Here’s another in the process of the writer’s preparation of character biography – here, Violet Gamble (Vi) of “Kept,” one of the more fun characters to play with.
Out of all the characters in the book, this one morphed probably more than the rest. I had originally envisioned her as a small-time meth dealer, but as I wrote the screenplay of KEPT (which preceded the novel) the phenomenon of “Breaking Bad” happened, and I didn’t want to have similarities to the TV show’s story, so I made her an unsuccessful dealer of pills ‘n pot.
Who was inspiration? Originally, it was characters like a rough Linda Hamilton, as well as the actress who played Danielle Rousseau in “Lost” (Mira Furlan) and Katharine Ross (at least her look) in any recent movie or TV appearance (so I guess sexy, long haired, truthfully-aged beautiful actresses not afraid to show who they are).
Violet Gamble – Drug dealer. Incestuous. Who do I see as inspiration: Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan), from LOST. Katherine Ross. Linda Hamilton. She drives a pickup truck. Old, dinged. An F150. 1995.
Sex, Age, Ht/Weight: Female, 50, 5-6, 125
Hair: RED, dyed redder than it would ever be.. Blue eyes. Nice skin, very tan, a little leathery — she lives in the desert.
Posture: good, not fantastic
Appearance: she looks like she’s been in the sun too long. She is very tan, very red but does not look like she belongs shopping on El Paseo.
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Defects: She’s had a bad nose job. She has psoriasis. She’s malnourished, cause of the meth and other drugs, so she has a few bad teeth and she has bad breath. But ironically, she still can get guys.
Heredity: nothing comes to mind – the worse thing is her name, Okie background in the 1930s.
Sociological:
“White trash with illusions” background.
She’s a drug dealer and a meth lab operator. She’s worked in the underground cash economy basically forever, from prostituting to being a con-woman to dealing drugs, that is the only thing she understands. The rest of the world’s conventions are unknown. She keeps cash in places like shoeboxes, safety deposit boxes, etc.
Education: she got a high school diploma. Lot of good that did! She’s a veteran of the military, was there for a couple of years so she knows her way around the soldiers a bit, (helpful near 29 Palms!) speaks their language. She’s retired from the Navy.
Home Life: her parents are dead. They died young, they had such hard lives. But they weren’t crooks. They were also divorced. She’s got a few brothers and sisters in different places, mostly Arizona, Vegas, some New Mexico and Texas. All of them like drugs. Violet has been married and divorced twice. Once she was widowed. Her husband died under mysterious circumstances and Violet might have been the one who murdered him. (Three boys have two different fathers) Her divorced husbands are still around, still alive somewhere. One’s in Reno.
Religion: She’s an atheist
Race, Nationality: Background is Anglo-Saxon
Place in community: an outcast. They live on land out in the middle of fuckin nowhere. They are shunned by their neighbors. The only exception is a few of the men, who Violet fools around with. She’s still kind of hot.
Politics: She does not vote.
Amusements, Hobbies: Young Service men. She has odd dreams of learning how to ski. She looks up at the mountains sometimes and wonders what if…. But not for long.
Psychological:
Sex life, moral standards: she’s a whore by most standards. She has fucked her own son, for Chrissakes! She likes sex, likes younger men. She is straight.
Personal premise, ambition. Like everyone else, wants to be rich. Wants to be INDEPENDENT. Does not really trust men, just likes them for sex.
Frustrations, disappointments: She’s remarkably ok with her lot in life. She knows she’s been dealt a bad hand but does her best to deal with it and is proud in her own way of what she’s accomplished. She has a very different yardstick.
Temperament: volatile, has an explosive temper.
Attitude: Wakes up cheerful and it goes downhill from there. She’s been around long enough to know that things change a lot and what is true today won’t necessarily be true tomorrow.
Complexes: Obsessed with her nails and hair. Likes fashion magazines. Is a smoker, has to have her cigs, lighter, etc always close by. She’s a real addict that way.
Extrovert: Yes, she’s outgoing
Abilities: Has a way with men. Actually knows some Spanish. Has some aptitude with things like car engines, she has been so self-reliant for a really long time. She can fix the plumbing, etc.
Qualities: She has western tastes. Pretty much simple things, tied to where they are. She’s really not grandiose. She does the drug stuff because she’s a user herself, but also because it was the most lucrative thing available
IQ: surprisingly high.