Heh. Bet that got your attention, didn't it? LOL! Well, I mean it -- in a way. As writers, all of us are faced with "creating our characters" or "makin' babies' of a sort. Honestly, it's one of my very favorite parts of the process. I'm very much a character-driven writer, and as such, I'm extremely careful with the entire process, from conception to birth. Some come into being very easily, while others -- whew -- others are real pains in the neck. But just like children, you're going to have some that are just better behaved than others.

I was asked for some advice earlier this this month about how to direct characters that have made cameos in earlier works and now are the stars of their own stories. These folks can either be a piece of cake to deal with -- or if left unattended for awhile, they can be the most difficult S.O.B.'s to deal with, bar none.

"But how can they be so difficult, Leslie?" you ask. "You've already molded them and given them motivation and we as readers have grown to love them from those other books they randomly appeared in. Remember?"

Argh. Yes. I remember. But think about how you'd feel if you were that character I'd lovingly created, mollycoddled and then...deserted. No, no, not on purpose. Of course not. I'd never willingly neglect my baby. But sometimes... well, sometimes there are other stories that cry out to be told and, well, the one that hollers the loudest gets my attention first.

Alas... this is where we run into trouble. It starts when we pick that character up again and put him/her into a starring role. Holy bull in a china shop, it's near-impossible to direct these folks now. Why? Simple. You see, after you gave birth to them, you released them into a world you created and guess what? They've continued to live and interact in this place without you! (gasp!) And how dare you come in and try to tell them what to do, when to do it and with strangers they've never met before? They've been getting along perfectly fine without you, thankyouverymuch. Hmph!

Er... you see what I'm saying? Basically, our little babies are now all grown-up and, as you probably know, grown-ups are so much harder to raise then kids. These characters can be guided though. Oh, yes... it can be done, but you have to conjure up a pretty hefty dose of patience. Keep that in mind when you're thinking of writing a series. When Peter Jackson decided to film all of the Lord of the Rings movies at once, I thought he was certifiably cuckoo, but now I get it.

As difficult as your characters can be, however, you always love them and you always want them to be the best they can be. Even if their best is to be a horrible, wicked villain. Hey, it happens. It's like that old commercial where the guy goes, "No one ever says: I want to be a drug dealer when I grow up." Shyeah, whatever, dude. I've had a couple of kids that were major drug runners, an embezzler and -- permit me to brag -- a pretty saucy crack whore. Oh, those crazy kids, they'll grow up to be anything! (And hey, every story needs a little flavor).

Have fun makin' your babies! Keep in mind the newer ones are generally more willing to listen to direction and can be manipulated easier than their older brothers and sisters. Heck, they're just thrilled for the attention, y'know? But enjoy it while it lasts. They grow out of this cute stage fast and before you can turn around good, they're off on their own, doing their own thing, living their own life -- without any help from you.



*sniffle*

Oh, my precious babies....!


Leslie Ann Dennis is the author of Reason to Believe, coming soon to The Wild Rose Press.

Labels: babies, creating characters, Romance Writing, writing