I'm in the middle of reworking my next manuscript, and I have a confession to make: while I edit and work with original characters and concepts, I've been cheating.
I've been having an affair.
Each morning I've spent in the arms of a new love, that of fan fiction. I've written quite a few stories (never ever to reach the light of day) about existing characters, ones someone else created.
It's an intoxicating exercise, one many view as degrading. "What's next, One Direction stories about Harry Stiles?"
If you think about it, fan fiction has been alive for centuries. Medieval bards sang lays about heroes his audience already knew. And more recently, some of the most successful books and movies center around previous writings: Wicked. Les Miserables, the Broadway opera. Once Upon A Time.
Fan fiction is despised, but it shouldn't be. After all, those writers ask the question inspiring authors everywhere: What if...?
What if The Wicked Witch of the West was friends with her sister?
In writing and posting my fics, I've learned something very important. Angst is one of the most vital components of a good story, and it is also one I avoided for years. My characters were understanding, reasonable people for the most part. They accepted their fates head-on instead of railing at tragedy and the other characters.
There's no one to blame but myself for this; I really suck at drama in real-life. I'm not a Real Housewife. When anger boils up, I'm the one scurrying away just as quickly as possible. If I do have to confront an issue, you can safely bet I'll do it in the worst possible way.
A moment for a deep breath - that's a huge revelation, by the way. Make of it what you will.
In any case, with copious feedback from the fan fiction sites, I see there must be no more scurrying and hiding from angst and drama. A slew of overly calm characters will quickly grow dull and bore the audience - and this from the calmest person possible. (...unless, of course, my back yard is on fire.)
So as I rewrite my next book, the largest note in red letters to myself is: PUMP UP THE ANGST. SQUASH THE CALM.
Whether I follow that line of reasoning in my own life remains to be seen.
If someone does something that is a wonderful act of kindness for no reason other than it seems right at the time, does that person receive good karma?
And, conversely, if another person does harm, an act of "douchebaggery," simply because they are themselves a plastic bag fitted with a nozzle and they enjoy the drama that results - will that person receive bad karma?
It's almost unbearable to think that they will not, in the end, reap the opposite rewards of their opposite acts. In the ongoing cycle of the universe, does one action affect another and another, to create a sort of house of cards or domino falldown, each tile tipping against another and another?
"To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions." - Newton
This law of motion seems to support the concept of karma in a way that agrees with physics - at some point, a deed, whether good or bad, will start something else to occur. But will that reaction come back to haunt (or to favor) the person who started it all?
In Shakespearian tragedy, all of the story comes from one terrible act, caused by the hero's fatal flaw. After Macbeth kills the king, the murder causes more murder until the country is at war. It's as though the fatal flaw is a hideous spider in a web, effecting "equal and opposite reactions" from plucking one sticky string.
Woody Allen's view is quite different. In "Crimes and Misdemeanors," the central figure gets away with murder, and the good guy who follows his heart and passions gets nothing. There is no karma in that movie.
And to me, that just seems wrong. There must be karma. A bad act reaps evil; a good one delivers happiness.
Does that karma come from a beautiful, vengeful goddess, wielding lightning and slinging metaphysical swords?
Maybe. But how much more interesting would it be if that Karmic goddess lived inside our bodies, and we exacted karmic vengeance or rewards on ourselves. An act of good, even though it is unseen and unrewarded, creates a point of light within our souls, where it grows and interacts with everything we are - memories, dreams, creation.
An act of evil, no matter how much the person may defend it, creates a point of darkness which also grows within. JK Rowling used this brilliantly in creating Voldemort's character - his evil came from his own evil deeds, and each horrible act warped the character further until, at last, he was no longer even human.
So, I have to conclude that there is karma, and that is a satisfying ending. The punishments and rewards are not immediate or tangible, but they exist. Yes, indeed - they exist.
