2015 #afraid , #marketing , #video , #writing , Nazis , offend , stories 0 Comments

I was thinking about what to blog about last night, and then Kevin told me they want to ban the words “pig” and “sausage” because it offends Muslims.

*shakes head*

Are you frickin’ kidding me?

This world is getting more and more ridiculous by the day. No, I don’t want to offend people, and I’m very cautious regarding other people’s feelings. In fact, I’m going to share a video with you that I created over a year ago to promote The Devil’s Third. It’s a cool video, but I decided at the time not to use it.

Why?

Because I was afraid it would offend Jews. However, those who have read my Beyond the Eyes trilogy will know that the dark spirits inhabited the Nazis, and in no way was I advocating the Nazi party. The video ties into my trilogy. I absolutely love history and everything I write has some sort of historical element in it and is thoroughly researched.

Anyway, I was thinking tonight about how easily people get offended nowadays. It seems to be getting worse. In the future, we might be restricted on what we say and how we run our business. I hope not, but that’s what it seems like.

I’ve been writing Ameerah’s story. She’s a dark spirit, btw, who wants to crossover and is seeking salvation. Ameerah has made appearances in Dark Spirits and The Devil’s Third and is a great character. She was born in 1907 and was a flapper girl in 1925 in New York. She’s also a lesbian. Her story takes the reader back to that time during prohibition and all the speakeasies in Harlem and Jungle Alley. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve been doing a ton of research to make the story authentic. I’ll be posting pictures of that time and doing a cover reveal any day now. I've been wondering though, if Ameerah being a lesbian will offend other people. There’s a sensual sex scene where she kisses and makes love to a girl for the first time in her life and finally admits to herself she’s gay.

Will it offend straight people?

Will people think I’m gay?

I live in a rural farming community of about 1,800 people. I wonder what they’ll think. It’s not like I purposely made Ameerah gay. Other authors will understand that the character “talks” to you. Ameerah told me she was gay.

I’ve talked to Kevin about this, and he advised me not to worry about it. Write the story (he's been bugging me to write her story for a year now). Don’t be afraid of offending readers. So that’s what I’m doing, and I decided that I’m no longer going to hide, because I love who I am. I’m considerate of others and if someone takes what I write or say the wrong way, so be it.

I remember reading about PETA getting all balled up in a knot over one of Stephen King’s stories where an animal dies. They totally bashed him. You know what Stephen’s response was?

It’s a story.

So do you ever worry about offending someone with your stories or how you market your books?

Here’s the video I mentioned. I might have shared it with you when I created it over a year ago, but I don't think I did. For those of you who know the German language, try to block out what they’re saying and read the script instead. I don’t speak German. I wish I did, but this video is cool, I think.