Bestselling author Gena Showalter faced a challenge when writing her latest Lords of the Underworld novel, The Darkest Lie: a hero who can only tell lies. Gena’s here to guest blog about her latest Lord, Gideon…
by Gena Showalter, author of The Darkest Lie (Lords of the Underworld Series, HQN Books, July 2010)
How do you write a story with a hero who can only speak lies? That’s the question I asked myself when I sat down to write The Darkest Lie. See, Gideon is possessed by the demon of Lies. For him, to speak the truth is to suffer an agony so complete he wants to die. So, he just doesn’t speak the truth.
“I’m warning you to tread carefully. I’m dangerous when I’m riled” becomes “Please, keep heading down this gumdrop path. I’m delightful when I’m riled.”
Or, more simply:
“You’re beautiful” becomes “You’re ugly.”
“I love you” becomes “I hate you.”
As he’s learned the hard way, that’s hell on a love life. And an author! Seriously. I suffered more than he did. Especially when he began to fall in love with his Scarlet, a woman claiming to be his long lost wife. He wants her more than he’s ever wanted another, and he’s willing to do anything to win her. Except, she’s possessed by the demon of Nightmares and making her mad is slightly hazardous to a guy’s health. And by “slightly” I mean he’ll die. No question. Don’t worry, though. She’s a sweetie. Most of the time. Well, sometimes.
Still. Gideon was determined, and he pestered me constantly. “Don’t you dare tell my story,” he said. “Don’t you dare give me a happily ever after.”
I won’t tell you what I said to him in return. I’m still in a shame spiral. But it’s only because I have never struggled with a book more. It was almost as if I was Gideon and I spent every day telling the truth. The words were basically ripped out of me, leaving raw, angry wounds, but in the end, I fell so in love with Gideon and Scarlet that the pain became inconsequential. Kind of.
Despite the trials and tribulations, or maybe because of them, The Darkest Lie became the most romantic – and perhaps the hottest — book I’ve ever written. And that’s the truth! Go figure.
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I’m so glad you wrote Gideon’s story. I love him and have lots of fun playing his words back in my head. I love all of your Lords!
I can’t wait to read The Darkest Lie, this one is gonna be fun!
Hi Gena:
*****
I’m very interested in your story. Philosophers have long held that it is impossible for everyone to lie all the time. First, the language would change. People would ask, “Where are you not going” instead of “Where are you going”. Second, lies depend on the truth to work, that is, to be deceptive. This would make it impossible for an individual to lie all the time unless he was always dealing with people who didn’t know him.
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If I were your hero I would say this: “There are individuals who must always lie, thankfully, because I’m a hundred feet tall and have two heads, I’m not one of those individuals.” Then there are the individuals with this lying curse who lie while shaking their head ‘no’ as if they were being secretly recorded.
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Now I am just going to have read your book to see how you deal with this popular philosophical problem.
*****
Vince
I’m glad Gideon got his own story written – I loved the fact that he had to lie about everything to tell people how he felt, it made him so intriguing.
It takes a special kind of person to decypher his words and fall for him so I am looking forward to reading about Scarlet
I am an huge fan (fighting the urge to stalk) of Gena and the LOTU series. I loved every one of them and thought that I would never be able to choose a favorite. That was before reading Darkest Lie. This book was the absolute best, and had me sprinting through the entire spectrum of emotions and hoping I didn’t have a heart attack before I finished the book. Thank the gods I managed to pull thhrough because it was so worth it. Thanks Gena, you’re the BEST!!!
I really enjoyed this book. I was laughing and was teary eyed. The whole lieing thing was just funny and especially towards the end w/cronus. He was hanging out w/Gideon like one of the boys watching a chic fight =) Then cronus says he just doesn’t understand how anyone could understand the man…i just couldn’t quit laughing. Such a good read.