Make it real

Hi all :) Well it's time for another weekly installement of ...well whatever I come up with :) So far it's been vampire/writing related. This week I'd like to talk about characters and how to a writer they become almost like real people that demand to be heard.

First though a message from our sponsors (namely me and Tasha): My book The Newfoundland Vampire will be on in April 2012 (exact date to be determined) and Tasha’s books (the second one I’ve read and highly recommend) are out now.

So this is something I thought of a while ago, last September when I was on vacation in Cuba but only came to the fore front of my mind tonight. As a writer (well technically aspiring but that will soon change) I think that one of the greatest pleasures is creating characters that feel real to you. Characters that almost take on a life of their own and speak to you in quiet whispers and needle your subconscious.

For me when I wrote my book the main characters are Cassandra and Joseph, for the second one in particular as I said before he is really a chance for me to imagine myself having a totally different path in life and he gave me the chance to speak on issues that mattered to me. I idenitifed with a lot of the emotional events he goes through in the book (obviously not all of them) and ultimately I tried to imagine what Joseph would do in a situation rather than exclusively what I would do.

With Cassandra, well she is a woman of fantasy certainly. I don't know any actual woman like but that didn't make her any less real to me. It might sound strange but when I write her it felt like she would sort of tell me what to say. A female character is a little harder for me to do but still her personality always seemed very strong to me.

To followup on what I said before, like most people when you're on vacation you have a lot of time to think (and drink, and read and do whatever :-). When I was sitting on a chair by the pool (Cuba was hot!) I thought that there has a be a book 2, my characters have more to say and hopefully next year (or late this year possibly) there will be another. I think one of the joys of writing is creating characters you love and following their journey down the twisted, sometimes dangerous path your imagination will take.

Until next week my fair readers I am...