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Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Lady Gaga Effect



I cannot get Lady Gaga out of my head.

This is bad. Very bad.

Do you know how hard it is to write about the Middle Ages or Ancient Egypt when you have the lyrics to "Bad Romance" or "Poker Face" running through your head, especially when you're editing a scene and random words from the chorus start typing themselves into your dialogue? My brain cannot multi-task! (This is also why I never listen to music with lyrics when I write.)

My favorite Lady Gaga line?

Russian roulette is not the same without a gun.

Darn straight! (Says the girl who has never and will never play Russian roulette.)

But seriously, how lame would it be to read a scene on Russian roulette and then find out there was no gun? Or bullets. Or poison.

I shy away from conflict in real life and have had several readers call me on the fact that I shield my characters from conflict too. But fiction has to be larger than life. It's not just Russian roulette with a gun, it's Russian roulette with an Uzi pointed in your face. (Yeah, I like hyperbole. So sue me.)

So next time I want life to go easy on my characters I'll just remember Lady Gaga. Somehow I doubt she ever shies away from conflict.

Happy weekend!