last weekend i attended my first writing conference. one of the keynote speakers, andre dubus III, said in his afternoon lecture, that when we read a book, what we're looking for is to find a part of ourselves, "give me, me", he said.
if this is truly the case, and it must hold some truth, otherwise i would not have bothered to write it down, then which characters are me within the stories i enjoy reading: anita blake? merry gentry? hunter kiss? janelle angelline? vicki nelson? lt. torr?
and before now: the children of v.c andrews, the various victims of dean koontz, emily dickinson, the worlds of edgar allen poe.
the stories and characters i read then were about victims and being victimized, helpless to fight back with little to no chance of taking charge in a world gone mad.
the stories i read now are about being a heroine, taking charge of your life and the lives of those you care about.
anita blake is no one's victim.
merry gentry is no one's victim.
hunter kiss is no one's victim.
janelle angelline is no one's victim.
vicki nelson is no one's victim.
lt. torr is no one's victim.
this doesn't mean that none of these characters have been victimized, it just means that they've lived to tell the tale, and they are stronger now than they were before, and they are able to protect themselves and those around them from anything like what they've experienced from happening again.
these women are nobody's victim and neither am i.
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