Sunday, February 21, 2010

Chapter 2 - Sandra Casey

Out of all of the chapters in "Lives", this one required the least amount of effort. Sandra's character filled the pages so quickly that before I even realized it, I was done. Not only that, but she was so completely different from Freddy that it made me think a lot harder about how far I could take the format. Eight chapters with eight distinct voices... It raised the bar because at that time, I still had six more characters to write!
For what it's worth, I still believe that her voice is one of the strongest.
However, Chapter Two stands out mostly because several readers have thought it to be the most controversial. In my opinion, the violence in other chapters is much more concerning, but that's America for you. We prefer violence to sex. Sandra is a "lot lizard" (a prostitute that works truck stops) and she goes into great detail as to what she does to be the best.
When my mother read this chapter, she begged me to take it out. I listened carefully to her concerns, and as any son would in this situation, I began to doubt myself a little bit. For a couple of weeks, I did nothing but read that chapter over and over again, searching for another, less graphic way of telling her story.
Sandra tells it like she does because she's hiding behind her work ethic. In other words, she focusses on being really good at a job that degrades her in order to shield herself from that degradation. Being a sucker for good irony, I had to leave it all in. Not only that, but when she stepped back from the job at hand, and compared it to working for a corporation somewhere ("where your boss is now your pimp"), I felt the detail was necessary to bring the metaphor home with realism and power. Combine that with her love for Billy Cobb, and her humanity breaks through very nicely.
For those of you who have held a job that drained your soul... or who have held a torch for the most undeserving person in the world...
Or who have punished yourself for hurting someone who is no longer alive to apologize to... I introduce you to Sandra Casey.
Thanks for reading!
-JJ McMoon
2/21/10

(for your FREE electronic copy of "Notchless Number Five", please subscribe to the JJ McMoon newsletter by following the links at www.jjmcmoon.com, or by sending e-mail to:
jjmcmoon@gmail.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment