I've had characters who feel completely whole and real, yet I still wasn't sure they'd be able to hold up a novel, and characters I did have to prod along, the poor little Frankensteins. But I spend the most time thinking about the characters I abandoned, the ones who did nothing wrong, who might have held up, and yet I dropped them anyway; I think of them abandoned where I left them, shipwrecked on a deserted island or waiting for a cancer scan to come back, trapped in both time and place, and I FEEL SO BAD.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! As I head into another rewrite (hahahahah it's fine), I find I'm craving more stories like this where the writing process pans out differently than expected. And I agree characters are real. I only wish sometimes mine were real enough for me to tell them EXACTLY how I feel about them lol
I'm sure you would have anyway, but I need you to read this in Tim Robinson's voice: "I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT!" That's a good goal: write a character so real you can slap some sense into them. I love reading stuff like this too; makes me feel less alone in this weird business. So many books don't go according to plan. Makes me think of that saying about how you can be a perfect mother before you become one; you can also be a perfect novelist until you write a novel. I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT ANY OF THIS.
ooooh this is so good! And honest. And I know all too well beating my head against a wall and thinking this should be the book, nope this, nope this. I love where you're at, and that you've committed to the summer and that you're going to invest those months and see where it goes. I hope you and this manuscript have such a great summer it gives you a UTI.
I just want to memorialize here what you already know Erin: that I laughed so hard at your comment that I had to sit down. (Thankfully didn't pee myself; don't have the UTI yet.)
I've had characters who feel completely whole and real, yet I still wasn't sure they'd be able to hold up a novel, and characters I did have to prod along, the poor little Frankensteins. But I spend the most time thinking about the characters I abandoned, the ones who did nothing wrong, who might have held up, and yet I dropped them anyway; I think of them abandoned where I left them, shipwrecked on a deserted island or waiting for a cancer scan to come back, trapped in both time and place, and I FEEL SO BAD.
IF YOU FEEL BAD IT MEANS THEY WERE REAL!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! As I head into another rewrite (hahahahah it's fine), I find I'm craving more stories like this where the writing process pans out differently than expected. And I agree characters are real. I only wish sometimes mine were real enough for me to tell them EXACTLY how I feel about them lol
I'm sure you would have anyway, but I need you to read this in Tim Robinson's voice: "I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT!" That's a good goal: write a character so real you can slap some sense into them. I love reading stuff like this too; makes me feel less alone in this weird business. So many books don't go according to plan. Makes me think of that saying about how you can be a perfect mother before you become one; you can also be a perfect novelist until you write a novel. I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT ANY OF THIS.
hahahaha gonna I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT ANY OF THIS whenever I hit a writing speed bump from now on
ooooh this is so good! And honest. And I know all too well beating my head against a wall and thinking this should be the book, nope this, nope this. I love where you're at, and that you've committed to the summer and that you're going to invest those months and see where it goes. I hope you and this manuscript have such a great summer it gives you a UTI.
I just want to memorialize here what you already know Erin: that I laughed so hard at your comment that I had to sit down. (Thankfully didn't pee myself; don't have the UTI yet.)