Colin Browne's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Sometimes characters just show up
I have a theory about characters, borne out by personal writing experience which both amuses me and makes me wonder about a strange character world out there in the ether somewhere.
Too often, in my writing, people just show up, uninvited and unexpected. That's a little like life in a way, in that any given day will deliver unplanned encounters with mostly run-of-the-mill, but occasionally exceptional people. People you just never saw coming who will say something that tickles you to the core and has you giggling hours later. Or people who shock and appall you so that you're deeply affected by them and perhaps worried about whether any of your own behaviour mirrors theirs.
It's those people, the impressive ones, who tend to invade my writing from characterland and make themselves a part of the story. And sometimes they can have a magical impact on the flow of the story.
Now it probably goes without saying that your main characters are pretty soundly thought out before you start writing. They may even be the reason you started writing in the first place. In The Baggage Handler, Martin and Kasia were fully grown adults before I started to tell their story and they let me know all that they thought I should as I began to flesh them out.
But then there's Isabel. I won't spoil anything of my own novel by giving away who she is or what she does, but I will tell you this: I never planned her. She was one of those characters who just appeared in the book as a flow of events unfolded, and demanded to be recognised. Martin was as surprised to encounter her as I was, but when she started speaking and I started writing it down, we all realised, my characters and I, that she was there to stay.
She altered the story and took it in a little bit of a different direction; not enough to change the tale in any significant way, but enough to add a stamp of mischief and colour to it that it would otherwise be lacking.
I don't know where she's from. I've never met anyone like her. But when a character like Isabel walks onto the page and makes it plain she intends to stay, my general rule is to pay attention and do what she asks. I'm rarely sorry when I do that.
Too often, in my writing, people just show up, uninvited and unexpected. That's a little like life in a way, in that any given day will deliver unplanned encounters with mostly run-of-the-mill, but occasionally exceptional people. People you just never saw coming who will say something that tickles you to the core and has you giggling hours later. Or people who shock and appall you so that you're deeply affected by them and perhaps worried about whether any of your own behaviour mirrors theirs.
It's those people, the impressive ones, who tend to invade my writing from characterland and make themselves a part of the story. And sometimes they can have a magical impact on the flow of the story.
Now it probably goes without saying that your main characters are pretty soundly thought out before you start writing. They may even be the reason you started writing in the first place. In The Baggage Handler, Martin and Kasia were fully grown adults before I started to tell their story and they let me know all that they thought I should as I began to flesh them out.
But then there's Isabel. I won't spoil anything of my own novel by giving away who she is or what she does, but I will tell you this: I never planned her. She was one of those characters who just appeared in the book as a flow of events unfolded, and demanded to be recognised. Martin was as surprised to encounter her as I was, but when she started speaking and I started writing it down, we all realised, my characters and I, that she was there to stay.
She altered the story and took it in a little bit of a different direction; not enough to change the tale in any significant way, but enough to add a stamp of mischief and colour to it that it would otherwise be lacking.
I don't know where she's from. I've never met anyone like her. But when a character like Isabel walks onto the page and makes it plain she intends to stay, my general rule is to pay attention and do what she asks. I'm rarely sorry when I do that.
The joys of Meerkatting
It's been put to me several times now that the mental imagery delivered by the term 'meerkatting' in The Baggage Handler is spot on. It's the sort of feedback that a writer loves.
I care for the whole story of course (I mean, of course I do, I wrote the damn thing ... the important question is does anyone else?), but there are times when you come up with a concept or a phrase or a sliver of dialogue that you feel a little giddy about.
Something that tickles you pink and you feel guilty about being so happy with because it feels self-indulgent enough to be pathetic.
And yet it happens.
Meerkatting is one of those phrases. The picture explains what it means pretty much precisely.
It's not that important. It's just a thing, you know? But I loved it when I found it, and it seems other people are liking it too.
That, ultimately, is the only reason I write.
I care for the whole story of course (I mean, of course I do, I wrote the damn thing ... the important question is does anyone else?), but there are times when you come up with a concept or a phrase or a sliver of dialogue that you feel a little giddy about.
Something that tickles you pink and you feel guilty about being so happy with because it feels self-indulgent enough to be pathetic.
And yet it happens.
Meerkatting is one of those phrases. The picture explains what it means pretty much precisely.
It's not that important. It's just a thing, you know? But I loved it when I found it, and it seems other people are liking it too.
That, ultimately, is the only reason I write.
