Does my series normalize violence? (Updated)

Anyone who's ever read my books knows there's a body count, but it didn't start that way. You might wonder how it happened.

I always say that this is the series that wasn't meant to be a series, but I can take that one step further and say it became the violent series that wasn't planned. Originally We're All Animals was meant to be a standalone book, but as the story moved forward, it became clear there was much more coming down the wire. With each book, the series grew until it became brutally violent.

The thing is that this isn't so unusual in our society. Many things become normalized over time because they build slowly into everyday life. Things escalate. Smoking starts with an occasional cigarette, often with no intentions of becoming a habit. However, many things are insidious. They grow over time until it becomes the new normal. We regularly see it in our culture, especially in the news. 

The interesting thing I noticed while working on my 12th book is how Chase - the character who has been along this journey since day one - started so naive and shocked by the same violence he later participates in. We see this in the real world too. It's not just fiction.

OMG! I finally fit into a genre! 😝(Updated)

For all the times I complained about not wanting to be stuck in a genre, I've finally found the perfect one!

Ever since my first book, I've never been comfortable classifying any of my books into a specific category. Nothing ever quite fit. There was romance, action, suspense, murder, dark humor, and even some vampires thrown in a couple, but none of these specific genres felt right. It was as though all my books included so many things that it was difficult to categorize them properly, so I chose instead to toss everything into the 'dark fiction' category. It seemed like the most accurate, if not the ideal category.

Recently, I stumbled across the concept of counterculture, and I was immediately intrigued. What was that exactly, and why did it sound so appealing? As it turns out, counterculture tends to be a way of life that goes against social 'norms'. This demographic rejects 'conventional' society choosing instead to live by their standards. 

This grabbed my attention.

In my first two books (Fire and A Spark before the Fire), my characters reject society's values by striving to become rock stars, which in itself tends to be a very counterculture lifestyle.

In my third and fourth book, The Rock Star of Vampires and Her Name is Mariah, I tackle the underground world of vampires. You can't get much more counterculture than that, can you?

Maybe so.

In my current series, my cast of characters tends to go against pretty much all social norms. They make their own laws, follow their own rules and do so without a second thought. Murder, corruption, collusion, and torture are engrained into their lives as if they were the most natural thing. That's pretty counterculture.

My books finally have a home, and it's pretty awesome.

Why I do my research backward 😯(Updated)

I've always said that writing is, for the most part, a lot about instincts. You have to follow your characters and trust where they want to take you. For that reason, I often do my research backward.

What does that mean exactly? For the most part, I write whatever I sense the characters are saying, doing, or experiencing, and generally, I will later find out that I was on the right track. This isn't to say I'm always correct, but I think sometimes we gather and retain more information than we realize over the years. So, even though we may not be fact-checking while writing, chances are the information is hidden away in the back of our minds. After all, isn't that instincts are in the first place? Information stored away from previous experiences or hidden knowledge we forgot we had?

Of course, there's also an argument that the muse is key to art. For me, a big part of being a writer is accepting that I'm not necessarily in the driver's seat when it comes to my books but merely going along for the ride.

One great example was from my book And the Devil Will Laugh. In it, Jorge Hernandez reconnects with his mother after she's kidnapped, in an attempt to fix their broken relationship. However, this attempt is dropped when she meets his wife Paige, a white Canadian woman. She bluntly informs her son that he should've married a 'nice, Mexican girl' instead. This happens in front of Paige, who doesn't react. But Jorge and his daughter Maria quickly put Jorge's mother in her place.

At the time, I wondered if perhaps this was too harsh. I then read a blog by a lady who is a white American living in Mexico, married to a Mexican man. In one particular post, she talked about how her mother-in-law reacted in much the same way when her son married a woman who wasn't Mexican. As it turns out, my original instincts weren't too extreme at all.

This is just one of many examples of how I research backward.

Why it's important for art to hold a mirror up to society 🎭(Updated)

As long as there's been art, there's been artists who hold a mirror up to society. It shows us who we are, who we potentially could be, and gives us ideas about things we perhaps never considered.

This is important because there's a lot of people who won't turn on the news, won't pick up a newspaper, or read about current events online, but they will watch a movie, read a book or listen to music. When artists point out certain aspects of society in their work, it allows the reader or viewer a first-hand perspective into their world. It's perhaps the closest they will ever come to 'walking in their shoes' and seeing what it's like to have these experiences. 

In many of my books, I have situations, points of view, and even passing comments that bring up what I'm seeing in the world around me. I leave it open for the reader to consider. I'm not attempting to convince or change anyone's mind. My books are very much about counterculture and often take things to extremes, but I think that in today's world, this is sometimes what you have to do to stand out and make a point. 

In the end, I believe that it's the art that shakes things up that has a lasting effect. It's the movies, books, and music that captured a segment of our society that will always stand out in my mind because they made points that mattered.

