NO RULES. JUST RIGHT.
The book is actually coming along pretty well. I have the entire plot set from start to finish and the writing is getting easier. Now that I know what my characters will be doing, I can think a bit more about why they are doing it.
One of the things I want to explore is the impact of the Vietnam War on my doppelganger, Daniel Roark. At the beginning there is passage that sets out a recurring theme of the book:
"I was brought up just like you, believing all that bullshit the preachers taught us in church. What was it, 'Thou shalt not kill?' We found out pretty quick that those rules didn't apply out in the boonies. In fact, there weren't any rules at all except for the ones we made up for ourselves. I guess I just never stopped living that way."
Now you might say to yourself, "That way leads to chaos, moral anarchy." My feeling is this. Rules are for people who need them. Maybe I don't need a lot of rules because I'm comfortable with chaos, but I can understand if others do.
Of course I have some rules ... everyone does. But mine are ones that I have personally weighed and measured and found to be solid and true as opposed to just blindly following the dicta of a society which cheerfully ignores its own rules when it is convenient or necesssary to do so.
Put someone like that in a situation where a choice must be made about crime and punishment and the results are hard to predict. Hell, I'm still not sure what this character will decide. I won't know until I write it. Keeps things interesting.
March 19, 2010
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