I'm almost finished reading Kim Harrison's "The Outlaw Demon Wails." I enjoy Harrison's novels for a number of reasons, but the main one is she isn't afraid to hurt her characters and throw at them a variety of horrible situations that show the messy flawed nature of their inner selves. This is the same reason I enjoy reading Lilith Saintcrow.
I think I'm drawn to characters I have a really hard time writing. Exploring the deep dark morass I know my characters have just doesn't come easy for me. I avoid it, much in the same way I avoid cleaning my daughter's bathroom. I'll delve in there, but with gloves, a big bottle of bleach and a chisel.
I'm a fixer by nature. I have a deep seated need to make everything 'okay.' It is not helpful when it comes to my writing. Maybe my life has been too uncomplicated, too smooth, not enough drama for me to write with any authority about troubled souls. Yes, I know it is all fiction, but anyone who says that the writer's real life experiences doesn't wind up in the characters he/she writes about is fibbing.
Maybe I'm trying to write something that just doesn't suit me. Good Lord, could I still be struggling with voice? Argh. I'm off to clean that bathroom.
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