Tantrum

Marjorie Edwards | Antagonist

It took some soul searching, but I finally had to admit, painfully so, that Marjorie was in fact the antagonist in the story. Everything that happened to Mathew resulted from something Marjorie did. With that said, let’s look at who she is.

Marjorie Edwards is by far the most complicated character I’ve ever written into a story. During the many hours devoted to establishing her role, she touched every conceivable emotion within me. I found myself furious with her one minute and crying with her the next. I would get so engrossed building her persona, I wouldn’t realize I had spent hours dedicated to perfecting her character.

Approaching her golden years, Marjorie was still as drop-dead gorgeous as she was during her college years. She was a naturally sensual woman. She was extremely personable and liked to get in close when speaking with people. Once there, she had a way of touching and caressing as she spoke, that either put people on edge or invoked unintentional horniness. No one could be around Marjorie for more than a few minutes without acknowledging her ageless beauty and profound sensuality.

Marjorie struggled privately with a very dark sickness which defined her role. I can remember questioning whether some scenes were really necessary. The answer, of course, always came back yes. It pained me to introduce her so early in a scene that portrayed her at one of her lowest, intentionally disgusting moments. It was crucial, however, in setting the stage to establish her ascent to the most powerful character in the story. Every situation involving every other major character began or ended with Marjorie Edwards Abernathy.

I could write a short story here based on her character alone, but trust me, read the book. She speaks for herself.

Mathew Abernathy | Protagonist

Mathew Abernathy was just as complicated as his mother, Marjorie. A medical doctor by profession, he had everything he wanted in life, or, rather, everything his mother wanted in life. When Mathew met Jillian, it was love at first sight and he knew at that moment he would make her his wife. A daughter, Megan, was born shortly after the marriage, and life was as good as he had ever imagined it could be.

His role, however, took him through a transformation which landed him on the brink of insanity. His character slowly led the story to teeter seriously close to crossing over to the paranormal. Unable to control the transformation, he abandoned everything he knew his life to be, and embraced a sub-culture of crime, sex, and human degradation on an unimaginable scale. Years of violent nightmares had taken a toll, and he became the monster of his most dreaded dreams. In a world of relentless violence, he became the absolute ruler of the most hardened criminals to dare walk his streets. He took the meaning of ruthless to the next level as he embraced life as an uncontrollable, never-ending Tantrum.

In Mathew, I wanted to take an ordinary character and exploit the abuse he suffered as a child to make his descent into madness more believable, maybe even a little more honorable. The ruthlessness required of the character sometimes made it difficult to justify, but it was necessary. Mathew Abernathy will be always be one of my favorite characters.

Jillian Humphries | Mathew’s Wife

Jillian is one of my favorite characters. She is one of the more sane characters I’ve written in any of my novels. In the novel Tantrum, she was, as was her husband, Mathew, an accomplished medical doctor. She joined his practice as it was taking off financially. Jillian, though a bit confused about her sexuality, is genuinely good. I introduced her issue in chapter five. It began innocently enough with a private admission that the love she felt for her husband, Matthew, was at its core only lust. Jillian was unapologetically self-sufficient and confident. She had never really been in love with anyone.

Having never been in a serious relationship, she always had a hard time believing how much she missed Mathew when he was away. She never liked the feeling of needing anyone. She spent a lot of time searching for the answer to why she seemed to love him so much. Her only and rightful conclusion was that it was the sex. That was really all there was to it. She loved him in her own way, but she needed him sexually a lot more than she needed his love or would give hers. She attributed her feelings to an addiction and moved on.

What Jillian didn’t realize was that the problem, as she saw it, was not an addiction at all, but confusion about her own sexuality. That confusion became apparent the moment she met Mathew’s mother, Marjorie, and got even more clouded as time went on. It made for some interesting scenes. I had fun with it. Wink, wink.

Jillian, deep down, was a good girl. She was decent at her core. But Mathew’s transformation pushed her to her limit emotionally. She didn’t understand what was happening to him, and it both confused and infuriated her. As he unwittingly pulled her and young daughter Megan into his altered world, he subjected them to dangers beyond his ability to control. In the end, it forced her to find the courage to fight back. Jillian Humphries Abernathy is a character we may see again in a more substantive role.

My goal with Jillian was to bring some equilibrium to the many out-of-control scenarios Mathew took them through. She was the anchor to the chaos between Mathew and his mother. She was the only one who understood their unholy relationship and ensured they both kept things in perspective. It was the only way she felt she could keep Mathew from going over the edge.

Frank Abernathy | Mathew’s Father

Franklin Abernathy was the luckiest man alive. Back in college, he had successfully wooed the most beautiful woman on the planet. A feat no other boy, man, girl, or woman had ever even come close to achieving. They both went on to medical school, became acclaimed doctors, and then opened their own joint practice. Wealth came quickly to both. They were both published in medical journals and were at the top of their respective fields. The greatest day of both their lives was the day little Mathew was born. Unfortunately for Frank, it was also the day Marjorie announced she had no further use for him.

As luck would have it, Frank again had a lot on his side. Marjorie did not believe in divorce and refused to entertain the idea of one. Instead, she told him to go forth and do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted whenever he wanted with one caveat, that he would bear no illegitimate children to challenge Mathew’s legacy. So, of course, one of the first things Frank did, unintentionally of course, was knock up one of his many, many new friends. Unbeknownst to Frank, Marjorie’s clientele and old friends included some fairly big names in New York’s mob scene. She had ways of getting stuff done without implicating herself. With that in mind, she sent some “influencers” Frank’s way in order to make sure he understood how serious she was about him correcting his wrong. She then made it her new aim in life to bask in the pleasure of making Frank’s life as miserable as possible.

Frank’s character really added only comic relief to the story. It was fun introducing minor scenes of Marjorie playing with him like a cat does a mouse. I originally thought I’d play up Frank’s Scottish roots, but the opportunity never really came about. In the end, it satisfied me to just have Frank be there for Mathew when he needed him and to provide some reality to Marjorie’s insatiable need for chaos.

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