Thursday, January 31, 2008

Death of a Muse

Heath Ledger is dead. That news last week actually shook me a little. The guy was younger than I am, and I've enjoyed seeing him in several of his movies. I think 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale are both on my list of movies I really like (not to call them "favorites"...but ones that I will watch the middle third of if I find them on cable when I'm channel surfing). He was really good looking, and has a two year old, and the whole thing is very sad.

Ok, so this is not breaking news anymore. The problem is, he (or at least his face) was one of my inspirations for the hero of my book-in-progress. My hero is a combination of several people (as are all my characters), but I was totally picturing Heath in plate armor when writing my intro, which takes place at a Renn Faire. Imagine my shock when I was driving home last week and heard that one of the faces of my hero was dead.

I haven't done much (any) writing on my book since then, though I've been stewing over most of the ending for a while. It's going to be hard, though, to attempt to picture my hero now without remembering, and to not feel all squeamish and uncomfortable plotting a romance with the face of a ghost.

1 comment:

Amanda said...

I was shocked too. I love "10 Things I Hate About You". It's a very sad story.

As a writer, I can see having trouble when the news is in the forefront.