2008-03-03 Unforgettable Characters

Unforgettable Characters

Just a few days back, or were they hours only, I was exchanging a few lines with a very talented British author about how hard is to leave some characters behind because readers as well as writers end being fond of them and wishing that their stories would continue for more than a while. This is what a book deserves when it's so well written as "Hard Times". There's no need to write about the plot as other Blayne Cooper's readers have done so. You know... a women's correctional known as Blue Ridge. A few prisoners that happen to live there more than they could dream of and a newcomer that makes their lives a bit different than used to be before she arrived to the facility.

But this is more than that, much more. If you happen to have watched "Bad Girls", the British tv series you might know what I'm talking about. Mainly the first four seasons. Relationships that imply power, love, hate, winners, losers, lovers, drug addicts, alcoholics, killers, victims, rapists, maniacs, loving mothers, lunatics,... well. You name them, you have them. But not all at once. Well told, with a plot in it, a good structure and with a great sense of characters' builder. Characters do talk too, you know? Well, at the beginning I said that there are always some of them that I want to stay longer. Lorna Malachi and Kellie Holloway make no exception to me. I love them already. Right now I have no idea whom I would take home because they are full of life, desire and even love.

To be honest, I don't really know the importance of having an editor. Apparently, it is vital in some cases for the book's sake. Blayne Cooper has had another great talented author as Katherine V. Forrest is as her editor this time. So, there it is. If you had any doubt in the beginning about "Hard Times" and "another prison story". Forget that, will you? Thanks.