by SB Sarah • Wednesday, January 03, 2007 at 05:04 AM
A few of your comments in the previous entry have mentioned the idea of characters becoming real, so real that they take up residence in the brain like other living people in the author’s life. So I want to ask: if you’re a writer, how real do your characters get? This overlaps a bit with the previous thread, but it’s something I’ve heard authors talk about in different venues and I’ve always wondered about it.
Many authors state that the characters they write become so real to them that these fictional creations take on wills of their own and, depending on the language used by the author, demand control of their own stories, and inform the author how those stories will end. One author said that she didn’t expect to write about certain events in her novel, but the characters made her do it, and in the end she thought their decisions were the right ones.
LKH steps beyond characters coming to life during the writing process, and writes:
My characters are real to me in a way that makes me miss them. For God’s sake, I’ll be in the mall and see something, and go, “Oh, it’s the perfect gift for (fill in the blank).” I’ve been in line with the present in my hand, before I go, “Wait, these are make believe people. I can’t buy them a Christmas present.” I guess I could, but there’s no way to give it to them. They aren’t THAT real. But they are real enough that I see things that make me think of them in the way you think of a boyfriend or a husband, or a best friend.
I know that every writer’s process is different, and there are some that don’t even look at the process analytically for fear it will curl up in a fetal position and run away from the scrutiny. I know some writing instructors posit that an author should be able to say without thinking about it what items are in a character’s pockets at any moment, even if those items are not germane to the story. The author should have such an intimate knowledge of his or her character creations that the contents of their underwear drawer are known and easily cataloged. And I don’t meant the knickers themselves. I mean the stuff hidden under the knickers.
As a writer, are your characters real? How real? Do they tell you what to do once you’ve created them? Is there a moment when they take control of the story and you follow them as they lead the way to the end? And what’s on their Amazon Wish List?
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