Monday, February 3, 2014

Begin at the Beginning...

As Glinda advised Dorothy at the start of her journey to Oz, it is always best to begin at the beginning...

The first words and paragraph of your story set the tone of how you believe your story will go...we have our characters firmly formed in our minds, their likes and dislikes, their background...their history...It's all there just waiting for the writer to put it to paper and tell their story..and then something happens.

The character takes on a life of their own.


No matter how well I plot or plan, my characters never behave in the way I have formed them in my mind. As humans or some form thereof, they evolve and change and even within a shorter story, something happens to veer them from my chosen path…

I  would like to say it is simply my imagination that kicks in once I start writing but I am not altogether sure that is truth of it…I can no more corral my characters in than you can mold an independent child into the adult you wish them to be. As a parent of three grown children, I can state with obvious authority, that this is not how it works. We can give them the tools and our love and guidance but ultimately, they will become their own person. And no matter what you do, you cannot change that.

Writing is an extraordinary journey and I find it’s best to just start at the beginning with your characters firmly in hand and once they have found their footing, turn them loose and let them run…





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