{"id":1071,"date":"2010-06-24T17:53:18","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T22:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2010-06-24T17:55:57","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T22:55:57","slug":"if-michael-jackson-wrote-romance-novels-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/24\/if-michael-jackson-wrote-romance-novels-3\/","title":{"rendered":"If Michael Jackson Wrote Romance Novels…"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the\u00a0upcoming anniversary of\u00a0Michael Jackson's passing, I repost the following which\u00a0originally appeared on the blog\u00a0shortly after his death. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Okay, get your mind off of all the weirdness of MJ's latter years.\u00a0 As for the criminal charges, don't go there.\u00a0\u00a0Think about the music and the performances.\u00a0 Get yourself in that mind space.\u00a0 Maybe it'll help if you squeal \"Ooh\" and \"I'm Bad\" three or four times.\u00a0 Okay, focused\u00a0now?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0His death was tragic.\u00a0Having a creative force like his snuffed out so quickly, so needlessly has deprived the world of years of music and magic.\u00a0 So while it's certainly his tragedy, his family's tragedy, it's also a\u00a0loss for everyone who ever turned on a radio or downloaded\u00a0music.\u00a0 In the wake of the sudden loss there were many retrospectives and tributes.<\/p>\n

As one of those tributes Fox re-broadcast the\u00a0first American Idol finalist show of this season featuring the top 13\u00a0performing Michael Jackson songs.\u00a0 I watch American Idol and enjoy seeing\u00a0the group working and growing\u00a0into music professionals.\u00a0 It's always fun to see someone working to make their dream come true.\u00a0 But I'd forgotten about that MJ show because, at the time, it was just another show.\u00a0 Too bad it wasn't done later in the season with the gloved one giving the finalists performance critiques and suggestions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My favorite contestant of this past season was Adam Lambert.\u00a0 We all recall that he finished second.\u00a0 My only explanation for that is that Kris Allen was everyman -- the one more like the average American watching on the sofa at home.\u00a0 Adam has too much creative force to be contained or labeled in any one genre or tradition.\u00a0 Adam will never be anyone's everyman -- but neither is Elton John and, of course, neither was Michael Jackson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As one of the last performances of the show, Adam Lambert did MJ's \"Black or White.\"\u00a0 Adam nailed it, standing out from the others like Sir Elton at a High School talent contest.\u00a0 His performance impressed the judges too, including Simon Cowell, the one we love to hate and hate to love.\u00a0 Simon's comments made me think and inspired this post.\u00a0 Simon said Adam nailed it\u00a0because (and I'm paraphrasing here because I didn't watch the episode with pen in hand)\u00a0- To make a MJ song work\u00a0, a performer has to be totally comfortable on stage, and he has to\u00a0perform the song like Michael - over the top<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Why did that resonate with me?\u00a0When\u00a0Adam and MJ perform, they do it over the top.\u00a0 When I write romance, I write it over the top.\u00a0 For a writer or performer to succeed, he or she has to do it the way it comes naturally.\u00a0 If Kris Allen tried to perform MJ over the top, it wouldn't work for him at all.\u00a0 It worked for Lambert because that's how his art speaks to him.\u00a0 It's the same for a romance novelist.\u00a0 You can only write romance over the top and have it carry the reader along if that's how the story and the characters speak to the writer.\u00a0 I understand MJ's approach to music because I know it must have come as naturally to him as my stories come\u00a0to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"I write romance over the top, bigger than life, because that's how the characters in my books insist on behaving.\u00a0 Does my over the top style communicate to readers?\u00a0 I had a\u00a0comment\u00a0on Amazon from a lovely lady who'd read A Faerie Fated Forever<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0She said the book was written over the top but she hadn't been able to put it down.