I heard the following not from a famous writer, actor, or actress, but from an editor.
Specifically, the editor of a guy who has inspired much of the way I write these emails. Like me, he’s also a published author, albeit of the darker kind.
He writes horror novels — properly horrifying ones.
If you’re into that sort of chilli jam (I’m personally not), his name is Ben Settle, and you can find his series, Enoch Wars, on Amazon and elsewhere.
Anyway.
A couple of years back, he felt the urge to go back and tone down the horror in his novels, which was quickly met with a harsh rebuttal by his editor, who said something so magnificent that it warrants framing:
“Don’t do that. Let monsters be monsters.”
Thankfully, Ben heeded his advice, and the books have gone on to build something of a cult following.
It pains me to admit that during my own fiction misadventures, I’ve also been tempted to soften the language or sand off the sharper edges of certain characters in case of offending the “Sob Mob.”
One character especially stands out:
Jangar.
He’s a loud, abrasive brute of a man in The Divided Region who has done/does some awful things. He also says some deeply unpleasant and crass stuff, too.
And yet — ironically — he’s one of my readers’ favourite characters.
If that doesn’t tell you about how people behave publicly vs privately, nothing will.
Anyway, Jangar is a case study in letting the muse be the muse.
The muse said he had to be this way — a crude, violent, and occasionally sexist bastard — otherwise, he wouldn’t be Jangar. He wouldn’t be the character so many readers now love.
If your immediate thoughts are that my readers and I are sexist pigs for this, then you, my friend, have been failed by someone or something on your path.
(Probably your school.)
No, what it means is that we are adults with adult brains who understand that humans are flawed.
The difference is, we’re willing to give them the time and space to redeem themselves, if they ever do at all.
That’s a hard concept for many to grasp, particularly the younger generations, and sadly, a fair chunk of my own.
It is what it is.
Sadly, too many scribes fall victim to the Satan of Creativity and water down their work out of fear of upsetting the Sob Mob, who are nothing more than a vocal minority.
It’s one of the main reasons why I push my own Storehouse so much rather than relying on retailers, which are open targets for these sob sisters to attack, or dare I say, cancel.
It’s not that I’m anti-retailer like I was before.
(Long-time Legionnaires will remember a time when I wasn’t even on them.)
But owning my own commerce channel grants me the autonomy to write whatever “monster” Milo the Muse requires me to, though, perhaps not as dark as the stuff Ben writes, admittedly.
I’m not sure where else to go with this email other than this:
If you love to support authors who stay true to the ideas in their head, and you quite enjoy characters who aren’t entirely good or entirely evil…
Then I suspect The Divided Region might be for you.
Only one way to know for sure:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
DJJW