I read a piece from my book A HUMAN ELEMENT at a writer’s workshop last year. I thought I picked a piece that would not offend. When the faces stared expressionless at me at the end, I quickly realized I did not quite fit into this nice chick lit group. Especially when the workshop leader, Kathryn Craft, noted the comedy in my reading about heads popping in vices and what-not as I peered up with innocent eyes.

This led me to wonder if there are sub categories of the writer gene just like there are sub genres in writing. If there is a “dark” writer gene, well, that fits me perfectly. I like writing from the dark places. To spiral my characters into tragedy – with a dash of hope. On the page I can act out horrific events by evil people and never get arrested. My blood pumps a bit quicker. My fingers fly faster over the keyboard. My husband wants to know how I can write this stuff. Perhaps I’m simply getting my aggressions out.

I see sparks of the writer gene in my son. He writes with colorful passion as I did at his age. He acts out his dreams as well, embellishing on them as he plays. I asked why he did that once. He said he wants to add to his favorite dreams during the waking world, to keep them alive so he can enjoy them over and over again. I understand that. I want my characters to keep acting out new events and live forever through me as well.

Here’s a scene of one dark character in A HUMAN ELEMENT I enjoyed writing:

As X-10 ran under the full moon, leaping over rocks and roots, darting around boulders he could see her in his mind. Laura. You are mine. Then he saw her with her man. Water coursed all around them. Her hair hung wet about her shoulders. X-10 closed off his mind’s eye to the scene. He didn’t want to see her naked. It made him feel strange. And in that strange feeling he couldn’t define, X-10 hated her even more.

Rage surged through him and his blood pulsed fast, throbbing under his white skin in blue rivers. He forced himself to run faster through the night. Why did she get to live a normal life? He would make sure her end was not normal. And she would wish she had never been born.

A lonesome dog bayed in the hills above X-10 as if approving his plan. Streaks of moonlight and shadows fell across his face like whip lashes over and over, creating a living painting from darkness and light. He would show Laura darkness like she never experienced, and pain. There would be so much pain. He howled back at the creature that rode alone through the woods like he did. Perhaps they would meet along their journeys.

He hoped so. He was getting hungry again.

Unlike the fictional X-10 here, ancient history was full of inducing real pain. People acted out their aggressions in real life. Many were the unfortunate ones acted upon. Ripped to shreds by lions. Skewered gladiator style. Tortured by medieval stretch-rack.

We’re so much safer today reading and writing about tormented characters. Think about it. I wrote a blog post recently on how in writing dark fiction we’re saving the world one book at a time. If more people lose themselves in dark writing instead of dark action, we’d all be better off.  Plus there is just wicked fun to be had in writing the bad-ass character and the tormented character.

This brings me back around to the question; if the writer gene does exist then are writers pre-disposed to write what they do? Dark fiction, young adult, fantasy, science fiction, romance, memoir. What in our writer gene pre-disposes us for that? If my son writes some day from the dark places I will know why, and probably enjoy it immensely. My husband? Eh, not so much.

So, do you believe there is a writer gene? And what kind of storyteller are you?