A big thank you to the person who bought a copy of my book, ‘The Taste of Honey’ the other day. I really do appreciate it.
As you read it, you’ll find out just how to have an office meeting. You’ll never go to another meeting without thinking twice ever again.
I hope you will post a kind review.
What is your favorite Peanuts character?
I don’t know why, but I’ve been pondering this question for a couple of days. I compared each one to what I think is important in my life and decided that Snoopy was the best fit.
A dog you might ask. Look at it this way and take the species aspect out of it.
Snoopy has a very active imagination. He’s a fighter pilot flying in an open cockpit bi-wing fighter plane. He plays baseball. He knows enough to get enough sleep. He decorates his house for the holidays. He is a writer, a good friend, and a party animal. He tells it like it is and makes no bones about it. He questions idiocy and doesn’t take shit from anybody. Most importantly, he unconditionally loves his friends and family.
He is an independent soul and won’t be forced to conform. He believes what he believes and lives his life accordingly. You either take him as he is or you don’t. It’s not so much that he doesn’t care. Rather, it’s more akin to not being aware that some people may not appreciate him.
Snoopy and I are very much alike. That is why he is my favorite ‘Peanuts’ character. Who is yours and why? We could get into a very interesting dialog.
Back in mid-February, I posted an article regarding my books that comprise the ‘Her Client Trilogy’. Those books include ‘Her Client’, ‘Her Overseer’, and ‘Her Essentia’. In the article, I reported finding numerous editing mistakes missed by my editor. I was shocked to discover so many errors and inconsistencies. Therefore, I immediately pulled the entire series of books from the market so they could be re-edited.
Recently, I found a quote from an acquaintance of mine who uses it in her professional life. I love it and I subscribe to that sentiment with the works I produce. The quote reads as such.
“I strive for perfection, I’ll settle for excellence.” – Nichole Kellett.
Instinctively, I applied this concept to my artwork and when I began writing, I tried to apply the same meticulous attention to details. It’s unfortunate, in my zeal to move on to the next project, I allowed the release of a flawed product. Aghast, I pulled the books.
I’m happy to report that through numerous reviews, edits, and post edit reads, the flaws were corrected and many improvements to the flow and content of the stories were implemented.
The entire series was re-released as a new edition, along with new book covers. Those who purchased the original version will be able to download the second edition for free. If you purchased them directly from my website, I’ll be sending you and email with the revised version download instructions attached. For those who purchased them from Amazon or another retailer, please work with your retailer to get the revised edition. BTW, my experience with Amazon has taught me that when an author updates their book, they will attach a note to your list of books, allowing you to update the book. I encourage you to do so.
I’m also putting together a paperback bound edition of all three books in the trilogy. The paperback edition will soon be available on my website, Amazon.com, and Createspace.com.
As a service to the rest of you, I am making the first book, absolutely free. That should make your day!
What makes me happy is the actual writing, creating the scenes, imagining the dialog that my characters might think and say, and putting all together into a cohesive story. Post production is tedious, strenuous, and frankly, sucks. I will be using a new editor for my future writings so that I can concentrate on the fun part of my novels. The creation and development of the story.
This experience has taught me a lot. I will strive hard to prevent these mistakes from reoccurring. I feel I have learned from my mistakes and I will grow from them.
Granted, my books are not for everyone. I never intended for them to be. In fact, if you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that publishing my first book was done almost as an afterthought and after I was pressured by my beta readers to publish it.
For those who do like the genre I write in, I think you’ll appreciate the fine tuning that went into them.
‘Her Client Trilogy’ is suitable for those age 18 and above and contain scenes of graphic violence and criminal acts of assault, sexual abuse, and torture.
I read the following quote the other day on social media. Though I don’t have it as exact as it was written, I know that I’ve captured the sentiment.
“I don’t subscribe to the stuff I write about. I just have a vivid imagination.” – author unknown.
This quote rings clearly in my psyche. The sentiment allows me to explain to people about the stories I invent and capture in my writings and in my artwork. In short, it describes me in a very succinct way. It fits me to a tee.
When you read my books, you will feel the anguish my characters suffer, male and female alike. You will feel what they do as they are tormented, brutalized, sexually assaulted and even killed. You will also live inside the minds of the perpetrators as they deliver their horrendous punishments to their unwilling victims. You will follow along inside the minds of the victims and feel their pain. You will identify with the characters and cringe as they suffer.
While I wrote these stories, I find the behaviors of my perpetrators as disturbing. I strongly believe that the idea of an act of violence against any living being, human or otherwise, as abhorrent. I cannot imagine actually doing the violence I write about. The idea that I can be thought of as someone who does, turns my stomach. I can’t imagine myself forcibly raping another person, man or woman. I can’t imagine myself as a boxer, fighter, soldier or whatever. I just can’t see it. I don’t consider myself a pacifist, I simply abhor the notion of doing violence against another.
Other people have trouble accepting my explanation. Many have said to me “If I can write it, I must be able or willing to do it.” While I understand how they made that leap, I don’t agree with it. I simply have an active imagination and I choose to document the products of my imagination. I will never, ever, do any of these behaviors for real.
