On writing A Wicked Kind of Dark – Jonathan K Benton

fae-comboA Wicked Kind of Dark began with an idea – a ‘what if’. For me it was a powerful ‘what if’ that needed to be developed. Like all good ‘what ifs’, it wouldn’t let me go, and a story grew around it. Characters blossomed inside the text. Like roses, these characters had thorns. I loved them but they could hurt me.

 

Then the story finished and I said goodbye … for a while. The first draft is like an overgrown Bonsai tree. Patient pruning was required. I picked up my pen, and like a pair of Bonsai scissors, I cut out obsolete words and weak prose. I pared back scenes and beautified descriptions, polishing the story around the ‘what if’.

 

Novels are fuelled by ‘what ifs’, powerful ideas with the potential to grow into beautiful stories.

 

My ‘what if’ … You’ll need to read the story to discover what beats at the heart of A Wicked Kind of Dark.

 

JKB

Jonathan K Benton – Storm Clouds

minaea-desktop2-previewToo often religion is blamed for causing war. I’m not a psychologist, but that argument is another example of people not taking ownership of the problem. Humans cause war. Pure and simple. If religion didn’t exist we’d find something else to hide behind while we lob stones at each other.

 

I was sitting on the train today. Clouds were brewing over Brisbane. Four women sat in front of me chatting about work. Other people read books, and still more passengers focussed on their phones. A mother sat with her young daughter. The little girl was clutching a big red Dora the Explorer bag and gazing out the window watching the world rush by.

 

Why do we have to share this planet with puffed up, self-important, sabre-rattling bullies, who will never ride the train with the innocent; despots who hold the world to ransom and care nothing for the little girl with the big red bag.

 

Our role is to protect the future, not destroy it. Please. No more. Enough.

 

JKB