Sure, we often suffer from eye fatigue from staring at our computer screens, lower back pain or neck pain from slumping in chairs, weight gain, etc. However, what I want to talk about today is the crying over characters syndrome.
Seriously, it's great when my friends support me and talk about how dedicated I am to chasing my dream in spite of the every day things that fill up my time. They think they understand, but I know (and many of you know) they have no clue.
Case in point--one Friday morning I woke up as normal as ever. My brain was functioning along the proper lines:
- wake kids
- shower
- eat
- get kids off to school
- head for work
The drive to work is where the author brain decided to highjack me. A certain song came on the radio. It's an old favorite that has come to represent a very important scene in Talia's story. If you think of each novel as having a story arc, then spread that same format across a series, then book 3 is the dark moment in my 4 book series. This particular song is the darkest of dark moments toward the end of the book.
I'm singing along, envisioning these two characters (that I love more than I could ever explain to people who don't have imaginary friends) in this scene. The words of the song are their dialogue back and forth. Before I knew what hit me, I was sobbing so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over and take a break before continuing to work.
How do you walk into your job with red rimmed eyes and explain that everything is fine, but your characters are having a really bad day?
What's the most disturbing aspect of your writing mind?
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September 6 Question: Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? For example, trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in?
YES! I'm surprised anything I write ever makes sense. Recently, I tried a new genre and really enjoyed it. What's more--my husband actually enjoys it too. He never said so many complimentary things about my science fiction (it's just not his thing), but even though he makes fun of my Hallmark movie watching, he has said tons of lovely things about my romance story. Weird!
Now that made me chuckle! Too bad you couldn't ask to go home because your characters were having a bad day.
ReplyDeleteI might have to try going home next time. 😊 Then I could write!
DeleteYou need to come up with a good excuse. That's assuming that anyone would ask. (In my experience, no one questions red eyes. Only openly crying.) Spin it into a good story.
ReplyDeleteMany songs remind me of my characters and their story. A couple of them have made me cry, too. So I know just what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI've had that walking the dog with tears in my eyes moment. It's always awkward to tell a concerned neighbor, "no, I'm all right, just thinking about a writing project." Sometimes though, I think the best writing comes from those moments.
ReplyDeleteI actually had that happen to me the other day. I was driving home (hubby and I had gone to buy a new car and he was in the new car) and I was listening to Hurt by Johnny Cash and thinking about the scene in my YA I'm rewriting that fits it and it made me bawl.
ReplyDeleteHow cool that you tried a different genre. That's really stretching yourself. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you couldn't ask to go home because your characters were having a bad day.
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