What I find most interesting is the more violent the story, the more graphic and brutal it is, the better it sells. Really? I also recognize that either you like the stories or you don’t. There is no middle ground with these stories. They are not for everyone. I’m okay with that.
Whether you believe me or not, I can’t help you. I don’t subscribe, support and live this behavior and that it is just my vivid imagination. If you can’t believe it, then I can’t help you. I can only reaffirm my beliefs and core values do not include this behavior. Those closest to me, my friends, family, and lover know the truth.
In the meantime, as long as people buy it, I’ll continue to write it.
Someone bought a copy of ‘The Taste of Honey’ the other day. Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate it and hope you enjoy the book.
Buy your own copy here on Amazon. http://amzn.to/1JvpwjL
Yesterday, I went to see the movie, ‘The Revenant’ starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Now that I understand the word revenant to mean, ‘a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead’, I couldn’t help think of the similarities between that movie and Richard Verry’s trilogy, ‘Her Client’.
Both characters survive brutal, gruesome and violent attacks. Both Jolene, the heroine in the ‘Her Client Trilogy’ and DiCaprio’s character Hugh Glass in ‘The Revenant’, sustain continued physical and emotional breakdowns. Jolene has her past best friend’s voice playing in her mind while Glass has his dead wife doing the same for him. They are motivated not to give up and both fake their death to fool their attacker.
For both stories, the ending outcome is satisfying to the reader as well as the moviegoer.
The audience of one, me, is cheering for ‘the’ main character in both of these genré. It just takes reading the three novellas and sitting through two hours and thirty-six minutes to come to a satisfying climax. I admit it was agonizing at times, yet getting to the end where the heroes come up on top was fulfilling.
In short, the two creative works had many more similarities than I had expected. What grabs the viewer and the reader is having each main character overcoming certain obstacles and barriers. You follow their struggles through crisis after crisis. You root for them to succeed and cheer when they do.
If you liked ‘The Revenant’, you’ll like ‘Her Client ’.
What do you think? Do you see the similarities I saw or do you disagree? Write a note below and tell me your thoughts.
The characters in ‘Her Client’ developed differently from the ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’. In ‘Her Client’, I had an idea for the story-line and I started writing the first lines of the story without naming the main character. When it came time for a name, the name Jolene just popped into my head. Great, I thought, and kept on writing.
Jolene’s character was somewhat well-defined in my head as I wrote the story. I wanted her to be up and coming in the business world. She was to be intelligent, beautiful and sexy. When I thought about what careers she might be involved in, I shied away from the media related professions. More ideas like pharmaceuticals, legal, Wall Street et. all came to mind. I decided to make her an account executive in charge of handling people’s money. I also wanted her to be overburdened, trying to make a name for herself in her chosen industry. Just as doctors, lawyers and stock brokers work long and late hours to rise above the rest, so would Jolene.
Unfortunately, it also gets her into trouble as she attracts the wrong kind of interest. Enter Jeremy.
When I started writing about her adversary, I asked myself, “Hmmm, what name could I use here?” I didn’t want to choose a name of anyone I was familiar with and after thinking about it for a few minutes, I stumbled upon the name Jeremy. And no, before you ask, this character is not based upon anyone at all. He is purely fictional and he’s pure evil. He can be your best friend and a snake in the grass waiting to pounce.
Both characters have many layers to them. Jeremy has several businesses but the one he is most proud of and makes the most money from is his illicit business … human trafficking. The phrase is never used yet the reader knows it at the end of the first book. Jolene’s starts out as a naïve woman, intent only on doing what is right for her clients. She is a giver and a cheerleader. Yet, she is also damaged and has spent the last ten years working out a past tragedy that in her mind feels was her fault. It’s not but the human mind is not logical or reasonable.
After she is sold off into bondage, she encounters her next nemesis, Jon in ‘Her Overseer’. Originally, I had not intended to write a follow-up book to Jolene. However, as the first book ended, it seemed logical to continue her story with what happens after she unwillingly enters the world as a trafficked victim. Jon’s name just happened to appear in my head as I wrote the second story. I liked it and it stuck.
Again, as in the first book, when I finished this story, I asked myself “What might happen if Jolene survives and returns for a third story?” Enter Jules in ‘Her Essentia’. Jules is Jolene’s childhood best friend who was killed in a tragic traffic accident. Jules convinces Jolene not to give into death but to return to earth and finish the vow she made in the first two books. You’ll need to read the books to find out how it turns out. Suffice to say, all three are gruesome, violent and graphic.
It wasn’t until the books were in the editing stages that I realized that all of the characters names began with the letter ‘J’. How about that? I’m not sure how or why that happened. It just did. Since then, I’ve been taking pains to avoid use of the letter ‘J’ in defining new characters, though I almost fell into that trap with another story, ‘The Breakup’ which is due out soon.
I hope you enjoy reading my answers to these interview questions. It’s been fun to remind myself of the processes I went through to create these characters.
