No, I’m not talking about
booze. Though I have touched on that topic in my books, dealing with an
alcoholic (hello Fable and Owen Maguire’s mother from the ONE WEEK GIRLFRIEND
series. Notice how I never give her a first name? I did that on purpose. She
doesn’t deserve one).
That’s something I’m drawn
to as a writer—secret shame. We all have them in varying degrees. Some are too
overwhelming to face, and some could be considered minor, but they all mean
something to us. They leave us feeling embarrassed, shameful.
These feelings bring us
together as humans. We all experience various levels of shame and horror. We’ve
all had something bad happen to us or we know someone who’s experienced *insert
horrific thing*. We can relate.
And that’s what I’m going
for when I write about the hard, ugly things in my books. I don’t want to bring
the reader down and fill them with despair but I do want to make them feel. I
want to touch their emotions and make them laugh and cry and get angry or sigh
with happiness. I want it all because I guess I’m greedy like that.
I truly feel the way to do
get readers to feel so much is to force them to face the hard stuff but then
give them—and the characters they’re reading about—a glimmer of hope. This
world is ugly enough when you deal with the day-to-day reality of it. Who needs
to read books that are nothing but major downers? Not me. We read to escape.
But we also read to learn
things. To feel things. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if what we’re
reading is all glossed over happy stuff that rarely delves deep…that can get
boring. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fun, feel-good story (and I’ve written
more than my share) but I also like the gritty subject matter that makes me
think. That even makes me feel uncomfortable.
While writing ONE WEEK GIRLFRIEND, I worried over what I was doing to my
characters, especially Drew. Yes, I’m personally responsible for putting him
through so much because after all, I’m the one who created him and Adele and
his clueless father and his sister and Fable and Owen and their horrible mother.
There were points as I was writing where I would pause and think, Should I go there? Should I do
that? Oh man, should I do THAT?!
When your writing is
rooted in romance (as mine is), yes you must create conflict for your
characters and you must put them through some hard times before they get to
their happily ever after. But never before have I put a cast of characters
through so much grief. Ever. I felt bad. I considered easing up on Drew
specifically. But then…
I decided screw it. I’m going
for it.
Sometimes we have to face
the ugly truths early on to get to the good stuff. Sometimes we have to
struggle and fight and suffer before we can conquer. I’m talking both in real
life and in fiction. Hopefully the struggle makes the end result that much sweeter.
Hopefully reading about
the hard stuff makes reaching the end and the happily ever after worth so much
more. That’s all I want to do as a writer. Make that HEA worth it.
Because every last one of
us deserve one.
FOUR YEARS
LATER is the final book in the ONE WEEK GIRLFRIEND series and is
available now:
New
Adult bestselling author Monica Murphy winds up her sensational series with
this sexy story of two college kids with nothing in common but a bunch of
baggage and a burning attraction.
Over. That about sums up everything in my
life. Suspended from my college football team and forced to cut back my hours
at The District bar because of my crappy grades, I can’t keep turning to my sister,
Fable, and her pro-football playing husband, Drew, to bail me out. I just can’t
seem to find my own way. Weed and sex are irresistible temptations—and it’s
messed up that I secretly hand over money to our junkie mom. A tutor is the
last thing I want right now—until I get a look at her.
Chelsea
is not my type at all. She’s smart and totally shy. I’m pretty sure she’s even
a virgin. But when she gives me the once over with those piercing blue eyes,
I’m really over. But in a different way. I won’t deny her ass is killer, but
it’s her brain and the way she seems to crave love—like no one’s ever given her
any—that make me want her more than any girl I’ve ever met. But what would
someone as seemingly together as her ever see in a screwed up guy like me?
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