Right after I wrote my Salem witch story I had an idea that was eating at me. I wanted to do a theme about a guy's commute home and how the stuff that goes through his mind on this ride exposes a whole bunch that is wrong with his life; he's been cheating on his wife and also embezzling from the business he works for. It was based on the idea, to me especially, of what a living hell a long work commute can be. I can't stand any situation where I become just another of the huddled masses stuck in the bureaucracy of everyday life, things like traffic, the DMV, a mobbed concert or sporting event, Black Friday, etc.
That's why, Dracula-like, I rarely venture out in daytime. I like the road to myself, and if I can't do something at night, I will use any and all back roads available to me to avoid interacting with people. When you intersect with people, trouble follows, like car accidents and road rage and parking space jealousy, etc. This tale, which I have alternately called Atonement and A Time of Atonement, holds the record for my longest-gestating story. Started in 2006, it is now called Peeling Down the Layers and I am STILL WRITING IT.
Top that! The story kept growing and evolving. First off, I am obsessed with human sexuality. I'd have been a good staff member for Dr. Kinsey back in the fifties. I like to read about the utmost intimacy that goes on behind closed doors. Not the mechanical "going through the motions" of pornography, but the innermost workings of people's biggest sex organ, the brain. What goes through their mind, how do they build themselves up, who makes the first move, what do they like, not like, are they free to explore, are they restrained in their lovemaking (not the handcuff kind)? What's it like after the dazzle wears off, who gets bored first, who's still "in love," what's the pillow talk. I could go on and on.
I guess I'm just explaining why so many of my protagonists are cheaters; I just find it so much more interesting than people happy in their relationships or people that are both free and clear to be together. There has to be a reason that there's conflict, lol. And nothing's more exciting than the unexpected, particularly when someone is used to just going along like a robot not ever thinking that anything could happen to them. Also, I've been told I write great sex scenes, hahaha.
When my Mom passed away when I was fifteen, I didn't realize it at the time, but there was a huge hole in my life as far as attention and physical affection from a woman. Because I immediately combated my loneliness by trying to date any female that moved or talked. I outline this in my second novel, which is literary fiction, but I had a very successful method in getting dates, though I was no football star. Anyway, I have always liked girls throughout my life. I never went through the thing as a kid of hating girls. Each year of Elementary School, I had a different girlfriend, which basically consisted of holding hands on the way to music or recess or square dancing (yes we had to do that)
or other "stuff." I could name them but it would mean nothing to you all, lol.
I even remember having a dream that everyone at school was naked BEFORE I KNEW WHAT GIRLS HAD DOWN THERE. The little girls' things looked like mine and the women teachers' naughty bits looked like my father's, all hairy. (Which I saw when Dad and I had to take showers at the beach).
Next time, more on the story that's never finished, and less about my proclivities.
