misogynistic, serial-rapist. It will be every bit based on research and my own training and dealings with offenders in my work. It will be interesting to see how I take all of that and form it into a believable, if not somewhat sympathetic, character and actually have the reader give a shit what happens to him.
I can tell you this much... it will not be sexually graphic... at least not the rape scenarios, so if that's the reason someone wants to read it... they will be disappointed. It will have some consensual sex as well and that will be written as any other sexual encounter, however, I can't stomach the notion of profiting from graphic depictions of rape. Too many women, men, and children have suffered it. It's not for mass entertainment purposes.
Oh well... back to "Possessing". Games are afoot!
The Jackass Factor...
As I wrap up Justin and Kirsten's story; as usual, I'm thinking ahead to the next book. "Jackass"... Jake's story.
If all you know of Jake is what you've read in the story of Dakota and Nicole... or even Dave and Shelly... you don't really know him. You know his bad side. You know the worst things he's ever done in his life. Just like all people, however, he is not completely defined by the worst things he's ever done.
Jake is a whole person and you get to know a more humane side of him in Justin and Kirsten's story. Justin is, after all, his twin brother. They live together. They've grown up together. Like many twins, they share things with one another that they never share with anyone else. They know one another better than anyone else knows them.
Justin doesn't know Jake completely... but do we ever really know anyone completely? Even ourselves?
Keeping in mind that Jake is the villain in these stories, I still have to make him realistic. The worst of villains have good people who love them. They must be, on some level, worth loving. They have motivators and priorities and pasts and hopes and desires just like everyone else.
"Jackass" will be a unique point of view of a broken man who, whether most people know it or not... laughs, cries, falls in love, hates, feels fierce loyalty and at the same time, an inescapable burning rage that drives him to do things he doesn't understand, but manages to justify to himself. It will be a story in which the hero and the villain are one in the same, in an internal and eternal death match.
It won't be short and quick. It will take some time to write and when I release it, it will be the complete story... beginning to end, in one book. It will be as long as it needs to be to do the story justice.
I am at once excited to get started, and completely frightened and intimidated by the task of creating this character as a full, rounded multifaceted man, rather than as the dark shadow in the background, as he has been up until now.
Wish me luck!!!
If all you know of Jake is what you've read in the story of Dakota and Nicole... or even Dave and Shelly... you don't really know him. You know his bad side. You know the worst things he's ever done in his life. Just like all people, however, he is not completely defined by the worst things he's ever done.
Jake is a whole person and you get to know a more humane side of him in Justin and Kirsten's story. Justin is, after all, his twin brother. They live together. They've grown up together. Like many twins, they share things with one another that they never share with anyone else. They know one another better than anyone else knows them.
Justin doesn't know Jake completely... but do we ever really know anyone completely? Even ourselves?
Keeping in mind that Jake is the villain in these stories, I still have to make him realistic. The worst of villains have good people who love them. They must be, on some level, worth loving. They have motivators and priorities and pasts and hopes and desires just like everyone else.
"Jackass" will be a unique point of view of a broken man who, whether most people know it or not... laughs, cries, falls in love, hates, feels fierce loyalty and at the same time, an inescapable burning rage that drives him to do things he doesn't understand, but manages to justify to himself. It will be a story in which the hero and the villain are one in the same, in an internal and eternal death match.
It won't be short and quick. It will take some time to write and when I release it, it will be the complete story... beginning to end, in one book. It will be as long as it needs to be to do the story justice.
I am at once excited to get started, and completely frightened and intimidated by the task of creating this character as a full, rounded multifaceted man, rather than as the dark shadow in the background, as he has been up until now.
Wish me luck!!!
The Jackass Cometh
Jackass is finally finished and published.
This was the most difficult book I have ever written. Jake wasn't easy to get to know. He fought me every step of the way.
He wouldn't allow me to take the easy route and just write prison therapy sessions. For that, he would have needed to be honest with his psychiatrist... and that wasn't something in which he was interested.
He wouldn't even let me create a sympathetic 'friend' character for him to confide in. He doesn't trust.
In the end... I had to just have an honest, one on one conversation with him. Yeah... just Jackass Jake... and me.
I do think he and I were able to tell his life story in a way that honored his wishes and will make for an interesting read. It got far more graphic than I originally intended, but he insisted that his story be told his way... so there you have it.
I do hope you... enjoy... the book. I'm eager to hear what everyone thinks of it.
Happy Reading!
This was the most difficult book I have ever written. Jake wasn't easy to get to know. He fought me every step of the way.
He wouldn't allow me to take the easy route and just write prison therapy sessions. For that, he would have needed to be honest with his psychiatrist... and that wasn't something in which he was interested.
He wouldn't even let me create a sympathetic 'friend' character for him to confide in. He doesn't trust.
In the end... I had to just have an honest, one on one conversation with him. Yeah... just Jackass Jake... and me.
I do think he and I were able to tell his life story in a way that honored his wishes and will make for an interesting read. It got far more graphic than I originally intended, but he insisted that his story be told his way... so there you have it.
I do hope you... enjoy... the book. I'm eager to hear what everyone thinks of it.
Happy Reading!
