As a writer creating effective, dynamic,characters use to be my strong point, but lately I'm finding I'm having a harder time doing it.

I'm a little bit sadden by this and curious as to why it has happened. Off the top of my head all I can guess is that you start to see people differently as an adult. People seem less dynamic. Adults a predictable, mind controlled and so afraid to deviate from the norm.

During my teen years and early twenty's, particularly my college days, I was able to create amazing and colorful characters. I was surrounding by amazing colorful people. I could take bits and piece of people I knew, stitched it together with some strange ideas of my own and, TA-DAA! Characters I loved were born.

In any case, all is not lost. I still know how to create a good character, even if it doesn't seem to come as natural for me as it did before. Plus I know when something sounds cliché, over done, to out of the realm of possibility. I still have some of my literary "spider senses" at my command. So create a new character I have! Aren't I suppose to be done writing this book already?

The fun part about creating characters now is RESEARCH. I might not have these Dynamic people in my life, but they are out there. News clips, history, television. Yes, Personalities! Historys! They are all out there.

For this new character I've decided to base him loosely on the David Berkowitz--The Son Of Sam--and I've been researching this guy on-line. Okay, scary shit, yah? But this guy is very fascinating and the more I learn about him the more my character comes alive. You have to know what parts you're looking for though and what it is you want to take out of this persons story.

It's not the fact that this guy was a serial killer that has caught my attention. It is the fact that he is now a born-again Christian that I find most fascinating. Dude! If David Berkowitz says there is a God, I'd be inclined to believe him. Lord knows he's sent many a poor soul to go meet him!

But I am totally curious about this guys story now. All the little details I'm trying to find on the net. Like, did the dog actually TALK to him and tell him to kill people or did he just translate the barking in his own head?

What exactly was it in the bible that he read that made him convert? How did it make him feel?

He says he came from a  pretty good home but I found out he was in the military and left only a few years before his first murder. I can't help but wonder if his stint in the military had anything to do with his mental problems afterwards, knowing what we know about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) it seems possible.

Anyway, I know I'm just being attacked by distraction demons here. I need to get on and get this book completely finished. 35 Chapters complete! It's amazing! But there's no sense in quitting now.




*That pic is not of me, that's the Son Of Sam. I know! He looks like such a nice guy!He has changed though, but even so, It's still spooky...