The fact that you're writing about imaginary people

scribbledoutname said:

There are times when I sort of wake up and realize that wait a minute, I'm trying to interest people in these weird characters doing imaginary things and I expect people to take it all seriously.

Click to expand...

They're not imaginary to me. Sometimes I've seen my characters on the street.

On one unsettling occasion, I was actually introduced to Phyllis Nystrom, the main character in my first novel project. Her appearance, her speech, even her assertiveness were all so familiar, I could predict what she was going to say next.

It was all I could do to force myself to use her actual name while talking to her.

Filigree said:

When 'autonomous' characters occur, it nearly always freaks out new writers. Stephenie Meyer made a huge deal about it, over how the characters somehow took over while she was hammering out the first draft of 'Twilight' ten years ago. It's not that big a deal. It's fun, even. When my characters don't talk to me, I know my writing is in a rut.

Click to expand...

That, I'm used to. The characters are supposed to be active. When my characters won't work with me, I know I've messed up something major somewhere along the way. Either I broke a big rule in the world-building, or I decided they need to do something out of character, and they refuse. That's fine. It's when they do something that I hadn't planned in the plot, that I later realize was integral to the plot I hadn't planned yet that bugs me. Vague example- a character started spouting something that hadn't happened yet, along with confusion. Left it in, forgot about it, decided months later the character has a looper thing going on, pull it out ... to find the evidence of her being confused as to where she is on the timeline written right in already.

Yeah, writing can feel weird at times. I've definitely wondered why I spend so much time focusing on imaginary people instead of going out and meeting real people. Then I remember how much joy a good book can bring a person.

scribbledoutname said:

Heh!

There are times when I sort of wake up and realize that wait a minute, I'm trying to interest people in these weird characters doing imaginary things and I expect people to take it all seriously.

Sometimes writing just feels really strange...

Click to expand...

I'm interested in weird characters doing imaginary things. I write stories 'cause I enjoy making things up. Well, that, and I can't see myself deifying plums.

Meh, the world is full of jobs and other activities that people take terribly seriously and yet are essentially weird or ridiculous. It could be worse. At least in this job you produce something that people may be entertained and moved by and it could be much worse than that.

ArachnePhobia said:

Well, that, and I can't see myself deifying plums.

Click to expand...

I was planning on getting "Plums deify" as a tattoo ....

Walt Disney dealt with skeptics saying something like this when he was making Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. "Who would care enough about figures of ink and color to sit and watch them for a whole hour?"

It IS a bit of a mind-bender. It's like saying a word over and over until it has no meaning. If you think about it too much, you feel like Keanu Reeves going, "Whoooaa! These people came out of my head!"

That being said, most of the characters in my previous two WIPs are real people, albeit really dead people.