Method Writer

“What if you were given the knowledge that you will meet a genocidal maniac when they were a child; before they committed any atrocities?”  - Alorya Tag-line (2007)

I think we’ve all heard the term “method actor”, which is basically an actor who dives so completely into their role, that he actually becomes the character being played.  While classical acting focuses on the external tools used by actors, such as voice, facial expressions and mannerisms; method acting focuses on the internal tools.  A Method Actor can develop internal abilities which mimic the muse the actor is trying to portray, such as emotions and psyche.

To be honest, Alorya isn’t so much a fantasy book as it is a series of real life events which were exaggerated, and then documented in a fictional world.  Add to that the fact that I really did wish the stories of Harry Potter, Anakin Skywalker and Ned Stark had gone differently, which was the main reason I started writing a book.  I created characters which were not really extensions of me, but other people in my life.  The character I created in my own image is not really introduced until the end of the story.

When I wrote Alorya, I had to climb into the heads of people I had brief encounters with and those encounters were mostly negative.  As I passed the story along to my editors, they told me I needed to flesh out these characters.  I had the unfortunate task of climbing into the character of an ambitious murderer, which was extremely difficult.  For some time, I wanted the tag-line of my book to be “What if you were given the knowledge that you will meet a genocidal maniac when they were a child; before they committed any atrocities?”  Writing my worst fears in a journal was supposed to be a therapeutic way of dealing with my realistic problem.

Recently, I’ve been talking to my wife about the possibility of being a “method writer”.  I’ve seen stories of writers taking steroid to be more authentic when writing about that topic and at first, I laughed.  I can then think back to some really dark times for me in 2007 – 2009, and they really stand out for me.  Was it due to writing what is ultimately a very dark book?

My follow-up to Alorya will not be so dark.  It’s a story about two brothers inheriting a detective agency from their uncle.  I’m half-way through the first draft and I’m pretty excited about it.  I appreciate it if you made it this far.