The Art of Hero Worship
Page 17
MK: Actually, I have written several works of Adult fiction in the past, but since I became sidetracked by my passion for writing for the Young Adult contemporary fiction audience, I have focused on writing romance with major attention to social issues that teens deal with everyday, such as bullying, body image, substance abuse, gender identity, sexual identity, physical and sexual abuse, and spiritual questioning. In Mia Kerick Adult, however, I will focus mainly on how the romance helps the characters to develop and the plot to unfold. There will be a crisis that a perhaps unlikely adult couple must face head on, and the developing relationship between the two adult characters will be critical to the resolution of this crisis. In these adult romance-based stories, I will explore in more detail the physical aspect of the couple’s relationship, where in my YA there isn’t a great deal of sexual intimacy to explore, and what is included, is not described in extreme detail. The physical aspect of love between adults is largely celebrated in Mia Kerick Adult, as well as some other concepts that may be considered too mature for YA.
CDP: Liam is truly a remarkable character, he’s introspective, daring, and brave. Of course, the answers to why he is drawn as such come later in the book. He’s the kind of character we all wish we could be. You make your characters larger than life without ever going over the top. How do you do this?
MK: When I craft a story, I usually first come up with a crisis, which will set the characters in motion, and then I determine who, exactly, I will send reeling. Sometimes I have an image of a man in my mind that I find intriguing, and I mentally audition him for one of the lead roles. If I find he is a good fit, I next need to find a character that will best compliment and contrast him. This character needs to be capable of bringing him to his highest and lowest extremes, so we can see how he will survive.
Interestingly, you said that Liam is the type of character we’d all like to be, however, I see myself as “wanting to be” the character with whom Liam falls in love, so that Liam can be mine. I relate to the character most often who is the narrator, if there is only one, and the more emotionally accessible narrator if the novel has alternating viewpoints. So, in creating the hero, or “my hero,” Liam, I know he will be the strong, dominant quiet type, who does not typically go over the top because to me, that is not how this hero would behave. Often, though, two characters save each other, and in that way they serve as each other’s heroes.
CDP: You have succeeded in crossing over from Young Adult to Adult fiction, is this step based on your personal life, considering that your own children are now adults?
MK: That’s an interesting question, and an interesting way of looking at it, but I don’t think my children’s growing up has much to do with this new focus on Adult fiction.
The motivation is largely topic-related. As you know, The Art of Hero Worship deals with several topics which I wanted to illustrate as being dealt with by adults. Liam and Jason are in college, so truly this book is a New Adult book.
They are setting off on their own for the first time, leaving their families, and discovering who they are. I didn’t want a constant parental presence to be beside them during this period of self-discovery. I wanted to look at how two young men endure their troubles and face new challenges on their own.
In this book, the topics address how adults handle a mass public shooting and a situation where two men bond in an indestructible way, despite the fact that they have never before considered themselves gay.
Yes, these topics could have been written from a YA perspective, but I wanted to contain a certain amount of mature detail and writing for adults gave me freedom to do this.
CDP: The complicated issue arising out of the book is one of Jason’s subservience to his hero Liam and the title is very clever. Do you first come up with a title and then write the book, or is it the other way around?
MK: Depending on the book, it can go either way. With my latest YA release, from the very beginning I knew I wanted to name the book Clean. I knew it was going to involve teenage substance abuse.
However, with The Art of Hero Worship, I thought long and hard about the title after I wrote the book. When I finally decided upon the title, I went back through the book and enhanced all of the parts that would bring to the readers’ minds the title of the book. So, again, there is not a hard and fast rule as to which comes first.
CDP: Is hero worship all sex and drama in your view?
MK: In The Art of Hero Worship, sex is definitely one way in which Jase worships his hero, Liam. He uses his body to please Liam in precisely the way Liam desires in order to be satisfied. (Happily, this also satisfies Jase’s sexual needs.) The other aspect of hero worship in this book, is emotional. In order to worship Liam’s secretive soul, Liam learns to discover important information for himself—to be patient in waiting for Liam to unfold at his own pace, to take time to think when he needs to consider his options and to allow Liam the same.
It is really an attitude of hero worship that Jase possesses, a willingness to do everything in his power to help Liam to feel cared for, sexually satisfied, and in control. In Jase and Liam’s case, this does not involve a great deal of drama in terms of emotional quarrels, but instead, some patience, some biting of the tongue, and a great deal of sexual openness.
CDP: Are you considering writing another gay adult book?
MK: Absolutely. I have several ideas with regard to the relationship dynamics I want to explore, and one of these is the relationship between a gender fluid man and a pansexual man. I have done a great deal of research on different aspects of this topic and am now forming the story. I would like to again explore a lesbian romance, possible adult, as I received a Rainbow Award for best YA Lesbian Fiction for 2015 with Come To My Window.
