The “Monsters” in my Stories
I’ve said this before, but I’ve never taken the time to write a dedicated post about it. The real monsters in my stories are the creepy, grotesque creatures that often come to mind when someone thinks of a monster.
No, in my worlds, the monsters are all too often human. It’s their deeds and actions that make them monsters, and sometimes I think that’s scarier than the occasional giant spider and ravenous squid I’ll weave into my tales. Humans can appear harmless, they can pretend to be friends or allies, all the while hiding a dark and disturbing nature just beneath the surface. Those sorts of humans often find themselves cast in the role of villain in my stories, because I find them terrifying.
Writing things that scare me into my stories wasn’t something I started consciously doing until I’d been writing seriously for some time. But the things that scared me seeped into every book in some manner, and it was only later, when I was thinking about recurring themes in my writing that I realized I was doing it. There are certain types of people that absolutely terrify me.
Take the villain from The Caein Legacy, for example. Colin is a textbook sociopath. He has no conscience, and if he feels even a sliver of remorse for the things he does in the series, he never shows it. He hurts the people he’s closest to in the most savage ways possible, all while maintaining an air of false civility and of “upholding the law.” Colin is, without question, one of the most detestable characters I’ve ever written. And knowing that there is a chance someone real might exist with a personality much like his is pretty damned scary.
Then there are those like the mercenary captain, Van Duval, from Wraith and the Revolution. He isn’t as blatantly awful as Colin, but he gets a certain thrill from wielding power over others. Absolute power, in some cases. He’s not a pleasant character, but Van takes care of his crew and can even be somewhat friendly with them when he wants to be. Yet if someone crosses him, there is no forgiveness, and he does not tolerate anyone acting against him. He can be as ruthless as he is brutal… And when he has a useful “tool” at his disposal, he’ll go to any lengths to keep that tool for himself. I’d like to say a little more, but for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I need to stop here. Just know that you’ll see plenty of Van Duval in Wraith and the Revolution.
And I can’t end this post without mentioning Dranamir from The Relics of War (partly because she’s one of my husband’s favorites, and I’d be in trouble if I didn’t mention her.) She’s a different sort of monster altogether. Where the others I’ve mentioned don’t answer to anyone, Dranamir does, and she does so willingly. She is devoted to the Nameless god and will do anything he asks of her without question. She doesn’t care if her actions result in the agony of others, it doesn’t faze her that even her allies hate her, and because she has divine sanction, her merciless cruelty is rarely questioned. Dranamir’s motivations aren’t about power—though she has plenty of it—but about obeying her god. Hers is a different level of scary compared to the others.
While I do incorporate some of the more traditional types of monsters in my books, like the Venom-weavers from The Caein Legacy, or the humboldt squid featured in the early chapters of Wraith and the Revolution, they aren’t the monsters that really scare me. It’s the human ones that bother me most, but I’ll continue to write about them. Maybe it’s my way of facing my fears.