Express, Exert, Exult; Excerpt.

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ’Til your good is better and your better is best."

—St. Jerome

I recently wrenched my back—not pretty, I know—but it gave me a lot of time to think about the things we take for granted. Like being able to stand for long periods of time, or walk erect, or being confined to bed but wanting to get back to normal. But during this last week, I kept getting flashes of how my six days of torture ran parallel to one of my characters in Truth and Temptation.

Of all the characters in T&T, our leading man has changed the most. Lord R was at first kind, sympathetic, respectable—in short: pretty boring. He had no problems, no demons—well very few—and everything was all ‘la di da’ for him. He was probably created out of an unconscious hope for love with little conflict. But that does not exist in life, so how could it exist with my characters? He needed personality—real emotions, real moments of happiness, doubt, rapture, etc., and a past that would seep into the present every so often. We all have that, and it haunts us even as it draws farther and farther away.

During the first rewrite, I looked for someone to relate dear Lord R. to, because I didn’t really know what I was doing writing about men and their inner thoughts (I’m still working on it). So, I chose an actor, who, no one seems to recognize unless I say, he played Commodore Norrington (a secondary character) in The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

A secondary character? My foot! Norrington (and if you’re reading this, you know who you are), in many ways, shows more real emotion than either Elizabeth or Will. Jack Sparrow is a whole other animal. Norrington's passion and torment were so genuinely obvious to me. His want to show all he felt to the woman he loved and his duty to be a good officer often collided. Perhaps, because of this, he came off stifled, but that’s what the character needed. But under that reserve, there beat an admirable heart—I could see it—

—Sorry I got off track a bit there, started sounding like a fan-girl…

The actor who plays Norrington, to me, has always had so much potential. Though, I have never seen him play a really main-main character in a feature. I don’t know why when I thought of Lord R., I thought of him, but I did. So, when T&T is complete, there will be pieces that you may relate to him if you know his work as an actor.

The second rewrite, however, has taken on something else. As well as those attributes above, inner conflict and some outer, have reared their beautiful head.

Which brings me back to this last week. While sitting in bed or on the couch, i. e. laying unable to do much but read or watch Tubi, I realized how hard it is to have something taken away from you. Imagine having your life turned upside down, and instead of it being over in just a few days, no matter how hard those days were, it lasts for months. It turns into a loss of self-respect and continues to poke at you while you’re down. I’ve included below a small excerpt from Lord R., who goes through just such a time in his life. The outcome of which, I will leave to your imagination—for now.

'When Lord Russell had successfully locked himself inside, he landed back against the door frame, unable to think coherently. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his jaw and not realizing until it was too late how much anger was rising within him. He slammed his fist into the door.

    The throbbing of his now bruised hand could not contend with that of his head. Spotting the decanter of whiskey, he crossed to it and picked up one of the crystal glasses, filling and downing it quickly. Nicholas then made with the intention of pouring out more of the liquid until the glass was full. But the glass evaded him and slipped to the floor in a shattering crash.'

P. S. I chose to transfer my ideal of Lord R. onto another person for the new re-write, another actor with the similarly superior acting chops. But I won’t be telling you who he is—however, I’d love to see who you think he is. Pick your favorite British actors or actors who can pull off a good British accent and post their name and picture in the comments.