I believe that we, as in all of us human beings that find ourselves clinging to this mote of dust that is hurtling through the universe, try to lock everyone up into nice neat little boxes that make us comfortable. I am, personally, a bit OCD and I have a tendency to place my dishes into exactly the right place on the shelf, and fold my laundry just so, and do a billion things a day in a very specific way.
Beginning with my pubescent life, I became a people-watcher, and one of the things that I was most surprised to discover was that those of us in the LGBTQ multiverse are every bit as constrained by this convention as religious fundamentalists and corporate CEO types. We have a serious problem with things that don't fit into our boxes.
Now that is not to say that we are all the same, but there is a strange similarity between people in every clique. Some will say that we are drawn to a group that expresses our own notions of acceptability, but the evidence seems to indicate that we actually tend to adapt ourselves to fit a group, rather than settle into a group that reflects our personal status quo.
Life is a dynamic environment. Change is inevitable. Shit happens.
I know I probably sound like I am going off the rails here, but my point is that my characters reflect the dynamic nature of life as I have created it. For some reason, they won't let me cram them into my boxes. instead, they are busy adapting to their own. They constantly surprise me by doing things that I had not anticipated.
In a tiny way, I think that this reflects my personal "God-image". What I mean by that, is that I am beginning to feel like I created this universe to accomplish a particular linear goal. The goal was to take a story idea from A to B to C to D, but my crazy-ass creations keep taking my plans off on tangents.
In any event, I am enjoying the surprise twists that my characters are adding to the linear storyline, but I can see how a more anal God might get frustrated about the way they keep mucking about.
What if God just got pissed off when the dinosaurs wouldn't stick to the plan, so he wiped them out and started over.
Hmmmmmmmm.
Comments
Don't fit in a box
Since I am intersexed, both genders in a manner of speaking, no matter what I did, I never fit. Many good authors have said that their stories write themselves and with some qualification, I agree.
Nice..
...to meet you, Gwen.
I would imagine an author's worst nightmare might be...
What if my characters got mad at me and stopped writing?
Talk about embarrassing.
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.
There is a worse possibility...
What if your author got mad at you and stopped writing? If you are here, s/he must be pretty nasty. ;)
OMFG
What a deliciously wicked evil thought !!!!!!
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.
:-))))
The reality have seen a lot of things most of us would never expect to actually happen. Who could know?...
I have read a sci-fi story about a writer whose works are chosen to be turned through a super-technology into reality, for entertainment of the people, and destroyed when the interest in them wanes. The city he describes is surrounded by a special kind of barrier that prevents the characters from leaving. The writer decides to take the initiative and save his MC, and goes through the barrier inside the city to find him and carry him out. What turns out, however, is that he is a character in such an environment. His writer, being disabled, could not walk. So he wrote his character to believe that he is entering through the barrier, instead of leaving through it, in order to be able to cross it...
:-)
OMG...
...SocialPunk??????
Monica Leonelle's book was one of the first authors I read when I got Kindle Unlimited.
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.
I don't fix any box
Like Gwen says.
We are all unique. Some are more unique than others. A lot of them hang out here.
Besides, if we didn't have people who were a little odd, eccentric, trans etc the world would be a very boring place.
As the song from the 1960's song says
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
We aren't like that and I'm actually proud of that.
Thank you for that
I met Malvina Reynolds more than 50 years ago, when I was a teenager. I'm glad that her songs are still remembered.
My best work
My best work have been the stories that do write themselves. If I sit down to write and the story just flows, the finish product only needs spell check and a review for grammar and syntax. The end result is something that is a joy to read.
However most of the stories I attempt are simply good ideas that require someone of greater skill than I possess to whip them into shape. My biggest problem is that characters do take on a life of their own. Not so much my main character, the protagonist, but the secondary characters that keep doing or saying things that don't move the story to the desired end. I have a hard drive full of stories where the characters have taken over an gone places that I never imagined and I have no idea of how to get the story turned in a direction that will bring about a conclusion, not just the conclusion I envisioned when I started, but any conclusion that makes sense.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Uh Huh
Characters reflect the reality of free will.
