Alas, Poor Theo
My new work in progress is a trilogy. And I am right now introducing my favorite character . . . (or one of them). His name is Theo, and he kind of looks like the guy at left, except my Theo has blue-gray eyes. And unfortunately . . . Theo . . . meets a grim end. I know this, so every scene with him just makes me ache. The more I like him, the more I know I will cry when the time comes.
Yes . . . my characters are that real to me. I love Theo. In a very real way. And oddly enough, I can't simply decide to spare him. You would THINK . . . "She's the author, so she can make whatever she wants happen." But to me, the process is much more "real" than that. I can no more undo what is going to happen to poor Theo, than I can suddenly snap my fingers and make my toddler stop his habit of taking off all his clothes and running around "nakie." You know, it just is. And just as my world is real, so is Theo's, and there are aspects of it that seem, in many ways, pre-ordained. Just as J.K. Rowling knew what was going to happen in the last book . . . I am very clear as to what happens to all the members of this particular clan. It is their destiny.
So . . . does anyone else relate? Do your characters have destinies that you cannot control?
9 comments:
Yeah... I can pretty much tell right away when a character enters my story whether or not they make it to the end. It isn't so much a fate or destiny thing (although it might seem so to that character) as much as it is a story integrity issue.
Hi Ewoh:
I know, intellectually, it's a story integrity thing. But I guess I have such a "theme" of magic and destiny that I sort of "apply" it to my story,
E
I just finished Part 1 (Daddy's Wake: Night One) this afternoon, and you are the first author that has had me in tears in the pick up lane at school.
Heather:
I am humbled. Thank you.
:-) (Though, of course not happy that you had tears!)
E
Erica, you can't tell us this stuff! You'll spoil the surprise! :-) (No, really, it's okay.) :-)
Yeah, kinda. But I'm lazy, so I don't think too long. :-) To change a character's destiny, you have to change his (or the other character's) actions, and to do that, you have to change their motivations. By the time you do that, it sets off a chain reaction that means you're changing your whole story!
On another note, I used to strip off my clothes and run down the middle of the street naked when I was his age, too. (And look at how I turned out. *shudder*)
Spy, lol about your toddler story.
I write WF and paranormal romance. I don't kill off major characters, but they do have bad things happen. I never think of lightening their load. As I write, I just think of more complications for them.
Hi Spy:
Theo's release isn't until--gulp, 2009. And his demise is in 2010. I don't expect anyone to remember. LOL!
Hi Edie:
I have a nasty habit of killing them.
;-)
E
Spy:
And a P.S. . . . that is oddly comforting. I am actually OK with his nonstop efforts toward nakedness. However, the penis puppetry gets a bit much at times. :-)
E
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