{the birth of characters}

Project create is going well. I love that I can plop down with my laptop anywhere I please and begin to write. As some of you may know, I’ve joined NaNoWriMo to write 50,000 words by November 30th. I’m a tad behind because I did not outline before November 1st. However, I am pretty deep into developing characters, and am finding myself writing deep into the night.

I tweeted something the other day that struck a chord with some participants. I said that, “Creating characters is like being pregnant & writing a book is like giving birth.” The writing is the often painful, arduous labor, but you endure it because you develop such a relationship with your characters. You create and give birth to your characters in the actual writing. They grow, develop quirks, history, and all the other things a person has. The only difference is that you are the only one to see the character in the writing process. You alone have this relationship. I find it fascinating, particularly because I’ve never written a lick of fiction.

Really, the major difference between pregnancy and birth as compared to character development and writing is that a writer can drink large quantities of coffee. Not just can, but must…
Photos: maggienkole {via} Lolita, 2. Jill Will & 3. Chocokat