Yesterday I edited the galley proof for Promises and Lies...it looks spectacular!

In my ongoing quest to share about characters in the book I've finally come to my problem character, Jesse. This is the one character that gave me the worst fits through the entire process of writing this book. I always felt like I had a clear concept for him, but I had a difficult time making that concept clear to everyone else. I knew why he acted the way he did, but in the final analysis on paper he came out murky.

Jesse is a biker dude, he builds choppers. He's a man's man who is saddled with the responsibility of raising two teenage boys that he doesn't even want. He is a big part of Jeff's murky past, a past that is all nebulous and takes place prior to the opening of this book. The past plays a large part of the make up of Promises and Lies. Sean's past with Andy is touched on, Gabriel and Mark's past is also touched on, but Jeff's past only reveals itself through his own admissions, not through flashbacks.

My vision for Jesse was always that he was a hard man who didn't really want to take on the boys, Jeff and Luke, but had no choice as their parents were taken before their time. Once given the responsibility, even though he didn't want it, he views them as his possessions. The problem comes in because he never follows Jeff into the hellhole he falls into...and I think that's primarily because he has a hard time accepting the fact that Jeff is gay. Even though Jesse is a hard man's man, he has zero grounds for understanding Hunter, the man who held Jeff captive for several years. So, in Jesse's mind, out of sight is out of mind. It's almost as though he says "If I can't see it I don't have to deal with it." Because I didn't want Jesse to be a main character, and there was really no one for him to interact with to make this clear, he comes across as confusing. Once Jeff takes up with Sean it's a different story. Jesse and Sean are cast from the same mold, they both have the "He's mine--hands off!" belief about Jeff, hence Jesse and Sean clash horrendously.

I didn't really endow Jesse with any of my memories, maybe that's a reason why he falters as a character. I have some friends that I consider hardcore motorcycle enthusiasts, but Jesse isn't really like any of them. I live nearly in the shadow of West Coast Choppers, but my Jesse isn't really like that Jesse either. My grandfather's name was Jesse, but again there's no correlation. Jesse is just a bad dude.

Three more characters left, and then the book hit's the ground!


Jesse builds choppers and has no memories that belong to me.