The lovely folks at My Fiction Nook recently asked me to list my top five highlights of writing Myla Lewis, the heroine of ANGELBOUND (Honestly, they asked for ten but I got blabby, so it’s five.)
So with that prelude, behold my top five!
Myla Item Number Five – Myla Makes Up Names
Myla and names are a joy to write.
I love how Myla sucks with names and just makes up words for people. Example: she’d probably call me Sleepy Grouchy Writer at this point. By contrast, her love interest Lincoln has a mind like a steel trap. He makes a point to remember everyone’s name because, although he’s a prince, he firmly believes that every person in his realm is important. Say it with me … awwww!
Now For Item Number Four: Myla’s Swearing
When talking about writing Myla, you know the topic of swearing is coming up…
Myla fun-swears. This is a different than just having a potty mouth, in my humble opinion. Anyone can say ‘fuck you.’ Myla says stuff like, fuuuuuuuck … hells bells … or my favourite, fuck fuck fuckity FUCK fuck. She gets many a chance to swear in my new book, LINCOLN, especially at the end. Huzzah!
Now For Item Number Three: Myla’s Made-Up Words
Making up new terminology is part of the fun of writing Angelbound…
Myla makes up words. Actually, this goes beyond Myla. I make up the words in all my books. Language just doesn’t do what I need it to sometimes. So, I’m a big fan of terms like scooch, window-hole, and dragonscale. They blow up my spell checker, but as Myla would say, meh.
With that, let’s sashay over to Item Number Two: Myla’s Word World
Words + Myla = Fun Worlds
Myla has her own word-world, which is another thing I do in many books. Here’s the thing. There’s often a fear of dating your writing with slang. But that’s only if your writing SUCKS. Think about Bugs Bunny. They wrote that shit decades ago and it still feels fresh. In my opinion, that’s because it was created by a bunch of guys working in the equivalent of a shipping container on the back of the Warner Studio lot. They weren’t pulling shtick out of the air or someone else’s world. It was consistent to their own ethos, and it still makes people laugh today. In my opinion, if you don’t have enough confidence to build your own idiom, then you have bigger problems than using slang in your writing.
And Now, Item Number One: Voice
When it comes to Angelbound, writing is all about the feels…
Four words: first person, present tense. I want my words to reach out through the page, grab you, and make you feel. Life is an adventure, dammit! That’s not everyone’s cup of tea, which I totally get. But then again, it’s also why I have the best readers in all of recorded history. No exaggeration.
So there you have it: my top five highlights of writing Myla. Want more fun? Check out the links below:
