On Writing: Keeping Your Characters Happy
For this blog, let’s pretend your imagination is an apartment—and within reside your characters.
When your characters and story are new, the apartment is empty, but you’re looking for things to fill it up with. So you hunt for inspiration (furniture).
Building a home takes time, dedication, and hard work. The same can be said of a good story and believable characters. You sit, you make the time, and you flesh out your characters. The more time and energy you invest, the better your world turns out. Soon, you have a couch, recliner, flat-screen TV, and anything else you need to make your story shine.
Your characters still have to pay rent, and they do so by telling you their story. When you give time to them, they give time to you. To me, this is how the writing process works.
Now, if you’re a bad landlord, and you’re not taking the time to keep the apartment up and running, well, tenants tend to move out. Don’t spend any time with your characters, they stop talking to you.
I’ve had Universal Warrior in my head since I was eight years old. I know these characters and their stories back and forth. I’m grateful for the success of the story, but to be honest, I had come to take it for granted. I’ve been living with these characters, and this ‘epic’ plot between good and evil for so long that I was able to think of Uprising’s plot within a couple of weeks. Suddenly bound by restrictions and deadlines, I was almost relieved when the site went down. I needed the break.
I didn’t think about Universal Warrior at all for about six weeks. I wrote the returning chapter without any planning or foresight—and man alive, am I dissatisfied with it. While I accomplished what I wanted (reintroducing the main character and his motivation) my execution was sloppier than last year’s Detroit Lions.
The lesson I learned is that if you value your characters and your story, regardless as to how you present them, then you have to invest time into them. I never should’ve taken so much time away from Universal Warrior. I could’ve kept things going with short stories. I could’ve planned out the—surprise. I could’ve done anything other than drop the project.
If I leave you with anything, invest time and energy into your creations whenever you can. They’ll reward you for it. Neglect them, and expect the same in return.
(c) Avery K. Tingle for Modern Magic Enterprises LTD and Nomadic Productions LLC
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
I only agree to some extent with this. It's important to keep your mind focussed on your projects, but I also find that time away, a break, can be invigorating. Like with physical training, rest is as important as training, I think the same applies to writing. Then again, we all write differently, so in the end it's whatever works for you that's most important.