Hey, I write like I paint!

...In layers, and all over the paper at once!

Today was my day to drop water on my characters and let them blossom. There are seven of them altogether, which may be a lot for a novice fiction writer to handle, but those are the petals the flower bloomed with and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. One less and the balance is gone. One more and...well, it's just not right.

The most amazing aspect about this process has been the element of "rightness." As I concentrate on George, say, there's a rightness to his personality. I just know, for example, that George does not like to play Monopoly, but he loves fixing fiddly broken things like chains and alarm clocks--as distinct from the refrigerator door, which has no handle, or the screen door, which squeaks and slams. How do I know this? Got me. Unless George actually exists somewhere and is watching me describe him.

Speaking of which, check out Stranger Than Fiction.

Oddly enough, this character-development process was very scary for me when I first tried it out many years ago. As I recently described it on a discussion list, I felt a bit like a mad scientist. This time, there's a lovely, soft rightness about it all.

That doesn't mean I know where these people are coming from, only that I trust Wherever it is.

Tomorrow, I'm taking five of my characters and setting them down together in one place, then describing that place through the eyes of each of them, colored as it is by their individual vision. Then I get to bundle it all together and send it in as my current assignment.

Am I loving this process? Ask George.

Comments

[Tom Atkins]

Durga,

I am so enjoying reading about your journey. Thanks for sharing!

Tom