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Caring about characters.
- LoveHistory
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 3751
- Joined: September 2008
- Location: Wisconsin, USA
- Contact:
[quote=""LoveHistory""]Regarding an author's power over their characters... let us not forget that some characters won't behave the way we want them to. I'll be typing along and be totally surprised by what shows up on the computer screen. I anticipate at least one "Did I write that?" moment per book.[/quote]
So true! My book is written in first person -- so as EC2 wrote, I had to become that character with every word -- and more than once, she was talking with someone or arguing with someone (it happened the most in arguments) then POW! One of characters spouted a line that I did not expect! It became so real that I was a scribe for a conversation in my head.
What that says about my mental state, I don't know, but it's kind of cool.
So true! My book is written in first person -- so as EC2 wrote, I had to become that character with every word -- and more than once, she was talking with someone or arguing with someone (it happened the most in arguments) then POW! One of characters spouted a line that I did not expect! It became so real that I was a scribe for a conversation in my head.
What that says about my mental state, I don't know, but it's kind of cool.

Sunflowers: A Novel of Vincent van Gogh, forthcoming from Avon-A, 13 October 2009
My blog: http://vangoghschair.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.sheramybundrick.com
For it is truly the discovery of a new hemisphere in a person's life when he falls seriously in love. -Vincent van Gogh
My blog: http://vangoghschair.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.sheramybundrick.com
For it is truly the discovery of a new hemisphere in a person's life when he falls seriously in love. -Vincent van Gogh
- Anna Elliott
- Compulsive Reader
- Posts: 579
- Joined: March 2009
I would say just love your characters. Obviously if you're not enjoying their company, you can't expect that anyone else will, either. But if you have them do and say things that make you laugh and cry and love to be around them--then your readers will want to spend time with them just as much as you do!
Best of luck to you!
Best of luck to you!
Author of the Twilight of Avalon trilogy
new book: Dark Moon of Avalon, coming Sept 14 from Simon &Schuster (Touchstone)

http://www.annaelliottbooks.com