Writer's Angst: Killing off Characters

Even after 9 completed books, 2 incompleted, and 1 in-progress novel, I still cannot come to a depressing scene and write it easily. They always get me. Every damn time, without fail, they prove to stop me in my tracks.

I don't think it matters how seasoned a writer I become. I will always reach the scene where a character must be killed off and I will drag my feet. I will sit there and stare at the screen wishing there was some other way to further the plot. Perhaps there's another route for the characters to take, another action that could sidestep the inevitable.

But you have to do it. A writer has to put up her dukes, settle in for the long haul, and lay out the scene that tears her heart to pieces.

I've spent months with these characters and now I will spend one 2-hour writing session killing one off.

Sad day :(

Writer's Angst: The Sad Parts

One part of writing that I immensely dislike is how much a writer has to involve herself with her work. To effectively write a beautiful and realistic work, a writer has to make her characters relatable to the reader. She can only do this by identifying with the characters, at least in some small way.

So when I get to a sad part in a book, it affects my entire day. I drag myself down from an emotional high and focus my thoughts only on the sadness before me. I force my novel's world to become my world for a day.

It's a dangerous game. Merging fiction with reality is never a smart thing but I feel the only way to write a realistic story is by dragging it into reality.

So right now I'm stuck wishing this chapter was over already. I'm trying to rush through it just so I can entertain joyful thoughts again.

All the while, I'm remembering the idea that a writer is a god and because of that we have to suffer right along with our characters when they falter. It's a fact of reality and fiction and it's one I tend to despise.

Success!

Turns out I had a pretty good writing session last night. I was so tired that I barely recalled what I had worked on until I woke this morning and had time to look over it. It was a lovely scene of revisiting the past and recalling beloved family members.

Here's a quick snippet.

Torn

"It's ridiculous really how things end up. For twenty-five years she's been there for me. For eighteen years she helped me stay on time, do my homework, taught me what was right and wrong, and gave me everything she had. She helped me move into college. Went I went overseas, she prayed for me and my squad everyday. When I came home she was right there at the hospital to take care of me. Now here I am. She doesn't even realize I'm here. She doesn't even know she has a son anymore. I reckon keeping her like this is the least I can do to give her as much time as possible."

Sheriff Mayberry

           The officer parked in front of the office before getting out of his squad car. He waved out at them and headed up to the front door. After living the last seventeen years in the city, this man was the strangest lawman he’d ever seen. His brown uniform was pressed and neatly arranged on his imposing frame. The sheriff’s star hung over his right breast pocket while above it was his name tag of R. Mayberry. Somehow the name fit the owner. His skin was leathery from years in the sun, his hair a dash of salt and pepper over strawberry blonde, and a handlebar mustache so bushy across his upper lip that it looked like the thistles of a wicker broom.

            He nodded his head at him, touching his finger to the faded cowboy hat on his head before he mumbled, “You must be Mr. Williams.”

Writer's Thoughts

I realized today that it's been quite a while since I'd posted about writing and my adventures within that world. So here it is! What is destined to be a long-winded post by someone who's in love with writing and yet can't master it even with the greatest minds as help.

By greatest minds, I mean these fella's. http://www.writingclasses.com/Products/GothamPubsDetail.php/publicationID/1


I convinced my mother to buy me this book back in high school and only unearthed it a week ago. It's a great book and by far my favorite writing guide. It covers all the basics of writing fiction and has so many little interesting tidbits that push me toward creating a great work of art. Granted, as I progress through my writing I become more skilled than I was ten years ago when I first started. I can notice the difference that took place over 2 years. Book 5 is scattered. It's crammed full of ideas and plots, many of which don't make much sense. I'm not editing it right now (just reading for recreation) because I know by the time I finish the two books before it the plot will be turned around again. But when I jump back to Book 2, my most recent, I can see the difference. It's focused, guided, and follows the logical path of creative writing.

I guess I have a lot to do but that's the fun in writing; you never really finish writing books when they aren't published. Anyway, I wanted to do even better on Book 3 than I did on Book 2 so I whipped out this guide to help me polish my writing. I've gone through page after page after page of notes, plots, outlines, and random facts/events I want to include in the next few books. My new favorite activity is character development. I've realized how important it is to know every detail about a character before you start writing. I've worked on my characters' histories, family trees, childhood, schooling, goals, ideals, morals, speaking habits, ticks, quirks, dialects, favorite foods, everything! I even did an activity where I placed two random characters in a situation where they were changing a tire just so I could see what would transpire between them.

I don't know why people avoid writing so much. I find such a thrill in the whole idea of creating something so amazing that I love it more than anything. I have to admit that if I never get published (something I desperately want to do one day) I would be okay with it, because I just love writing for the sake of writing.

I have yet to actually start Book 3 because of all these exercises and how busy my schedule is getting as I near the end of the semester. There are a few times each day, though, where I allow my thoughts to wander and I find myself back in the world of my novels, hearing the dialogue as if I were standing there, and developing plots as they unfold on the page. I definitely love writing. Once life calms down and school returns to normal I'm jumping right into those pages again :)