For the record, I do like writing. It’s the editing and the constant revising I hate. Either it results in a better story, or in me pulling my hair out from the roots…
So, I wanted to talk a little about the short story I wrote titled Please. I sent it out to betas and more edits will result from that, but I figured now was an okay time to start talking about it.
I’ve talked about writing darker topics and this is the story that has a darker theme to it. It centers around Hayley, a girl who’s had a rough past filled with abuse, homelessness, and hardship. She is just on the verge of getting her life back together when she’s abducted. Forced submission and what it does to her becomes the focus of this piece. I see it as a matter of doing what you need to in order to survive, and it makes me ask myself what I’d do if I were in a similar situation.
It’s interesting what the mind can take, and what it will do in order to cope. When we’re in pain, when we’re scared, the mind works to protect us. Is enjoying what you initially hate a matter of coping the best you know how, or delusion? Good question.
So why did I write a story with themes that are dark and that people tend to shy away from? Because it’s necessary. I’ve had things happen in my past that trap and cripple, but they don’t define me. This story is darker because sometimes I write to make sense of things.
Darker topics tend to garner responses from both readers and writers. Some good and some bad.
To be clear, themes such as bondage and rough sex do not darker themes make. Just as enjoying or wanting to enjoy those things does not make someone a deviant, contrary to what some misinformed people believe. There is nothing wrong with wanting to explore, read, or write about those things.
The risk is that my story – which isn’t happy, but will end better than I originally planned – will turn people away. It may repulse because it isn’t a romance with a happy ending of love (I’m tempted to make it happy, but I’m hesitant to do so). It’s hard, dark, and ugly in places. But do we hide the harder things away just because it isn’t well received? Some people don’t want to read that, which makes me wonder what I’m going to do with this story.
For now, I’ll at least give a character profile of Hayley.
Nicknames/Alias: None
Age: 21 years old
Quote: The first thrust was painful, but she felt a degree of relief. Just like the other times. She’d just let him use her and he’d be on his way. That was her chant as the cot clattered beneath them. Hayley could collect her sanity, her dignity, after he finished. She could survive this, too.
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Black
Occupation: Working at a souvenir shop in L.A.
Relationship Status: Single. Though that changes against her will as the story progresses
Love interest(s): None. She’s never met anyone worth falling in love with.
Goals: To survive or escape.
Hardships to overcome: The craziness of the man who abducted her.
Faults: Fear isn’t a fault, but it’s had a tendency to keep her in one place and quiet even if it means she gets hurt.
What would I tell you about Hayley? She’s that girl who’s been hurt all her life, who feels like nothing comes to her except pain. She keeps holding on for something good to come her way even though it hasn’t happened yet. Enough hope lives in her soul to keep her going. She wants to survive and I think someday she will. The story has ended far different that it started out. I know Hayley better after looking into her life, and I like her. Strength lives beneath her fear.
Now to figure out what I’m going to do with this story…