A thousand random thoughts travel through my mind at the speed of light. I reach out trying to grasp one that will make me, or break me. A scenario is waiting just behind the next wall of fog, dying to become my next WIP. I'll form a character from the images that flutter through the darkness, whispering to me the snippets of their existence.
Characters are like real people. They want, they dream, and they disappoint. As writers we create a shell of existence on the page. We breathe emotion, physical features, and actions into the outer and inter shell of their existence. The shell becomes a person with conflicts, flaws, and the desire to love and to be loved. Sometimes our characters never expect what we have in store for them, and most of the time they fight us tooth and nail with their own agenda. In each character, whether male or female, we leave a part of ourselves behind. We grow, we cry, and we conquer the world with them. And in the end, we are better writers for having created them.
We can never dream too high, or work too hard to make a character more real. The characters that I can remember from favorite authors are memorable for a reason. They spoke the right dialogue, they made me laugh, and they were good even when they were bad. But most of all, they made me want to be a better writer. They made me want to put a pen to paper.
I have a character wreaking havoc in my mind. He's strong, dark, and fleeting. He's a mystery man. He's a loner. He has the physical strike of a rattler, and the stealth of a ninja warrior. He doesn't know it yet, but he wants a woman in his life. He could use his brawn to make a dire situation change for the better, but he doesn't see it that way. He lives by his own rules, and when he talks, people listen. When a certain lady enters the picture he discovers a voice of reason, and that maybe women weren't created for one use only.
His name is Jack Blue. And he has a story to be told.
How do your characters present themselves? Do you see a part of yourself in each character you create?
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