That’s right, I’m sitting here writing in the nude, and that’s NOT because I’m trying to get in the mood to write erotica…but because it’s fucking 35 degrees here! And I can tell you, it’s not a pretty sight (thankfully, at least half of it is under the desk).
Anyway, I might have mentioned that I hate research – but I’m currently researching murderers, and I have to admit it’s kind of engrossing. Did you know, for instance, that most violent dudes have violent parents (one or both), grow up in violent neighbourhoods or have really traumatic childhoods? Poor things, I hear you say….no, but really, it takes a lot to make most people kill. Even Richard Kuklinski, who literally can’t count the number of people he’s offed, felt rotten about the first one. Most murderers, in fact, would rather they hadn’t become murderers: they would have liked to have an ordinary life, but either their brains or their circumstances said otherwise.
It’s true that not everyone who’s abused as a kid ends up killing someone. It’s also true that not everyone who smokes ends up with lung disease, and many amputees don’t enter the Paralympics. It’s a numbers game: as Whitey Ford says, you know where you ends, yo it usually depends on where you start.
Why am I researching murderers? Because one of my current writing projects involves a hitman, ‘Uncle Trev’, in Long Bay who is visited by a reforming prison visitor. Paul. Trev wants out on parole: Paul wants to help him become a better man. But is that really possible, or is Trev just acting nice until he’s on the outside with a gun under his coat and scores to settle?
Do you know anyone who’s killed someone? Do you believe in unmitigated evil, or is there an innocent child in all of us? Can a person who’s done bad things in his or her life change? Feel free to comment at https://butimbeautiful.wordpress.com/2021/01/24/the-naked-novelist/
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