Let's go, Knicks!

Actually, I am not an avid sports fan, however winning the NBA Championship after 53 years of heartbreaking loses transcended sports. The Knicks were on dozens of television shows, awarded with ceremonial keys to the city of New York, honored with a ticker-tape parade and I guarantee the cold open of Saturday Night Live, when the show returns in the fall, will be about the team. Their triumphant victory was a pop-culture event, overshadowing (at least temporarily) the other major sporting event, happening at the moment, the continent-spanning FIFA World Cup soccer/football tournament.

Without looking it up, I couldn’t tell you who won the NBA Championship last year or what FIFA stands for but I do watch some sports. Professional Wrestling to be specific. To me, the characters and stories of pro-wrestling are more inspiring than three-pointers and penalty kicks.

I have been creating characters since I was a child. Drawing my own Masters of the Universe champions, creating my own Transformers and MASK characters and developing my own roster of GI Joe members. And yes, when video games achieved the technology, I made my own pro-wrestling promotion with an eclectic assortment of wrestlers, managers and even commentators called Universal Extreme Wrestling (UXW). It was the late nineties, everything was ‘Extreme’.

That drive to create characters has bolstered the ranks of Dagger’s Echo. The covert team of international military soldiers and specialists assembled to stop the plague of viscous monsters and supernatural oddities that have invaded our dimension. Volumes one and two are available now on Amazon. Each character is unique with their own origins, several of whom were high school and/or college athletes. The training, physicality and discipline provide strong foundations that can build exceptional soldiers worthy of joining the elite unit.

I have researched the Canadian Football League, NCAA Basketball, Sumo Wrestling, Collegiate Lacrosse and more. I may not watch those sporting events nor have I ever participated in them, but I am firm believer that life experience is not necessary when writing compelling stories. Obviously it helps but it not essential. For example, George Lucas didn’t grow up on a moisture farm in a distant galaxy, J.K. Rowling didn’t attend a school for wizards and Stephen King never slayed an evil, cosmic entity that dresses like a clown. Not that I am comparing myself to them in any way, I’m just saying that your imagination is a powerful thing and researching can not only fill out the credibility of a character, grounding them in reality, it can also influence which turns the stories take.