Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

This is a continuation of my series of blogs to cast the characters in the 80s novel, Three Daves . This blog is spoiler-free. Oh Dave, the beautiful bad boy.  Lots of guys are good-looking, but Dave has that certain je ne sais quoi that girls find irresistible.  Sure, he's got that casual disarray of dirty blond spikes, and brilliant green eyes, and full lips that twist up into a killer smile, but it's not really about how he looks; it's more about how he makes Jen's insides flip upside down with the slightest gesture.  Here are some of my favorite quotes about Dave:   He seemed to understand that a full-on smile would have been too much for any human girl to handle. Jen was totally out of her league with this guy. He made her nervous, and he seemed to be enjoying that fact. She knew she should simply return his confident stare, but she wasn’t nearly advanced enough for that level of flirtation. What was this strange power of his that made her feel and act ...

So, last blog I complained about an 80s-themed movie that looked like garbage. That got me thinking about what kind of 80s movie I'd like to see. *insert sly grin*  So, here's my idea: That got me thinking about who would play who. Fun, huh? So I'm going to do a series of blogs to cast each of the characters from Three Daves .  And since the entire story takes place in the 80s, it only seems fair to pick an actor from the 80s as well as one from today.  Let's start with the Daves, shall we?  We'll take them in the order in which they appear in the story, so first up---David.  (The following casting call is spoiler-free.) Here's some excerpts about David, our sensitive loner:     His dark brown hair ... was rumpled, and his expression somewhat glum. Of course, this expression was fairly natural for David. His deep brown, cow-like eyes and his soft-looking pink lips, which curved slightly downward at the corners when he wasn’t deliberately smiling...

Imagine my excitement when, while I waited for Sherlock Holmes to start, a preview came on for a movie that takes place in 1986.  Not only does my novel begin in that very year, but the movie stars John Cusack!  We're talking about Walter 'Gib' Gibson here.  You know, from The Sure Thing (1985).  Gib was my first unattainable crush; I named a Teddy Bear after him and everything.  So I happily crunched my popcorn and bounced in my seat at the very prospect of seeing my Giblet back in the 80s.   Imagine my dismay as the preview played on.  The kitschy retro beginning caused me to willing overlook the weak opening scene with the four guys spending a lame night in.  And I even chuckled a bit at the thought of a hot tub time machine---hey, it was funny the way Craig Robinson looked directly into the camera after he said it---but as a steady stream of inanity spewed forth, my heart dropped, and all hope drained from me when Rod Corddry uttered, "Twi...

My mother read the sexy chapters in my book.  She is less than happy. I s'pose I could end this particular blog right there; I mean, it's no big shock that a mother would have trouble with her daughter writing such a thing, right?  But what really bothers me about it is that those few chapters seem to have skewed her overall view of the story.  The message that I hoped to convey has been lost amidst her shock and horror at the admittedly graphic depictions. But it isn't only my mother's reactions that have me bothered. Most readers don't seem to mind those particular chapters one little bit, far from it, and yet I've become concerned that what they'll remember most when it's all said and done is the sex rather than the themes from the book that were my driving force to write it in the first place. And so I have to ask: was I wrong to include such descriptive scenes?  Should I have faded to black?  Did I sabotage my own message by distracting reader...