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| ROBERT V. S. REDICK |
DONALD
MAASS WRITE TIP #100
About
what is your MC utterly right? Pull the rug. Prove her utterly wrong. Force her
to rebuild.
The Wyrd Wielder gripped the door. In the neon lights, Elleree could see that the veins stood out as if the flow of his blood was damned there.
“This is your last chance to walk away,” he said desperately. “Elleree! If you go now…I know I could let you leave and not go
looking for you later.” The words gritted out between his teeth when he begged.
“Don’t leave it until it’s too late. I want to get this right.”
“Kayl, I know you aren’t bad. You're a good person. You told me to leave you. Don’t you see? You proved you have goodness inside.”
“Any one is capable of one good act – if it sneaks up on
them and the let it slide because they have other things to occupy them. When
you go I won’t feel good about it.”
“That’s because you’ll miss me.” Elleree reached out for
him but he shrank back behind the protection of the door, and her fingers hardly disturbed the fabric of his
robe.
He shuddered. “That’s one way to describe it.”
Elleree ignored Kayl’s frown. She tried again. “But…We
love each other.
“That one I can’t deny. I recognise the way my body
feels.”
“Let me stay. I’ve kept up the stupid boundaries you demanded I use for too
long. I want to hold you and help you find the good in you. Every day, I want to tell you that you are good – that you deserve to be loved.”
“No. You need to go. You have to go,” he said as soon as
she’d finished. “There’s only so much light in here and it’s fading…fast.
She stared around at the neons he'd installed on every surface of his room. She shook her head. “You weren’t born dark inside. No one is born that way,”
Elleree said desperately. “If you think about it, it was the things that
happened to you after you were born that messed you up. But you know what they
did to you –it was awful – but you know… so we can work through it.”
“I can’t keep saying this much longer – Elleree, you have
to go.”
“Please, no. You might have more temptation – more of an
inclination to the bad – but, it’s the way you live your life that defines you.”
Kayl made a strangled noise. He was laughing and crying
at the same time. “No. No”
“Poor, poor Kayl. Don’t be sad. Everyone knows what it’s
like to want to do something bad.” Her voice tightened. “Sometimes they even do
it… that doesn’t make them bad. I’m not perfect, you know.”
“Poor Kayl,” he
said and his voice dripped with sarcasm. He smiled. “I know what I am. I accept
my nature – I relish it.” There was no humour softening his face; his teeth
and eyes were unnaturally bright and sharp.
Elleree stumbled, shivering hot then cold, as she
edged away from him. The opening was narrow, the corridor dark. Even safely on
the other side of the door, her heart raced.
“So…You let your self-control go sometimes, Elleree?” The
Wielder tilted his head towards his
shoulder, and narrowed his eyes as he studied her. “I would like to see that.”
She shook her head. From the soft light of the corridor, she could see him: cloaked in his power, he looked impervious -- far from human. “Oh, Kayl,” she whispered.
“As I see it, I am all that really matters. And I am so
very good at being really and truly bad,” Kayl said with absolute clarity.
IS YOUR MC SO SURE ABOUT SOMETHING IT JUST HAS TO BE WRONG?
Oh yeah, I'm sort of building my story on this. And all my MCs will be wrong on something very vital...
ReplyDeleteHi Misha
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your wip.
I found that once I know my characters could be totally wide of the mark, anything - in the novel - was possible ;)
A good point and one well worth remembering as a way to raise tension.
ReplyDeleteHi Suzanne
DeleteAnd, it is always a great idea to raise the tension.