We believe that good fiction is based in conflict that develops change. To call ourselves authors we must abide by that unwritten contract with our readers. Believable characters is one of our goals. If the reader believes in our characters they will suspend their disbelief long enough to enjoy the story -- no matter what the premise might be.
As we go through the writing process characters become clearer in our minds. It is perfectly normal for them to establish boundaries within their true natures.
My writing process involves writing a complete story that is fairly bare bones of characterization.
Let's say the original draft is 45,000 words. I'll then go back and layer on characterization. This might involve adding complete chapters to take a minor character to the level she deserves. Often the second draft will run 50% to 75% longer than the first draft. The second draft will normally take me two to three times longer to write than the first draft.
Then I'll set the story aside and wait until I can read it with the perspective of a reader, looking for consistency errors and additional needed exposition.
(I'm astounded by those writers who can turn out goods stories in serial fashion because it is so foreign to my system of writing.)
I often go back, long after a story has been published and put it through and extensive rewrite. And, yes, it is as if the characters are whispering in my ear . . . demanding I make corrections in the way they're portrayed.
We believe God is the source of all moral authority. An author has a similar rule in the world she constructs. She decides the ethics for her characters.
Authors are not Gods, but our characters think we are.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Amazing
Angela, that is an amazingly insightful way to say it. (By the way, I loved Peaches and Sky.)
"Authors are not Gods, but our characters think we are."
I am really new at writing narrative fiction. My few friends that know this side of me have witnessed my past attempts to write a story. I would have my characters and plan and outline, but would stall every time. My most successful writing has been to allow it to flow freely. While I have a map (using my earlier metaphor) I let the characters drive the bus. For some reason, they seem to be making the narrative a lot more interesting then I can, because I am constantly amazed at what they say and do.
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.
Post It
For years I tried reducing my story to a eight to fifteen word story concept and then wrote that on a Post-It and stuck it to my monitor. It was there from start to finish. Over the years I quit doing this, but still think it is a valid approach.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
An interesting concept
Your approach is an interesting concept. I'd never thought of working through the process just that way. I've tried starting with the end, with some success, but that seems to work well in the other genre I write in, not so much here.
Since I greatly admire your work, I think I'll have to give it a try. I wish I could look over your shoulder and see just how you do it. It would be interesting to compare each draft and see what you've done to add, improve or change the story line.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
The God Game
waif, Some years ago, I encountered a book (fiction) by Andrew Greeley, "The God Game" which was about that very topic as I recall, it was an excellent read. He is writing the story on his computer. In the story, in his dreams, the fictional world becomes real and he can observe all and even influence events. Thus he becomes Lord God Almighty. When one of his characters is making a life mistake and doesn't respond to vocal prompting he begins frantically hitting the Delete key.
I believe I shall carry that image for all of my life. I suspect you might enjoy that book if you can find it.
Joani
God Game
Sounds awesome. Found it on Amazon (unfortunately not a Kindle version) and ordered it.
When I read the basis of the book it reminded me of a Will Ferrell film that I saw when I was in HS titled, Stranger Than Fiction.
So I ordered it, from Amazon too.
:P
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.
God Games...
On that subject, it might be worth mentioning a 1968 novel by Robert Coover called The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J, Henry Waugh, Prop. , which literally falls under the God Games heading. An accountant creates a solitaire charts-and-dice baseball game with players of his own creation and has invested his life in the reality of those players (and the environment around them) over decades of league seasons. A very unexpected -- though mathematically possible -- series of events within the league finds him trying to decide whether to intervene and change the story, so to speak.
Eric
It's Complicated Being God
This is making me realize how complicated being God can be.
I always looked at it as a pretty cushy gig....just wave a hand and put everything in order.
I know this thread, which I began as a whim, has really given me a lot to think about.
AND READ !!!!!
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.