Writing about characters that are vastly different from you 🤫(Updated)

Different ethnicities, the opposite sex, and even vampires; is it difficult to write about characters when they are nothing like you?

The truth is that we're usually writing about characters that aren't necessarily like ourselves. Even if you write about characters of the same sex, age, or even from the same part of the world as you, they still are not you. If the character is the same as you in every way, then your book is autobiographical, not fiction. 

In my first book, Fire, I wrote about a young, blonde, white woman named Tarah. Many people seemed to draw a parallel between her and me because we had a similar physical description. However, that's where the similarities ended. Her story was vastly different from mine, meaning I had to dive deep into my imagination to connect with this protagonist. She was a musician turned rock star and had experiences I knew nothing about. Her life was vastly different from my own at that age. 

I then wrote A Spark before the Fire, which followed a teenage male character.  I feared that this was way out of my comfort zone. After all, how could I write from the voice of a male teenager? Where would I even start? When I began to write, I was surprised when the inner dialogue of a young male flowed naturally. It was very instinctual, and that's been my process as I continue to write about characters vastly different from me. 

I've since written about vampires, narcos, assassins, children, and people of various ethnicities, ages, and sexual preferences. The key is to listen for the character's voice, and it will tell you everything you have to know. 

I'd recommend anyone struggling with this to find a quiet place and time to do their writing and focus on their inner voice. Stay calm, stay centered, and start writing. If your instinct is to write about a specific character, chances are they're ready to come out and play.

Dialogue that pops! 😉 (Updated)

The sure sign of great dialogue is when readers recite lines from your books! It's the ultimate compliment. 

We've all had friends quoting characters from their favorite television shows and movies. Some lines are almost as legendary as the programs themselves, and yet, some people aren't aware of what's involved in writing great dialogue. There are a few things to be considered.

1. Keep it fresh. We don't need to hear the same lines already overused in television, books, and movies. The only exception is when it's being used on purpose to be ironic. For example, in The Devil May Lie, there's a point when Jorge Hernandez, a bloodthirsty criminal, quotes a line from I Love Lucy that greatly contradicts the lighthearted comedy from the '50s. I think he might even have a gun to someone's head when he uses the line, "Lucy, you got some splainin' to do."

2. Keep it interesting. Let's bypass the same boring conversations you'd have with your great aunt at a wedding. Avoid talking about the weather (unless it's relevant) and the "hi, how are you?" dialogue, if at all possible. I only use something like this if purposely trying to show awkwardness in a conversation. People are bored enough in real-life conversations, so keep your character's dialogue engaging. 

3. Don't ramble. I'm the queen on rambling (which you'll know if you ever watched my YouTube channel 😝) but when it comes to characters, make them get right to the point. Don't beat around the bush. Storylines are limited to a certain amount of many pages. Your job is to get everything packed in tight like a suitcase about to be weighed at the airport. Don't bring boring shoes you don't need.

4. Remember each character has a dialogue pattern. Your best friend or crazy aunt uses specific words, speaks distinctively, and responds predictably. For example, I once worked with a girl who never went to the bathroom, but the facilities' Some people mispronounce words while others use slang terms or swear when they speak. Depending on where they live, their status, and their first language, you might expect vastly different dialogue patterns. Someone who grew up in the UK, for example, may use a word that has a vastly different meaning in North America. A middle-aged woman who works in an office setting may speak differently than a 20-year-old man who works in a garage. Many of my characters are from Latino countries, so it's not uncommon for a little Spanish to get mixed into their conversations.

5. Don't overthink conversations. In real life, if you overthink a conversation, it tends to sound too stiff. The same goes for characters. Stay balanced and go with the flow when writing dialogue. See where it takes you. Sometimes, it might move the story in an unexpected direction, and as I always say, if you don't expect things to go a certain way, neither does the reader!
In the end, you want sharp dialogue that's dramatic and honest. Make the conversation pop!

The super crazy last chapter 😜(Updated)

Don't let the last chapter fall flat; make it a wild ride till the end.

The problem that I noticed (while reading fiction) is that it often has a predictable pattern. The story usually builds to a climax, eventually resolving, only to fade away in the final chapter. I find the last chapter in a lot of books is simply tying up loose ends, and for that reason, I often skim through then read the final paragraph. It would be the same as watching a season of your favorite television show and having no drama or action in the last episode but just the characters sitting around having a chat and hugging a lot.

Something that I've learned along the way is that you need action, suspense, and surprises even as the book winds down. And yes, that includes the last chapter. Contrary to whatever your high school creative writing teacher taught you, finishing a book shouldn't simply be about tying a pretty bow on it.

In my Hernandez series, my goal is to keep things crazy till the end. I've finished books with shootouts and suspense, but probably most importantly, I've left a lot of questions hanging in the wind. There's always an implication that something more is around the corner. I want readers to finish my books and wonder about the characters. I want to set their imaginations on fire. And to me, that's important of all.