Okay. I'm on a little bit of a break, I lost steam, whatever you choose to call it. So to get my groove back I'm going to a) keep listening to this playlist I Stumbled, because it pwns b) stare at my screen for a minute and come up with a topic to blog/blurb/ramble about and c) try to figure out what I want to do tonight, because for those of us not of Mexican descent, it's Cinco de Drinko. Although why any country would want to celebrate a defeat is beyond me.
Let's see...
Oh.
I know.
The ultimate Girl Topic and a fairly important "Writer Topic"...
Boys/Men.
I love men. I also kind of like girls, but that's another subject for another day. But, I love me some men. Find me the right one and I can have fun for days. And I don't mean the bedroom kind of fun either, I mean the stay-up-all-night-running-around-town-drinking-booze-eating-in-dives-smoking-cigarettes-and-weed-listening-to-brilliant-live-music-jam-in-the-mosh-pit-watch-the-sun-come-up-and-just-barely-make-it-to-the-bed-pass-out-in-a-tangle-on-the-couch kind of fun. Someone that can keep up with me and test my stamina kind of fun.
It's those kinds of men I love to read about. It's those kinds of men I love to create and write about. Those wild, adventurous spirits that sweep you off your feet and never let you touch the ground again after are, in my opinion, perfect. They can be sweet and doting one minute, the next it's a barfight with some guy. And the sex, when you get to it finally, is pretty damn good.
Sadly, I don't think you see very many of these archetypes in literature today. They're a bit more concerned with sensitive, sparkling vampires and nerds (not that I'm complaining one bit about nerds finally getting their due). Most people prefer to make the volatile type the bad guy, the abuser, the evil ne'er do well who takes advantage of a lily white maiden and introduces her to a a seedy underworld of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll and steals her innocence. Am I right?
I'm sorry, but when has anyone EVER complained about sex (rape is the exception, I'm not stupid)? Drugs, meh, I can see where that's a bad thing. But there is absolutely nothing bad, immoral, or wrong with rock 'n' roll, if you disagree I want a five-point essay with VALID points to your argument and works cited with at least three sources. I'm not kidding.
All of this psychobabble is to explain how I try to create the men in any story I write. I try very hard to make them un-boring and kind of challenging. I, as an aware and aggressive female, enjoy the challenge that particular kind of man creates and want to be able to portray that man in a more positive light. It's not to say I spend every other page hating on sensitive guys, cause I love me some snuggle buddies. Just be prepared to have a very strong love-hate relationship with a couple of my male protagonists.
As a man, my insight would be that you need to dive into the peremptory factors that lead to your male character being so intriguingly um....intriguing. I believe that lifestyle of your (wet) dream man is a direct result of the duality of testosterone meat bags. Culture implements a series of demands for what it truly means to be a "man" and to achieve that title is an indoctrinated goal presented from childhood. When a boy begins to come to age the counter-culture of youth changes that definition of man, and struggling with self-awareness, the boy seeks to live as quickly as he can before the cliche man archetype catches up. This is done with stay-up-all-night-running-around-town-drinking-booze-eating-in-dives-smoking-cigarettes-and-weed-listening-to-brilliant-live-music-jam-in-the-mosh-pit-watch-the-sun-come-up-and-just-barely-make-it-to-the-bed-pass-out-in-a-tangle-on-the-couch kind of fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a man then?
...a boy old enough to ask that question.