Demons have consistently been a staple of my writing since I was sixteen. Often, I questioned true evil, how evil is perceived, and the duality of mankind. While my main protagonists differ greatly from each other in personality, they grew up in mostly the exact same environment as each other, the same exact gene pool, and yet their personalities are wildly different. With my brothers, our personalities are all wildly different from each other, and I always thought that siblings were an interesting way of exploring that exact human duality. With the exact same parents, how can it be that two opposites are born? Naturally, we share similarities, but the personalities alone are so different that you'd wonder how blood alone would be enough to keep a family liking each other. Nevertheless, this core element alone explores that no matter how different we are from our family (by blood or found), they're the ones that form our emotional core, our livelihood. As the saying goes, 'Imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same'!
As authors, we have life experience as humans that goes into the soul from all different walks of life and experiences. Our experiences shape our opinions, our philosophies, even our personalities. When we consider that what we write is inspired by real events, even if by solely the imagination, we are putting a piece of our soul into our work. It's something AI can never replicate, no matter how advanced it gets. Humanity and its core elements—and especially that which makes us human—are the entire reason writing exists.
Sometimes, writing helps with our frustrations and our irritations with life. It can be oddly therapeutic to write about your experiences, whether they be negative or positive. One constant gripe I have about the writing world is the way other authors or influencers will tell people how to write, instead of promoting their own, independent process. Believe it or not, every author is different in how they write. Some of my other friends will write in the evening because they believe themselves sharpest then, but I'm the opposite. I write when I wake up in the morning with a fresh cup of coffee, and that focus works for me. These influencers will also tell many authors that you need to figure out your genre first, which I think is absolute nonsense. What matters more in the story is its core element, its theme, that builds the rest of the story. If we box people into one genre, eventually you'll get the same old stock stories being told (hmmm, wonder where we've seen this before? /s). So, my philosophy differs to the norm on the internet, since we need to nurture human creativity and bring that out more in our works of art. Could you imagine recycling the same movie five times just to put the same title on it and stale plot lines with no character development? You'd throw your popcorn at the screen.
So, what is Torn In Two then? All things considered?
If you go by the marketers, it's a novel of dark science-fantasy philosophical fiction. If you ask me, I think that's too long to market, so I'd say it's a story whose underlying theme is about Duality. Human duality is among the most fascinating aspects of our existence to me. How we can be both rational and emotional, spiteful and compassionate, merciful and cruel. Every single day, everyone worldwide sees both elements of humanity, whether good or bad. Sometimes, these qualities are a perceptive of good or bad, but they could be the opposite of what's perceived, or even neutral. Often, our lives are never fully one side or another; there's a reason we have ambiguity in our society and laws. Sometimes, it's about the feelings that make these concepts; other times, most people can rationally come to the conclusion of right and wrong. Why do you think many of the major religions have the same rules? I.e. Don't kill, don't steal, etc. It almost seems like we are biologically hard-wired to these predispositions, but you cannot get all eight billion people on the planet to agree on one single thing. It's impossible for any large-enough group to universally agree on one thing, even in an area or demographic where you'd expect the opposite. It's that gray area that makes humans, because if we're always black and white, we're robots that'd think in 1s and 0s.
After all is said and done and this novel is released, I've given it my all, and I've given it my best, so I hope there'll be those that enjoy it, just as much as I've enjoyed writing it. This is the book that taught me that writing is about the passion; it's not about the marketing, or what you think you should be writing. Try that, and you'll hate it. However, if you write what you're loving, what you're specifically passionate about? You'll reach mountain peaks never before seen in all of human literature, and I hope the best for you all.
See you tomorrow. Have a wonderful day!
Dustin