Topic: Your characters come from your mind, from other people you've witnessed, but can you create their lives without them revealing
something about yourself? Have they ever taught you something?
So are my fictional characters my 'great reveal'? To a degree I believe this to be true. Every story is filtered through an author's view of the world, emotions, and life experience--at least for my heroine.
Another challenging topic from Robin for our group of Round Robin Blog authors.
However, there is also a curtain we all have firmly in place--revealing only what we wish to reveal to others. The same is true of our characters. My heroine will be more like 'me' in my rough draft than she will be by the time I've completed my novel.
In my soon to be released "Gumbo Ya Ya an anthology who like romance Cajun". One of my heroines, Celeste, jumps overboard into a raging sea!
Not a plan of action in my 'non-fictional' life. Runaway horse? Yep, I'd saddle up. Yoga on a mountain top? Sure, with a soft yoga mat. Dine on escargot, Rocky Mountain oysters, frog legs? I have. Hold a 6 ft. python--yes, though someone else had a firm hold of upper portion of snake's body (no accidental snake-licks for me). Jump into the sea? Never. . .ever.
I seem to be be more removed--meaning more analytical in the development of my secondary characters. This is especially true when I seeped myself in the secondary character's world, work, and point of view. I become the secondary characters, like a method actor.
Now, my villains must have a motivation with a trigger rooted in a past event/or recent trauma. Providing me with way I can explain (not justify) the villain's twisted reasoning/action.
Yes, some people are evil, truly evil. However, I have yet write a novel requiring I delve into that degree darkness, and doubt I every will.
The second part of the topic: Have my characters every taught me something?
My current release, "Tanayia" Whisper upon the Water, Book 1 Native American/First People Series, taught me to not only view life, but experience the hardships though the eyes of another person.
Opening Prologue 1868:
The Governor of New Mexico decreed that all Indian children over six be educated in the ways of the white man.
Indian Commissioner, Thomas Morgan, said: It was cheaper to educate the Indians than to kill them.
1880, Apacheria, Season of Ripened Berries
Isolated bands of colored clay on white limestone remained where the sagebrush was stripped from Mother Earth by sudden storms and surface waters. Desolate. Bleak. A land made of barren rocks and twisted paths that reached out into the silence.
A world of hunger and hardship. This is my world. I am Tanayia. I was born thirteen winters ago. My people and I call ourselves "Nde" this means "The People". The white man calls us Apache.
Stop by and see what stories other member of our Round Robin Blog authors have to share.
See you next month,
Connie
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