So WARDen is JR Ward and the Cellies are on her BDB Forum
From the Warden...
Cellie asks: Hello WARDen,
I don't want serious deets I just want to know, based on how Lover Mine closed, will the next novel be a laugh fest?
I just have this feeling that between "V", Butch, Jane and maybe Rhage, I will be laughing from beginning to end.
WARDEN: Oh God... no, it isn't... sigh
I was thinking of this yesterday while I was driving on the highway. I almost want to post a warning.
V.
Man, sh*t gets really dark with him. The thing is, for all his brilliance, he's rigid. I guess I'm finally coming to understand that part of him now. It makes sense given how he was treated by his father between the age of three and his transition- but then afterward, with his hand and his predilictions, he cut himself off for eons.
Then Butch and Jane came along and he was able to open up- BUT, and this is the big problem, when the pressure gets really intense (like, oh, say, finding out you have a twin and wondering if she'll be paralized, and hating your mother AGAIN and learning secrets from the past- oh and BTW your sister who you love instantly is hanging out with a motherf*king HUMAN) he is reverting to a very icy, unreachable place- which effects his relationships with Jane and the cop badly.
I've seen what happens to get him out of it- but it's hardcore and likely going to disturb some folks. Right now, I'm trying to negotiate with him. Which is why he hates me and calls me a liar. Not sure how much I can show. I just hope folks stay with him.
F*in hell. See, I knew it. I knew this was what was going to happen when he played such a big role in Payne's story.
I just really hope folks stay with him. He is who he is and it would be all nice to have him follow other people's rules and stick to the comfort zone. But that just isn't the way it roles with him.
sigh
AND THEN LATER....
WARDEN: You know, I do love V- I really do. All the Brothers have dark sides, but his dark is just a shade more dense and consuming than the others'. Sometimes, when he gets trapped there, there's only one way to get him out of it...
I think it's dangerous to romanticize someone like him too much- he defo is commited to his mate and to Butch and to the Brothers, but expecting somebody who's been through what he has and is hardwired like he is to conform to what "normals" find pallateable is a treacherous thing. Like he's all about being Jane's hellren, but he has zero interest in children. Nada. And I don't see that changing (could be wrong, you never know, but neither he nor Jane care about the parent thing and that's one of the reasons they work.) Is it normal to want kids? Absolutely! Does Z love being a father? Hell yeah! But some folks genuinely don't do the nurturing thing and that's just the way they are and that's alright. Now, I could see him bonding with a niece or a nephew, but that's going to be a long time in coming.
Sorry, I'm rambling. I have total V on the brain. He did this the last time when I wrote his book. He just barges on in, takes over everything and just dominates. Back to my thing... if you love someone, you have to accept them the way they are. To want them to change or fit into nice little social expectation boxes works with a lot of people. Not V. Maybe it's the nature of his mother or his father... but he does not and will not conform and he really doesn't give a rat's a$$ if this presents a problem for me as the writer who's trying to get him on the page. So yeah, I'm worried. Last time, as I wrote LOVER UNBOUND, it was a miserable experience trying to trim his sharp edges.
God only knows what is going to happen this trip through the park. But I still love him. And this is reminding me of why he's probably my number two after Zsadist. Although why I like the irascible motherf*er so much I have no idea- because he really is that hard to deal with.
Okay enough with the whining I'm annoying myself.
THEN:
CELLIE: I have a feeling that they, especially Butch, are going to help him get through his struggles in "Brother Mine" or "Sister Mine" and he will get through it
CELLIE: Wasn't in the LM chat something said like "thank God for the cop".
I'm glad that he has Butch.
CELLIE: Yep, that's where I got the idea that it is Butch that "saves the day" so to speak. Wouldn't put it past Butch at all TRUE? Love me some Butch and V
WARDEN: Agreed- and Butch... well, I'll shut up now. But V is not whole without both Jane- OR Butch. To fill out his empty spaces, he needs them both.
CELLIE: Ahhh!! I am so stressed out now over V. I hate when there is a disturbance in the force. OK...in the Brotherhood!! Eeeeeekk!!! I'm a sucker for a love story & I cant even imagine Jane & Butch turning their backs on V. It breaks my heart!!!!
WARDEN: I think what I'm more worried about is V turning his back on THEM- see that can happen, even when you're in the same room with somebody. Esp. if the stress is too great and you're losing your mind.
CELLIE: do you mean that he is kind of making them hate him?
He is only going to hurt him self and those he loves...
WARDEN: Agreed and see that's the tricky thing with him- most people have a safety cord when they jump into the dark place in their head. He's got no safety- now, the good thing with Butch and Jane is that although they didn't give him that cord, they made him CARE that he didn't have it. Enough stress though and I think that effect is going to be lost- the issue then becomes what makes it come back... and the answer is a very hard thing for sure. Yes, it does all work out in the end, but all three of them have a sh** time of it for a while.
That's why this has hit my radar- I can see some folks having a rough time with it. The question is whether to put it in the book at all but then that would be a lie.
Now I quote the cellie here because Ward did before she answered...
CELLIE: omg, wow and holy f**k. Such revelations, such interesting and intelligent specs.
WARDen said that what brings V out of this dark place is what always brings him out of it...which has to be love. Because love for Butch and Jane brought him out of it before, and love for his brothers kept him at least marginally connected for all those years. It's the getting back to that place that will be hardcore.
So for me, that spells either sex or violence. Or maybe the two together. And it has to be way more challenging for readers than the sex or violence we've seen before in this series. So some possibilities:
- He might physically harm Jane or Butch or a brother.
- He might dom someone in a really hardcore way -- without their consent? Causing injury?
- He might act on his sexual feelings for Butch. We know he has these feelings. This would be the hardest thing for many cellies to accept, for various reasons that have been well expressed here on the boards. I wouldn't mind, though. If he is in such a bad place, though, he might do this in an aggressive or unfeeling way.
Like many here, I love V, more than any other brother. It's precisely because of his sharp edges that he is so fascinating. Unlike most other romance authors, WARDen is willing to talk openly about suffering and the dark side in everyone. That's one reason so many of us find the series so compelling. So I too hope that WARDen can reveal V for what he truly is. Doesn't each brother's name reveal a basic truth about him? He is Vishous.
WARDEN: Ahhhhhhhh but you forgot the most obvious way to hurt the ones who love him.................
CELLIE: TO HURT HIMSELF! yikes!
WARDEN: Bingo.