Seriously Saturday by Donna Fitzgerald
Hi everyone,
it’s seriously Saturday here at Over the Clothes Line. This is the day Talina and I have chosen to
update you on our WIP or work-in-progress.
I have
learned a very important lesson this week about characters and their placement in
my WIP. Through my writing this week,
I’ve learned that a character that seems indispensable can turn out to be the
most important character of all. The one
character that pulls the entire story together, no matter how brief their
presence is.
The perfect
example is my character Abby. For all of
you who follow our blog Abby gets a lot of attention from me. I had almost decided to write her out of my WIP
completely except for reference to her through back story. The more I thought about her the more I kept
going back over the beginning stages of my WIP.
That is when I realized that Abby, although a secondary character, served
as the connection that linked all of my other characters together.
Without Abby
my hero would not have found a reason to live.
My heroine would not exist and my villain would not have a reason to be
twisted. I could name a hundred more
reason, but you get the gist.
The bottom
line is without Abby my story wouldn’t exist.
She has been the ever present voice that has cheered me on and literally
handed me the ideas for her character.
She has even conceded to allow me the use of her character as I see fit, even if it’s
not in the most flattering of circumstances.
All for the sake of my WIP.
So for all
of you out there stressed with your own WIP, my advice is always listen to what
your characters are telling you. They
will not lead you down an endless path, in fact sometimes they lead you down the
very path you were sure was a dead end, but once you reached its finality, you might find that that particular path holds all the answers you’ve been searching for.
I hope this
has helped anyone that may be struggling to keep a character or write them out. Talina and I would love to know how much influence your characters have on your writing. Drop us a line and share how you handle
this kind of situation. Happy writing
everyone!
I'm not a writer, but I play one on my computer. So when I turn to my laptop keys I turn off the censor inside me as I write; sometimes I even take creative and emotional risks. As Anne Lamott puts it: "Write as if your parents are dead." Stop writing to hide who you are, to prove you are something you are not, or to "please" others; find the courage to write freely and honestly, unconcerned about how you might be judged. Works for Me!!!
Mr. Mason,
Thank you so much for stopping by our blog. Your words ring more true for me than you know. There was a time when I wrote what I thought everyone expected from me. Now that isn't the case, I'm writing what I want to write about and loving your work makes a big difference at the end of the day. So again thanks for stopping by and come back!
~Donna
I am a hopeful author but I agree that if you are not happy with your characters your book will not be to your liking. Just let the characters lead you. They are telling your story. This is what I am trying to do but I have some family problems I am working on so my head is not on straight at times so I have my book on hold. LOL
Wishing you the best of luck with your book.
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com