Dearest darling Persephone,
I am writing a letter to you under "P" because it is your name, even though I'm much more used to thinking of you as Sephie. I have other plans for "S." Or I did. As I type this letter, I can't remember what my original "S" plans were. Drat. I shall still save "S" because I have another idea anyway. Perhaps it was even my original idea.
Annnnyway. You have been one of my favorite characters to write, and you weren't supposed to ever exist. A bunch of my friends were doing NaNoWriMo in 2009, and I was not going to do it. NaNo2008 had been exhausting. As in it-ate-my-brain exhausting. But Emma was so excited about doing it, and Kate had this huge story planned out, and Faith was writing her book, and suddenly it seemed all of my friends were jumping on the NaNo bandwagon. Then in October I mentioned the tentative possibility of joining in, but said that I didn't really have anything to write, and Faith said to me, "What if I gave you prompts? Like this!" She proceeded to throw five random prompts at me: sensei, some mushrooms, stack of paper, a spatula, and a duck.
From there, your story was born. It did, in fact, include a sensei, some mushrooms, a stack of paper, a spatula, and a duck, and many, many other things.
You were snarky and bold and very blunt. You made mistakes. You loved your family. You gave me ridiculously long chapter titles to go with the ridiculously long title of your book. You actually made me write something that was not fantasy, just a good ol' slice-of-life story. You surprised me in some awesome ways. Your whole family did, really.
I will always treasure your adventure and the things you showed me through it. So thank you, dear Sephie, for your story. I'm looking forward to the time when I can share it with others.
Fondly,
The Author Whose Mind You Ate One November (And In Whose Mind You Have Remained Ever Since)
*I've found that sometimes characters who impact me the most are the ones that came out of nowhere. What about with you? Do you have a character who surprised you a lot or really impacted you in unexpected ways when you wrote them?
**How are all of you A-Zers doing? Does your brain feel like a giant puddle of jelly yet? I'd send everyone chocolate, but alas, I think the only way I could manage that would be if I owned a chocolate factory. Which I do not. So I will send virtual chocolate from my virtual chocolate factory. *sends virtual chocolate to everyone*
I'm looking forward to this part of the AZ challenge, feels like the end is in sight (famous last words). Hopefully I can get the rest of my posts up without too much trouble.
ReplyDeleteInto the home stretch!
mood
Moody Writing
I had a character once that my uncle requested as comic relief end up becoming quite a pivotal part of the plot. And in one of my more recent fanfics, I had a brand-new love interest come out of nowhere and kick the old love interest to the curb. Metaphorically. It was quite the learning experience for me.
ReplyDeleteMy characters haunt me until I get their story right. Which for me can take a looooong time.
ReplyDeleteI love when characters that were minor characters surprise with their backstory, which is great b/c it adds depth to my stories! I love how ideas can spring up out nowhere!
ReplyDeleteI've had characters come out of the blue in revisions. In fact I had to fire my antagonist to make room for her because she was so much more evil than her predecessor.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely letter :-) And I like the name Sephie :-)
ReplyDeletemood-I'm hoping to get through the rest without too much trouble, too! I've hit the point where I only had about two posts planned. O_o
ReplyDeleteElouise-Ooh, how fun! It's always so interesting to see what new characters do when they come into a story--especially when you weren't expecting them!
Kari-I totally know what you mean. O_O
Laura-I love that, too!
Jeffrey-Hahaha! I bet your first antagonist was miffed about being replaced by someone more evil. ;) That's great. :D
Rachel-Thank you so much!