Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor having been scouring the Internet for pictures to illustrate this piece. Throughout my writing, I make no bones about the the fact that I love motorbikes. I am a biker by proxy, at least until I can afford to take my test and buy a bike. In the meantime, my son is the biker in our family.
From the outset, my characters have been bikers. There is a whole image thing here: the tough guy stereotype, either a modernised version of the outlaw biker stereotype of 1970s America or the street-smart crotch rocket racer. In Bound, Fane Anghelescu and his sister establish Chain & Sprocket, which I named after a pub in Peterborogh in the UK. Fane was the bad boy, the Hellhound Alpha. Yet despite Chain & Sprocket being in the USA, he didn’t ride a Harley Davidson cruiser or a custom chopper. Even at that early stage, I wanted Fane to be different. Sure, his bike had been customised, but it was subtle, in a way that a biker would appreciate. And it wasn’t a common old Harley. Fane was different. So his bike was different. He rode a Triumph Rocket 3 Touring.
The Pack did customise bikes since they were ‘hiding’, but once Roxana died, the bikes changed. I introduced a new character, in Drax Anghelescu, and his favourites were the classic British marques: Triumphs from the 1960s, BSAs, AJS before the marque was ruined through moving manufacturing to China. The Pack didn’t have to conform. If anything, they shouted their differences from the rooftops and it showed in the bikes.
But the reason for this piece is to address another matter. When I was discussing the choice of bike for Casmir Gosselin with a biker friend, I described his traits. My friend felt that it had to be a Harley. Casimir was the bad guy. Bad guys rode Harleys. So what did I choose? I went for a Ducati Diavel. Why? Stereotypes are all very well. But as has been demonstrated by groups such as the American Patriot Riders, or the bikers against bullying, not all Harley riders are bad. Casimir was a far more complex creature than everyone saw, and I wanted his bike to reflect that.
The other thing I wanted to mention was a plea. If you are going to use bikes to illustrate a piece of writing, please be consistent. Recently, I was asked to join a fan-fiction group in which the characters were described as speed-loving. They drove Maseratis, the family had their own car racing team. I had to leave because it was clear that the other writers were both clueless and unwilling to learn. One is okay, but both? Nope! The story in question started with a man and woman on a Lambretta, a bit like this:
Then, inexplicably, they moved to one of these:
This was in the same story. The final straw was that they took the bike up to 200mph. Remember my biker friend? He rides his Aprilla for pleasure around Brands Hatch, a race track in the UK. He has video shot of him riding down the back strait at 150mph, solo, without a passenger. My biker son laughed at the alleged speed of 200mph, saying the bike would vibrate to pieces.
So, if you do plan to use bikes in your writing, check your facts, your illustrations and your narrative. Your potential readers may be bikers and your credibility will disappear faster than the proverbial melting snowball in the Sahara.
Everyone has to start writing somewhere. Five years ago, I stated writing fan fiction, when previously, I had only written novel-type stories. It opened my eyes to some of the different styles of writing out there. Make no mistake, it takes all sorts to please all people. But, and this is the tricky bit, I changed how I wrote, wanting to improve, wanting to be like the authors whom I idolise. Your character might spend less than half a page on that bike, but somewhere you had to read up on why that brand, why that particular model, why that road?
I guess what I am trying to emphasise is whether you are writing about motorbikes, or boats or anything, if you want to be taken ‘seriously’, then you have to be willing to learn. As you learn, it will show in the quality of your writing. I would like to think that those who read my books might notice that effort, but maybe they won’t. That’s okay though, because the sternest critic of quality of my work will always be me anyway.
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Book Links
“Bound”, Volume 1 of The Diaries of the Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn currently free on Kindle Unlimited
Amazon.com $4.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016TQFBNY
Amazon.co.uk £3.99: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016TQFBNY
“Alpha”, Volume 2 of The Diaries of the Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn
Amazon.com $4.99: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ENZ972O
Amazon.co.uk £3.47: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01ENZ972O
Smashwords $4.99: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/631708
Katie Vincent: The Autistic Romance Author 