CDP: Shakespeare so well put it in "As You Like It",
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts...
then, we are all heroes, or central figures in our own lives. We are the players on the stage of our life. Yet, many of us insist on living our lives as if we are a Cinderella type of main character... you know the one who is looked down upon, despised, taken advantage of, not loved, not appreciated, etc. etc. Yet if we are the hero, then we can take charge of the situation and plunge ahead and make changes -- we can rescue the fair maiden or lost soul and raise them (lost parts of ourselves) to a better life. Did you write Liam with this in mind?
MK: This is a fantastic and thoughtful question, and I will focus largely on the last line of the quotation, “And one man in his time plays many parts,” as Jason and Liam each play different roles at different times in The Art of Hero Worship.
Interestingly, I see both Liam and Jason as part active hero and part “Cinderella in need of saving.” At first glance, Liam appears to be the strong and brave, and very obvious, hero, taking charge of dangerous situations and plunging ahead into their relationship without hesitation.
The situations in which he thrives include life threatening ones, as well as relationship igniting (as he is willing to take a risk) and sexual situations. He seems to know exactly what he wants and what to do, where Jason is hesistant, waiting for direction, and in need of assistance.
However, as the story unfolds, the readers will find that Liam is in need of a different sort of saving, which only Jason can provide. He needs to be rescued from the demons that plague his mind, and have plagued him since a family tragedy occurred in his freshman year of high school.
Jason, is the perfect man to apply a sense of reason to Liam’s mental torture, and to embrace the need for emotional openness in their flegling relationship.
CDP: Yet, it is Jason who realizes that Liam can't stay behind and wait for someone else to rescue Liam. Just as we can't close the door and hope it all takes care of itself. Jason understands that Liam is not happy with something in his life and Jason also knows that it
is up to him to take a step forward toward creating the life Liam wants for himself. Do you feel this is intrusive?
MK: Yes, Jason is intrusive. He recognizes that Liam continually shuts him out, in terms of what is causing his great emotional pain, and Jason cannot accept this.
He also sees that Liam’s pain is harming their status as an intimate couple, which is also unacceptable. So Jason pokes his nose into what Liam does not consider his business. However, Jason does so as he believes it is the only way he can save them.
Finally, Jason must draw a line in the sand when he feels he can take Liam’s tendency toward secretiveness and compulsive heroism no longer.
CDP: A hero never gives up. A hero keeps on, past adversity, past losses, past apparent defeat, and keeps on until the situation is resolved.
Who do you feel is the real hero in the book?
MK: I really do hate to choose! In honesty, I believe there are two heroes in The Art of Hero Worship. There is an obvious and active hero, who is willing to risk his life to save people and to risk his pride by taking a chance on a new kind of love. And there is a hero of the heart, who pushes the couple’s fledgling bond as far as it needs to go to survive.
One hero sets the ball in motion, risking his safety and pride, and the other picks the ball up when it rolls by the wayside, and carries it down the field. Without both of these heroes, this relationship could not work.
CDP: Lastly. The message you so succinctly put across in the book is, in my view, that we are the heroes in our own lives. We have to pull ourselves up and do what it takes to make a difference in our own lives, and in the lives of the people around us, and in the life of this planet.
The time is over when we waited around for some other hero to rescue us.... All heroes are busy in their own lives. We must come to our own rescue. Would you agree with this?
MK: By demonstrating that two very different men become heroes in two very different ways in this microcosm of a world where Jason and Liam live, I am establishing my belief that everyone has the potential to be a hero in their own life, as well in the lives of those around them.
I am aware that not everyone is the active hero, willing to put himself at physical risk. And not everyone is willing to try something new, or to take an existing relationship and mold it until it is something stronger.
But all people have the potential to be their own type of hero. However, I also believe that there are some people who step back and do not embrace the role of hero in any way, shape, or form.
Readers will meet these characters in The Art of Hero Worship. They do not possess the physical or emotional fortitude to save themselves or others. They can see no worthiness to the risk of changing the environment in which they presently live. So, although I do believe we can all be our own and other peoples’ heroes, we can just as easily refuse to see ourselves as heroes and fall from the challenge.
Books By Mia Kerick
CoolDudes Publishing
Inclination
Love Spell
A Hard Day’s Night
Clean
Dreamspinner Press
Beggars and Choosers
Unfinished Business
A Package Deal
Out of Hiding
Random Acts
Here Without You
Harmony Ink Press
Intervention
Not Broken, Just Bent
The Red Sheet
Us Three
Book Published by Mia Kerick
Come To My Window
Mia Kerick
Mia Kerick is an award-winning author of stories involving the type of life events that are riveting to read about, but you probably wouldn’t want to experience first-hand. Into her fictional disasters, she sprinkles a sufficient quantity of touching and spicy adult LGBTQ romance to keep her readers coming back for more.
Having relocated from Boston, Massachusetts to rural New Hampshire, Mia lives with her doting husband, four brilliant and accomplished young adult children who will one day likely contribute to the establishment of world peace (Mia believes in self-fulfilling prophecies), and at least three too many cats.
She suffers with a severe case of mall-withdrawal, which leads to frequent online shopping, and an overly personal relationship with the UPS driver.