Yes, I am guilty. I am very mean to my characters. Unbelievably mean to them. First I make them fall in love when they don't want to, and then I break their hearts. How cruel is that?
The funny thing is, I'm feeling really guilty about it as well. I think with all the intense writing I've done these past week and a half (33,000 words and 125 pages in that time), I've gotten so emotionally involved with the characters. Too involved, actually, to the point where it makes me cry to think of what I'm going to do to them.
I really am a sap. I bawled while writing certain scenes in my last book, and even cried again while revising. Now I'm crying just thinking about what I'm going to do to the new characters.
Really, it makes me think of the movie Stranger than Fiction. I can completely understand the writer agonizing over killing her characters after realizing that one of them is real. My characters feel real to me. They become like myself, probably because they are a part of me.
Am I alone in this? Do any of you writers get so attached to your characters that it wounds your heart to break theirs?
Maybe I'm too emotional, but I'm thinking that it probably is a benefit as a writer. When I become part of the story, live the story, it makes it better in the end. At least I think so.
So I'm off to cry some more as I think of all the horrible tricks I'm about to play on my characters. But, being the soft-hearted person I am, I can remind myself that it will all work out well for them in the end. They may hate me, but I can live with that.
Totally have a love/hate relationship with what I do to them. I felt guilty that I couldn't write things so Girl A ends up with Boy A. I knew from the get-go she belonged with Boy B, but I adored Boy A and . . . gah!
ReplyDeleteI too got teary eyed writing a few scenes in my book. I envisioned myself as my character in the situation and was overcome with emotion. I totally get what you are saying!
ReplyDelete