Story Inspiration: "His Secret Past" and Making Genre Assumptions

I was driving on I-81 from Pennsylvania to New York a few years ago and I got a flash of a scene--a dad and a son arguing over the son's plans to drop out of high school and take his band on the road. I pulled over and scribbled notes and eventually that scene became the basis for my proposal for His Secret Past, a May 2008 Superromance.

As I developed the characters, the dad turned into an ex-rocker who was afraid to let his son tour because he wasn't sure he'd been an adequate father. He worried that he'd missed something important and his kid would wind up hurt because of it. (Trust me to make a rock and roll guy into a beta hero. I love those angsty men.) Anyway...

I didn't know anything about rock stars. Well, I knew some things but not enough to write a book about one. Enter my husband, beta man and music geek. He rented Some Kind of Monster for us. It's a documentary about Metallica and the behind-the-scenes story of their band as they were making their Some Kind of Monster album. 

Prior to watching the movie, I knew little about Metallica's music, and even less about them as a band. I had assumptions based on the songs I'd heard, the way they dressed, and the fact that they were a metal band. After watching the movie and reading the companion book written by one of the film makers, I realized many of those assumptions were wrong and the few that were correct were almost inconsequential next to the facts that really matter about their band.

The documentary is great and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good story. Basically, during the time Metallica was making that album, their band almost went to pieces but with the help of a therapist who worked with them as a band, they came out stronger than ever. (In many ways.) It was fascinating to me that although I expected the movie to be about a metal band, it was really about a group of driven, highly successful but seriously flawed, men who wanted to work together but were having trouble being productive due to past history, bad habits, and personality conflicts. I got a lot of insight into the demons and dreams that drive a super successful band and was able to build them into my character, Mason Star. 

I recently had the opportunity to see Metallica live in Newark, NJ. Even with everything I'd learned about them, I went to the show with low expectations. My husband is a fan, but I just don't really like most of their music. Again, Metallica surprised the heck out of me. The show was engaging, fun, and energetic. They seem to love their fans and looked as if they were having a great time with each other. The last 20 minutes or so were the most remarkable display of fan interaction and appreciation I've ever seen at a rock show.

I left the arena feeling that I'd been witness to something special. Metallica had, again, turned my expectations upside down.

You'd think, as a romance author, I would know about genre expectations and how misleading it can be to judge a book by its cover or a band by the length of their hair. Metallica surprised me, but there wasn't any reason they should have. I had all the information I needed going into the show, I just didn't realize it.

So I have to thank Metallica again. First they showed me how to find the soul of my character and then they reminded me (again) to keep an open mind and see what's really going on without making assumptions based on superficial characteristics. Maybe I should send them a copy of His Secret Past with a little note explaining why. Who knows...it's entirely possible that someone in Metallica reads romance. Lars?

Cheers,

Ellen

www.ellenhartman.com
Blog: www.romancenovelsblog.blogspot.com
Plan B: Boyfriend Superromance December 2009
The Boyfriend's Back Superromance May 2009