Teresa McRae
VisionAuthor
Sometimes I know exactly where a character wants to go.
Sometimes I have no idea but if I keep writing long enough, the character leads me in the direction they want me to go.
The key, I think, is being quiet enough to hear them.
Not always easy. We all have other people and “things” that vie for our attention.
I find that the quiet comes once I start writing. Everything around me seems to slow down and my focus becomes tunnel like. It then becomes easy to hear and feel where a story, a character is going.
So, this is how I write. I have ideas, I have temporary dialogues, but I always listen and wait for my characters.
hmm, great advice, especially the tunnel part. If you are not a part of it, you will never be able to convince a reader, I guess. But I guess you look at external stimuli as distractions… that ‘the world is too much with us’. You must get lost with your characters so much at times that you may fail to recognise the real life characters who fill the words for you 🙂 After all, all art is the sum of our real life experiences and our dreams as well. So if we get too sunk in the characters and their thoughts and words, might we not miss what the parallel (real) world character is trying to tell us? Often we disregard it. But people can be stale, quirky, strange, superior, inferior, intellectual, drab, wise, foolish and we miss out observing them because we are too preoccupied with out fictional fellas. 🙂
I am not a writer, I am just trying to think like one. So forgive me if I am wrong 🙂 I sometimes make an ars (longa vita brevis) of myself haha…
LikeLike
I think you are correct. The key is making time for both. When I am with the world, my focus is there and when I write my focus is on writing. However, I do keep the memories and images of people in my mind. Often what someone has said or done finds its way into a character. I see much of my closest loved ones in my characters. I hope this answers your question. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Thanks
LikeLike