SARAH SCHEELE.COM
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Palladia Series
    • Literary Fiction
    • Story Collections
    • Ryan and Essie
  • Newsletter
  • Contact




Me, Myself, and My Heroines

1/30/2018

 
It's always far too easy to confuse a creative person with the work they do. I'm glad I'm not an actress, because at least half of the people who watch a movie don't seem to realize that actors play characters who are not themselves. That's the whole point of the word "actor." The idea of representing somewhat other than yourself. But far too few people understand this. The character becomes real to us and then we forget the actor is acting. But that doesn't make the illusion anything other than that. An illusion. Actors are not the characters they play, unless they're quite bad actors indeed.

In the same way, I've felt people have tried to view my work over the last decade as a personal expression. In short, that my heroines are me. Their romances are what I'd theoretically like to have; their falsities and errors are mine; if they are shady or make mistakes, that's because I'm a very shady, mistake-ridden person. If they are shy or in pain, that's because I'm revealing my pain to the world; if they're tolerant, their tolerance of that exact thing is a reflection of mine. I've already talked about the problem this created with Alyce, where a resigned, slightly run-over girl is the main character. But it appeared with every one of my books. 

To make things worse, a very large number of authors DO write only about themselves, as there are untalented actors who can't act. Some of these authors are just living the dream in their fiction and admit it, but the others are actually trying to write about other people and can't because their writing is so bad. There's nothing but a bad motive in trying to apply that as a sweeping label to any author you run across. That kind of attitude is out of place and in doing it you will make the mistake of not seeing what's actually in their books. Hence people would treat me in an amazing way because they thought I was the heroine they were currently reading about. And I didn't, of course, love an assumption in its essence belittling. Why wouldn't I be a good enough writer to show other people? I don't think you have any proof I'm so amateur. 

My stories are complex and I'm actually trying to say something with them. If that preconception that I'm working through or fantasizing about my own situations is removed, the real story in the books is a whole lot easier to see. In most of my stories, I write about situations in which a bad guy is revealed to be a surprise and not who you think. If you're endlessly reading through a lens of, "I bet you showed this heroine as afraid of the lead male because you're afraid of men," you'll miss the point. Like Stormtroopers with random targets, you'll do nothing but miss. 

And there will be more updates. 



Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Pleasant Fiction in an Age of Noise 
    Picture

    Sarah Scheele

    I write stories about human emotions--about the journey of life. Every step of it can be meaningfully great or simply terrible and you can only reach the end after experiencing many kinds of things that make you grow. Emotional travels are the travels of life and the road of living is not one planned out in notebooks or organized in Scrivener. It is felt in love, hope, and fear and developed through an understanding of why humans go through these. And, on top of that, my stories are adventure stories. History, fantasy, and daily modern situations are all adventures as long as you don't know for sure what's going to happen when you wake up each day. Because that would be like repeating the same day over and over again and who wants to do that?

    Join the bimonthly newsletter and get the 6 Book Chapter Sampler as a signup gift. This Mini-Book has excerpts from 6 different books, plus a teaser for the upcoming Celestine Princess (Coming 2021.) All of these books contain characters that will appear in a soon-to-be-released newsletter exclusive story. Click on the book image below to get started.
    Picture
    Victoria: A Tale of Spain Reader Magnet

    Categories

    All
    A Year With The Harrisons
    Bellevere House
    Books
    Central Five Character Series
    Characters
    Descriptions And Fun Stuff
    Facets Of Fantasy
    Heroes And Men
    Heroines And Women
    In A Nutshell Character Series
    Literature And Fiction
    Miscellaneous
    Ryan And Essie
    Sales And Promotions
    Science-fiction-and-fantasy
    The Birthday Present
    The Palladia Series
    The Test Of Devotion
    This Merry Summertime
    Victoria: A Tale Of Spain
    Works In Progress

    Picture
    Bellevere House has been featured on Ezvid Wiki video "10 Wonderfully Inventive Retellings That Interpret Classic Stories in a New Way." Click to see the video. ​

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Books
    • The Palladia Series
    • Literary Fiction
    • Story Collections
    • Ryan and Essie
  • Newsletter
  • Contact