Notes from the Resistance

So, I thought I'd drop a line here to address a few things. The first is the next book in the POI series. That is still on target for March. I had hoped to be further along on it at this point, but I took a contract job out of state, and well, living out of an apartment away from home isn't always the most conducive to writing, and working days does cut into my writing time.

Also there was a lot of travel involved over the holidays. A -lot- of travel. That didn't help very much either.

Now, onto the next item I thought I'd address, and believe it or not I spent a lot of time trying to decide if I should address it. But, considering the double standard I've been seeing from a few people, I figured, why not? The issue of course is that in the current series (POI) the hero is involved rather seriously with more than one woman. And in the Hammer Commission the hero there has multiple wives.

Before I go into the why of it, I would like to point out that I also have written more than a few romances - paranormal romance to be more specific. Now, in that genre, it is almost required that when the end of the story comes around, the heroine has at least two husbands, sometimes more. It is one of the defining traits of the PNR genre.

But I don't see people complaining about that. Especially not any women.

In the Hammer Commission, the original story did not have the hero married, or even in a relationship. The problem was, the story wasn't working. Motivations for some of his actions, and some of the actions of others, just wasn't there. But I had an unfinished romance story laying around, one that was of a more traditional type, that I had put aside. In it, you had the typical the hot male that the average looking and very much in trouble damsel, would of course end up with. The shock factor (besides him being 'paranormal') was his relationship with a number of sisters. This is also another staple, the average woman wins the man from the number of 'super hot' females, finds true love, etc.

I realized one night that if I took that character, made a few changes, rewrote a few scenes, I could just drop almost all of what I'd written as background into the Hammer Commission and it would work. Not only would it work, but I'd have room for some fun sequels if I ever felt like it.

Now understand, the hero in that story is not comfortable with the situation. He feels guilty over having several wives, even though it wasn't his decision, it was theirs (and that is made pretty clear in the story). As someone who knows a lot about big cats (having owned more than a few) in the wild the male's territory usually overlaps that of several females. Usually completely. So for our sisters, the idea of sharing isn't exactly an offensive one. And if you've read the story, well you've hopefully understood that point. After all, they're 'monsters', right?

As for our hero in the POI series, well hell, look at Tiger Woods! That man had quite the stable, and his wife didn't do a damn thing about it, until it became public and she had her nose publicly rubbed in it. Rich, powerful, wealthy, and famous men almost always have a couple of women on the side. Rock Stars anyone? Or famous actors, athletes, politicians, any man with a lot of money, charisma, or power. The alpha dog gets all the women he wants, and they're not at all afraid to make a play for him. Otherwise we wouldn't have mistresses, groupies, and divorce. This has been going on since the beginning of time.

When the series starts out, Will has come into a lot of power and prestige. He's young, he hasn't been out of college for all that long when this happens, so of course it goes to his head. And for those of you who think it wouldn't happen, well let me tell you, it does. I know cause it happened to me, and I enjoyed the hell out of it until I got tired of it. You have to have noticed that by book three Will's womanizing has cut back quite a bit. Of course he's older now, and getting used to the trappings of power and prestige.

And don't think women don't do it too. Mama Cast used to knock them back after the shows, and she was no Kate Upton (though to be fair, Mama Cast had one hell of a voice, she is still one of my favorite female singers to this day - that woman could -sing-).

What's funniest about all of this to me, is that the stories were plotted out quite a few years apart from each other. Book one of POI was written three years before HC, even book two was 80 percent complete before then. So its not like I wrote one with a 'harem' and then wrote another one. POI sat around for years because I just wasn't sure it would sell, because I knew there were people who would be upset over Will being something of a horndog at first. My sister however said to publish, and I'm glad I did. 

Will is a pretty realistic character, I know there are folks out there who think he isn't, but I grew up around war vets, I was in the USAF, then I worked for a military aerospace company after that. I've spent many years of my life around people who did things, big things. Who acted first, talked second. Who did what needed to be done. I don't write wimpy politically correct heroes, because I'm not one of those people, and I've never seen any of those people accomplish much of anything, much less survive in dangerous or deadly situations.