I came across the general question of what your characters might say to you as their creator and thought I'd explore the idea further. I also read a wonderful short story, many years ago, which took stock creations and made them berate their writer for conforming to the normal with them and not giving them better breaks! So here is what Jenny, daughter of my rebellious fairy godmother, Eileen, might say to me.
- Did you have to make my mother, Eileen, so awkward? Yes! There's the story! Besides Eileen is what she is. It would be impossible for her type of character not to be awkward.
- Do you have to drop me in it with moral dilemmas? How am I supposed to reconcile being half-fairy and half-human with (a) my faith and (b) my daily life generally? This is for you and me to find out together as I write the stories. And the answer is yes by the way. (You do realise you're coming across as whinging incidentally?!).
- I was not delighted to find a dragon in my garden in one of the novels. You weren't supposed to be though you handled it as well as anyone could given the circumstances.
- You do know I have my own life to lead? Yes and that's the joy of you as a character - how you do reconcile ordinary life with husband and son and awkward mother and the magical side of things.
- I've got to find a better way of getting back at the Fairy Queen for her attempts to intimidate me and so on. Come on, get on with it! You sound like your dear mother there. Besides novels and the development of thoughts such as tackling the Fairy Queen effectively take time, dearie.
RSS Feed
