Don't Let Go

I was watching Law & Order and knitting two nights ago, and it was one of my repeats I love with Detective Munch (SVU). I have been a fan of Richard Belzer since he was in NY radio way back when. Anyway, at the end of the episode, he is shouting at his captain that he KNOWS the woman they let get away with murder, indeed got away with murder, because of her wealth and her family's power. And for the captain, it would just be better if this whole "thing" went away. But Munch isn't wired that way. He can't let go.

In real life, my Russian relatives have been known to carry grudges for over 60 years. They're definitely the "I'll spit on your grave" type. My dad is the "I'll spit on your grave type." Though he would usually use another way of expressing it, and I'll just leave it at that.

In the last year, I went through something where everyone around me just wanted me to move on from something. But for me, it was not about carrying a grudge at all. (I don't.) It was about what is RIGHT. Standing up for truth. And for that, I'm one of those people that even if it costs me dearly (and in this case it did), I don't care. I hold my head high--in fact, if I am being honest, indeed I look down at the people who opted for political expediency over doing the right thing. I can't imagine living your life without a backbone--or being so weak-willed that if someone talks nastier and uglier, you'd rather hide in their shadow than speak up. And damn if I am not happy my father raised me with tenacity.

It's tenacity, at this point, that has me even WALKING based on my auto-immune disorder's recent showing.

But spin it into fiction.

Moby Dick would not exist if they decided to go home and put the ship in drydock.

Not letting go of the truth, of what is right, no matter the cost, is the stuff of nearly every thriller or detective story I can think of. If the detective/cop, etc. was not "thisclose" to be killed over a secret, there wouldn't be that much of a storyline.

But this guy and I have discussed it, because at SOME point, there can reach a line of demarcation where believability is stretched and most people would walk away. MOST PEOPLE. I think the way to make it believable isn't the level of risk . . . it's the back story of the character. It's planting enough there to make you believe, totally, that even if it means death, or losing everything, THIS character is going to see it through to the end.

In ILLUMINATED, my 2011 Penguin release, it's a YA romance. And at some point, the situation my character finds herself in means risking not her life, but her relationships with the adults in her life. I.e., "getting into BIG trouble." Now there are teens hardwired to not care if they get in trouble, but the teen in the story isn't one of them. She is the class valedictorian, a virgin, doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs. She's a brain. But as she researches the illuminated manuscript, she comes to believe--as only the romantic and the dreamers can--that somehow the fates NEED her to uncover the story, and that somehow, this will bring her closer to understanding her own mother. I think the motivation is clearer this time around . . . .

So think about it. What character have you created that "won't let go" even when it makes perfect sense TO let go? Tell us about it!