It is complicated

Unlike in real life, in stories we love characters who are complicated. We remember the characters that behave in ways that leave us with crossed eyes and mentally hurling profanity.

Our hero and heroines are complicated they are determined to do the right thing even when it isn't the best thing.  Our villains are determined to go the extra mile even when they have zero motivation and those are the villains that truly frighten us. With no motivation we wonder how can someone with no logical impetus be so evil, it is complicated.

I have finished one book and I am working on my second novel, each story features characters that are complicated. At each opportunity they pick a road that will lead them to what they think is happiness or an easy out but each only leads to further complications.

I think about the novels that have stuck with me over the years, they all had characters that were complicated. My arche-type of complicated is Lennie Smalls from John Steinbeck's: "Of Mice and Men" Lennie Small dreams of a life where he gets to pet soft rabbits.  Lennie's choices and his collision course with destiny are all wrapped around a seemingly innocent desire the desire to tend rabbits.

Many moons have waxed and waned since my school years required reading Of Mice and Men, but the emotional struggles that complicated invoke in us never go away.

I recently finished a book that left me in a torment of emotions, I was conflicted on every level, I read the last line of the book and I thought to myself this character is not real but all of these emotions are real. I hope that some day I can create an experience for those reading my work that touches and moves them to great heights and low depths.