Welcome to a wee bit of the blarney post-Irish Whiskey, to be sure.
Pour a cup of Irish Breakfast and put your feet up for a wee bit of readin'....
Today's topic was suggested by gent named Dr. Bob who knows a lovely lass named Anna Jacobs, a bestselling author who has 77 books to her credit! She was complainin' of being emotionally drained by writing a scene and asked him, "Are you sure our characters aren't real?"
That leads us to today's topic: Are you ever a wee bit drained writin' certain scenes and how real are your characters to you?
I have always been told I have an overactive imagination. Storytelling and writing have always come as naturally to me as breathing and my characters have always been my constant companions. In fact, the more I write, the more real my characters feel to me. I described it to someone lately like having a song in your head that just won't leave. For me, a lot of the time, it's a character or two.
I become absorbed in scenes and either feel drained or elated when I write certain scenes. Working through the climax of a novel certainly keeps me on edge and I ride the waves of emotion along with my heroes and sometimes even my antagonist.
My characters always tend to feel real to me. They become my constant sidekicks wherever I go and whatever I do. In fact, I often think "what would _____ do?" I find it difficult to turn off that creative part of my brain, especially when I'm working on a new novel. As I live with my characters, they develop around me. More often than not, they tend to take over my stories and create all new plot twists without much effort at all.
Other times, as with my character Leo Blue in The Bookstores Lady, the sidekicks can become such strong characters on their own that they demand their own books. For anyone who has read The Bakery Lady, Leo will have one more book so readers can find out what happens to him next.
My newest work in progress is a great deal grittier than my past cozy mysteries. I find I need to dig even deeper to create the background stories and understand what makes a psychopathic killer tick. I kind of hope he doesn't become one of those characters who consumes me, but the detective who has to track him down just might! Stay tuned!!
Now take a little trip to visit the lovely Helena Fairfax and find out what antics her characters have pulled...
Participants:
Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Dr. Bob Rich htt http://wp.me/p3Xihq-Wo
Heather Haven http://heatherhavenstories.com/blog/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Kay Sisk http://www.kaysisk.com/blog
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com
I enjoyed a wee bit of the blarney this mornin' on your blog. I get what you mean about those darn characters being as bad as an earworm. Pesky culprits. But what would you do without them? Best wishes on your future writing projects.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny in some ways how characters can invade a writer's mind; kind'a scary in other ways. Be wary of the psychopath. I had one psychopath character who kept telling me his misdeeds were not his fault and he was too valuable to be eliminated.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I need to take one from your book and walk around with my characters in from my current WIP with that question of "What would Xue do?" That might get me in her mind. Thanks for the inspiration. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you are lucky to have them with you constantly, even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it. :)
You are going to have a problem if you get to care too much about that bad guy. How are you going to put him/her in their place if you find out their motives just might twist your heart? But, that's the best way to write a bad guy and make them seem real.
ReplyDeleteI was told early on in my writing career that all bad characters have at least one redeamable feature. So now I give my baddies as thorough a backstory as my H/H.
ReplyDeleteIt's great when your secondary characters start coming alive, too, and demanding their own books :)
ReplyDeleteYour psychopathic killer sounds a scary guy already! Best wishes with your exciting new project!
Psychopathic killer's mind must be twisted and a frightening place to visit. Victoria, I too, was advised to create a back story and have an redeeming explanation (Whisper upon the Water). Diane, I look forward to seeing how you develop your 'bad guy'.
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean about secondary characters pushing themselves forward. Many of my best characters started in minor roles that grew.
ReplyDeleteI do love secondary characters! Sometimes they're almost more dear to me than the main folks. I have one in my one book series whose name is Elpis, but everyone calls her Elpy. She's literally the ancient Greek personification of Hope and attached herself to my main hero, and he couldn't have survived without her. My mom even cried over her when she read my drafts, she loved her so much. Also, ironically, I am drinking a cup of Irish breakfast as I read your post. ;)
ReplyDeleteFun blog. And I can relate to how characters become our companions. And I love secondary characters - for some reason they're m often more fun to write.
ReplyDelete