For those of you who are writers, how do you come up with your characters. Or, if you are an artist, how do you come up with your vision? If you’re a musician, what process do you use to come up with your next song, composition or symphony?
I’m curious. Please, share your thought processes. I’d love to read them.
Q: Where did your characters come from? In your head?
A: Thin air. That’s right, I came up with them from thin air. The process that I followed what makes this interesting.
The beginning was coming up with the concept of the story that I had rolling around in my head for months. I knew what I wanted to write yet I didn’t know how to write it. I reflected over weeks that turned into months before I came up with the basis of the books as they exist today.
One day, I had a flash of inspiration and I came up with the title, ‘The Taste of Honey’. Once I had that, the character ‘Honey’ was obvious. Her attributes, mindsets and beliefs hadn’t been worked out yet but I had her name.
How I came up with ‘Mona’ happened completely differently. I knew I was writing an adult themed story that would be full of sex and kink. I also wanted this character to be a strong, confident woman who is more than capable in thriving in her world.
First and foremost, she was a sexual woman who enjoys all forms of sex and intercourse. After reflecting upon her fundamental characteristics, I decided that she would be vocal in her sexual play. She would be a moaner. Ergo? ‘Mona’. Her last name was a bit more of a challenge but eventually I decided on a play of words. Think of, ‘bend her over and screw her’. ‘Bend her over’ became ‘Bendarova’.
Charles, as Mona’s owner and Master, had to become ‘Charles Bendarova’ by rule. Honey’s master came about from the adverb masterly, as in Master Lee. His last name Marks was just a name I liked a lot and it sounded good.*
In ‘Broken Steele’, the new characters I introduced came about very differently. Due to a disaster of working with two different bankers in my real life, I took their names and reworked them into Braxton Steele and Ryder Moro. I consider them villains and their characters definitely reflect that.
The rest of the characters come from a list of names I keep in my notes for the books. They get on the list because I like the names and I choose them as necessary. Since women outnumber men thousands to one, the list of possible women’s name is huge and I burn through them by the dozens in each book. Some are recurring characters, such as Renée. Others don’t survive a single book. To avoid confusion for the reader, I don’t reuse a name though I know that it does happen in real life. Certainly, there are enough names in our languages to avoid duplication.
None of these characters are based upon real people, though I reserve the right to do so in the future. There is a lot of me in Mona and Charles. I split my likes between them. Mona, loves coffee and Kamikaze cocktails. Charles, loves a good steak and a single malt scotch. Of course, both love sex and kinky play, just as I do. For the others, no one character is based upon anyone in particular but I reserve the right to inject attributes from those in my life who have left an impression on me. Good or bad, these attributes help make the characters believable.
The characters in ‘Her Client Trilogy’ came about completely different from what I wrote about above. I’ll write about those characters in a future blog.
So, that’s my story. That’s how I came up with my characters. For those of you who are writers, how do you come up with your characters. Or, if you are an artist, how do you come up with your vision? If you’re a musician, what process do you use to come up with your next song, composition or symphony?
I’m curious. Please, share your thought processes. I’d love to read them.
What YOU think about the characters in the Mona Bendarova Adventures?
What do I think about these characters? I love these characters. I think that they are wonderful, deep characters. Just as an onion is built on layer upon layer, Mona and Honey especially have many layers to them. Each of them were born and raised in a time when the odds of living past their mid-twenties are low. These two women have something about them that allows them to survive and excel.
My first book, ‘The Taste of Honey’, deals with Honey’s strong desire to do what is right for her family and her Master. She deals with being kidnapped by her sister housemate who attempts to murder her.
Honey’s resolve to give back to her family is what allows her to survive against all odds. She has a deep spirituality that she draws upon to find the strength and will to overcome her ordeal. Her convictions are to do what she believes is the right thing to benefit her loved ones and the man in her life.
Mona, on the other hand, is a smart, confident and intelligent woman who knows what she wants and has the talents and skill sets to see beyond the obvious. When facts point to the obvious, her community accepts them as truth and judge accordingly. Mona figures out that there are holes in the story and relentlessly pursues the truth. She figures out that there is something wrong and resolves the mystery. She also knows what she needs to be happy and what the Master of her House needs. She delivers and accepts his attentions for the benefit of all.
The other characters were created to make these two women real and believable. Lee and Charles, the Masters of their own houses, are flawed yet strong men. Their responsibilities are beyond what men of today have to deal with. Yet, while they both rose to their positions they would each say that are not powerful men, just influential. They both know the real power in the community resides in the whole, the men and women of their community.
The villain in the story is a naïve character. She is self-centric, self-absorbed and very arrogant. She mistakenly believes she can get what she wants regardless of the hurt she inflicts upon her own family. She gets what is coming to her in the end. However, her story doesn’t end in the first book but continues in subsequent books.
As for the rest, I like them. Some are wishy-washy. Some are strong and some are weak. They provide interest with the stories. When I think of them as a whole, I think of them as the frame around a painting, enhancing the primary subject centered inside the frame.
Let me know what you think. More importantly, write a review and post it. I would enjoy reading your viewpoints. Please, do it today.