the process of writing

I'm almost finished with the first draft of my new novel (that's also part of my dissertation), and I've been thinking a lot about the process of writing this book.

I usually create a general outline for the idea I have, then I build the characters. Sometimes I know all the details of their lives, while at other times, I know a general framework that I fill in later. Once I build the characters, I can ascertain how they will interact with others, and there's where the story lies.

With this novel that I'm finishing now, the main character appears to be part of the "pack," but without him, the story sputters and dies, which is what makes him a figural point in the plot line. I have watched him unfold, but what is even more interesting is how the other characters (particularly the narrator of this book, a psychologist) have "taken over." Though the characters we create are figments of our imagination, they very often take on a life that is not one we planned for them, and sometimes they are insistent that the book be written their way rather than the way you, the author, originally planned.

More on this in the next couple of days . . .