\u00a0 Over the top done right will take the reader out of this reality and into one where love is instant, lust is imminent, seduction is\u00a0inevitable and happily ever after is\u00a0not just possible and plausable - it's necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Michael, his song lyrics were intense, almost driven.\u00a0 His performances took that intensity, that drive, and multiplied them many times over.\u00a0\u00a0The way he\u00a0acted, sang, danced and performed carried the songs over the top and\u00a0took his audience along for the ride.\u00a0 Other artists\u00a0performing those songs, save for the rare exception like Adam Lambert, generally come off like glass trying to imitate a diamond.\u00a0 Not many performers, even very polished singers who've sold in the multiple millions, could do Michael and have it come off as a tribute instead of a poor imitation.\u00a0 I'd love to see Elton John and\u00a0Cher\u00a0performing some\u00a0Michael Jackson tunes, \u00a0separately and together as a duet.\u00a0 I'll bet you a re-fried frog that would be a tribute that carried the soul,\u00a0the spirit and the vibrance of MJ.<\/p>\n

Over the top can, too often, come across as\u00a0parody.\u00a0 It will only capture and carry the audience if it first captured and inspired the writer or artist.\u00a0 As Simon commented on Adam's performance, it has to be comfortable before it can be convincing.\u00a0\u00a0When it's done right, the view from over the top can change the way readers and audiences view\u00a0parts of their lives long after the last word\u00a0or the last note.\u00a0 Who could experience MJ performing Man In The Mirror without examining their own choices and actions?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I'll never\u00a0be the MJ of the literary world.\u00a0 His shoes are too big, his legacy too inspiring for anyone to attempt to claim.\u00a0 But if you enjoy MJ's music, perhaps you'd enjoy some of the work of a romance novelist who writes over the top.\u00a0 Brotherly Love<\/a>, A Faerie Fated Forever<\/a>, A Golden Forever<\/a><\/em>- and my soon to be released A Sixth Sense of Forever<\/em> are all over the top historicals, and E-mail Enticement<\/a><\/em> is\u00a0a bigger than life contemporary.\u00a0 If you enjoy Michael Jackson's music, you might find a bit of that same spirit in my writing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the top takes reality to the max.\u00a0 Then, it takes it further.\u00a0 It makes extreme seem normal.\u00a0 In today's world\u00a0where reality is too often bad news, where too many talented folks have lost their livlihoods and must re-invent themselves to survive, over the top can be both inspiration and escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Put on a MJ album and pick up an over the top romance and life can look a little brighter, goals can seem more achievable.\u00a0 If you take it over the top, there is nothing you can't do, be or accomplish.\u00a0 Taking it over the top has never been harder than now when so much negativity and hardship surrounds us all.\u00a0 Did some of that affect MJ as he rehearsed\u00a0for his London performances?\u00a0 Did the thought of trying\u00a0to carry\u00a0with him over the top so many folks that were so heavy with loss\u00a0stress MJ\u00a0beyond bearing?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not that there would ever have been a good time, but this was a particularly bad time to lose Michael.\u00a0 He was an American original and we are lucky that his legacy lives on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romance novels weren't Michael's medium, but if they had been, I think he'd have written them a lot\u00a0like mine, but better of course.\u00a0 If you're a MJ fan,\u00a0you might check out some\u00a0romance novels\u00a0that will\u00a0take you over the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael Jackson, I thank you for your\u00a0musical legacy.\u00a0 It\u00a0will show\u00a0many generations to come the view from\u00a0over the top. MJ, Rest in Peace,\u00a0at least for a bit, before you get ready for your duet with Elvis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the\u00a0upcoming anniversary of\u00a0Michael Jackson's passing, I repost the following which\u00a0originally appeared on the blog\u00a0shortly after his death. \u00a0Okay, get your mind off of all the weirdness of MJ's latter years.\u00a0 As for the criminal charges, don't go there.\u00a0\u00a0Think about the music and the performances.\u00a0 Get yourself in that mind space.\u00a0 Maybe it'll help if ...continue reading \"If Michael Jackson Wrote Romance Novels…\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1138,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}