Friday, October 28, 2022

My Imaginary Friends

 I miss the people from the pages. Do other authors feel the same about their characters? They must. We get inside their heads, and that’s as close as you can get to anyone. Someone questioned this point, though. Do we get inside the heads of our characters, or do characters live inside our heads? I firmly believe in the former. There were days when I needed to write but, uh uh, their voices were silent. But then my characters were always very much in control. Of everything. It was all I could do to keep up. To a non-writer that probably sounds crazy. Think what you will.

At a book club meeting to discuss the Newfoundland series, one of the members thought it was hilarious the way I pondered – in the same manner they did – how a character might react in a different situation. You talk like you don’t know these people any better than we do. You made them up! I prefer to think of it as giving them life. Whatever. Okay, maybe I do give my ‘creations’ too much lead and that’s why I never know what will happen next. I’m definitely a pantser, not a plotter.

Yes, I miss the gang from Old Broad Road and On The Rock. Who wouldn’t? Sylvia Kramer, especially. It was the whole lifestyle that she’d built for herself in Newfoundland that I admired. We became quite close over the time it took me to write these novels. I might have connected more solidly with Sylvia

because I wrote this two-book series in first person POV. I’d never written from that perspective before. Aside from my memoir Hazards of the Trade, of course.

Sylvia was such a great cook. And, in answer to the question I’m always asked, no, I am not into cooking. However, I do enjoy eating. Oh, those seafood lasagnes, and the local dishes she mastered – seal flipper pie, moose stew, jigs dinner... I’d give anything to sit in on another of Sylvia’s raucous kitchen parties or elegant dinners with Effie, Kevin, Jean and Farley, the Howards, Judith and Dorman… Her friends are too numerous to include everyone here. But I will mention Carl. Of course, Carl.

Where was I? Oh yes, missing the gang from Old Broad Road and On The Rock. I need only to pick up the books and read a couple of chapters to know they’re doing just fine. Well, most of them.

It’s not that I don’t have other imaginary people in my life. The book I’ve finished and am querying now has many characters but they’re not as…lovable – or even as likeable. Especially Emily David. Personally, I don’t trust her. She has a very difficult time distinguishing fact from fiction. She’s not the woman Sylvia Kramer is, but that’s my opinion. My beta reader, even knowing EVERYTHING about Emily, still appreciates spending time with her. A feisty eighty-three-year-old. Emily, not the beta reader.

In the book I’m writing now, Thelma is very different from Sylvia Kramer…Oh dear, will I forever be making comparisons to my ‘first’. Thelma has great qualities, too. She’s a romance novelist (writers are good) who puts family before anything, whereas Sylvia had reached the point of ‘meh’. Don’t judge. They’re both fine women.  But then Thelma lives in the spirit world. Well, after the second chapter. So there’s that.

You’re probably wondering if I created imaginary friends as a child. No, I don’t remember ever doing that. But then, I read voraciously from a very early age. So perhaps my imaginary friends were between the pages then, too.

 

2 comments:

  1. Ah, Phyllis. I love your character ramblings. They are right on. When I have writer's block, it's because I'm so into my character that I have difficulty deciding how he or she should react to a situation. In fact, I needn't worry. They do what they want. I have absolutely no control over these people!

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    1. I knew another writer would totally understand how it works with our 'creations'. Thanks for visiting the blog! I appreciate your comments.

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