Or turns a good person? Where do rotten kids come from?
So, we know about the children who were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused. We see those cause and effects all of the time in the news, on television, in the books we read, and while it is very real, what other cause and effects are there?
How does another so called normal person turn, say as a teenager, young adult or later in life? What makes a killer? There is the theory that some are just natural born killers. I believe in aberrant genes. I believe there are good genes and bad genes and while some bad ones may be lurking in many of us, they continue to lurk because there isn’t the other x gene to cause it to surface. So what happens when x gene is the catalyst for the aberrant gene?
Can babying a child or over indulging a child cause them to retaliate as adults when suddenly mommy and daddy aren’t there to make nice nice? Do children who have not been held accountable for negative actions cross the line? Do they grow up a criminal?
I know of a family, a good family who has three adult children. The two oldest are successful, the third, the baby, began to get into little trouble as a child. While the parents didn’t deal harshly with the negative actions they did discipline, then the little troubles turned in to bigger troubles. Once again not handled effectively. As an adult he committed a heinous crime. Everyone said it was because the parents didn’t do what they should have done. Personally I don’t agree with that theory. I know the parents. They are good, hard working, honest, honorable people. Sure they made mistakes but nothing so negligent to drive their kid to do what he did. The event devastated them. I think the kid was born bad, and his crimes progressed as any aberrant person’s unchecked actions would progress.
I believe learning disabilities play a large role in a reasonable person’s choice to turn to crime. It’s a cycle that begins early. Kid starts school, kid gets behind in school, teacher, peers and parents push kid to do better, kid tries and fails, teacher, peers and parents push harder, frustrated and angry and by now feeling stupid, kid pushes back. Fireworks start, parents, peers and teacher throw up hands in defeat, kid quits school, ends up on the street with the other kids who dropped out and life of crime begins.
Life of crime begins with petty theft, escalates to assaults and drugs then maybe murder.
While these people know the difference between right and wrong they feel hopeless, and desperate. Desperate people do desperate things. It’s a great tool to force your characters to do something completely out of character propelling your story forward in an unexpected twist.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not on a soap box condoning desperate people’s desperate behavior. Wrong is wrong, it’s that simple and for every trespass there is a punishment.
But, in the most basic of forms, what makes a person you know bad?

Over at Kristin Nelson‘s blog, she wrote about the state of the chick lit market

Why would a suspense writer even care about the chick lit market?

Because we’re sisters. Or brothers-in-arms. Or any other cliche you can think of.

The truth is, chick lit today is where romantic suspense was 3-5 years ago.

When chick lit first became really popular, maybe about three years ago, good writers who had a good manuscript were bought up in very nice deals across the board. Publishers were snatching up new authors right and left, and established writers with the right tone were moving into the up-and-coming market. Readers couldn’t get enough of them. Publishers couldn’t get the books out fast enough. The industry was in a tailspin, trying to meet demand with a limited supply.

But, like everything, the market became saturated. Selling chick lit became a whole lot harder. Publication dates, instead of six-to-nine months down the road, are not 18-24 months down the road. The market has tightened.

According to Kristin Nelson:

If you are new and want to break in, you pretty much have to reinvent the genre to impress the editors. I’ve been reading some chick lit sample chapters recently. The ones I’ve seen are well done and cute but that’s not going to cut it anymore.

Bingo! That’s exactly what happened to the romantic suspense market. Just like with chick lit now, romantic suspense became more competitive. There were enough books on the market to satisfy demand, so it became harder for new authors to break in, unless they were doing something a little different.

I’ve told the fabulous gals on the chick lit loop the same thing. Publishers want chick lit, but they don’t want what’s been done. They need something a little new, a little different, a little daring. Cutting edge.

And in romantic suspense, to break in you need the exact same thing.

The readers are there. Readers read, they want more books, and Nora Roberts can only write six books a year. There are spots to fill, so keep the faith: write, improve, write more, get better, do something different, push boundaries, be bold and daring.

No matter what you write, where your voice is–chick lit or suspense–there are readers for the books. You just have to shine a little brighter to be noticed.