I may possibly inhabit my stories and my character’s skins too much.
I’m not entirely sure.
A few years ago my husband bought me a small hand-held voice activated recorder so that I could speak the flurry of my thoughts on my walks rather than stop and scrawl them on a scrap of paper or along the inside of my forearm.
I was working on a novel with lots of passion. Not a YA. It was a tale of forbidden love. It was fraught with all kinds of turbulent emotion. Real fiery stuff.
I’d walk up hills and down hills, reciting words into my recorder, try out different scenarios, let my imagination have free rein.
Ok, sure, I was exercising but that still does not account for the breathiness, the panting…ummm.
Or for that matter the lurid dreams I was having.
It was almost excruciating.
And there was no one to remind me that these characters only existed in my head.
I was as worked up as if he (HIM- sigh) had been real, as if this love affair was something that was happening to me, and not just on paper.
Pathetic really.
I remember when I was writing the new-title-to- be- announced- soon- book for Scholastic, it took a number of pages of embarrassing ineptitude and misunderstanding to get my two MCs to a place where they finally kissed.
Oh that kiss!
I’ve been with my husband for fifteen years. He’s a good kisser but it’s not the first time.
The first time you kiss someone(you really like) is…
WOW.
So I went back in my memory and re-lived some old first kisses. Mmmm.
We’ll skip ahead.
I get so involved in my character’s lives that they start to inhabit my own. I think I have to do this. It’s necessary for the writing.
Much later when I read something I’ve written and completed I find myself not remembering the process clearly. Being surprised (often pleasantly) at turns in the story, at the things the characters say. Maybe we all do that a little.
Famously, Anita Diamant (The Red Tent) said she channeled her narrator’s words. She took dictation as it were.
And Stephen King had that novel where his MC (a writer)’s famous character came to life, didn’t he? And there was that movie with Will Ferrell (?)…
Is there a world where all our characters live out their lives after we write the end?
Actually that’s a little bit creepy…
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I read your post and was blown away. I could have written it myself. The picture of the wolf in sheep’s clothing says it all.
I often feel that my characters are alive somewhere, waiting for me to come across them. And I’m sure the houses, towns etc, that I create for my characters to dwell in, really do exist!
And I agree, this process is necessary,before we can write.
Thanks for the comment, JT! Glad to see you here.
Yeah, I agree. If you really connect with your characters they do become alive for you. Sometimes as you said in “interesting” ways. 🙂
To be honest I have a bit of a crust on one of my own characters. LOL! That has never happened before so it is a strange experience. *blush*
Pen! I fall completely in love with some of my characters! Nothing to be ashamed of. Thanks for visiting!