Sometimes a character takes over the story

In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King says that sometimes characters "begin to influence the course of the story instead of the other way around" (p. 190) and "every character you create is partly you." (p. 191)

It's always nice to have a highly successful writer reflect my own experience. Every character has a bit of the writer in there - even villains. But sometimes a character develops in unexpected ways and takes over the story.

When I started writing Peg's Story: Detours, I was identifying strongly with Peg. While her initial relationships and situations were different from my experience, her feelings and reactions were what I'd expect mine would be in her place - until she got to the bus station and I found her behaving in ways that absolutely shocked me.

The character had taken over. I couldn't force her into behaving differently - it wouldn't fit. Knowing people always think I'm writing about myself, I was too embarrassed to continue. The manuscript got put away for many months.

Then I saw a documentary in which they interviewed women who had been trafficked, and I realized that was Peg's story - the man at the bus station wasn't just another sleaze, he was a trafficker targeting a traumatized girl to draw her into his stable.

Yes, I left home (when I was almost twenty) and took a bus to Harrisburg and my fiance, and we went through the same storm Peg experiences. However, my fiance was not a pimp; we got married that summer and moved to a college town.

Throughout the rest of the novel, I use experiences from my twenties (like sailing on San Francisco Bay) but put them into the context of Peg's journey, not mine. I also throw in a good bit I never experienced first-hand, but researched thoroughly. In the end, it's Peg's story, her detours. I like to think the part of her that is me is the part that gives her the resilience she needs.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This photo is from 2021. For the first time in thirty years, my brother and I spoke - for eleven hours. I am so glad we did, because he passed away this week and I'm left with good memories of that day.

He was born seven years after "the family" and I came along another seven years after that - so our siblings were grown up and out of the house before I started school. We didn't always have smiles for each other, but that eleven hours of talking covered a lot of ground and I'm left understanding him - and myself - better for it. I am most definitely thankful for having that time with him.

I am also thankful that my kids are planning extreme travel next week so we can all be together for about twenty-four hours, barring illness, travel, and work complications.

I'm linking three other posts - one a short story, another about my family, and OMG, which is another reason I give thanks - they all lived.

Happy Thanksgiving.

reading for writers: Community Board by Tara Conklin

In Community Board, Tara Conklin takes us inside the major depression of a woman whose husband has left her for another woman - yet she manages to make the story entertaining! The character isolates herself in her parent's empty home, eating only the canned goods her mother still stocks in what was a bomb shelter. Excerpts from a community board are her main contact with the outside world - and are the quirky sort of conversations you'd find on a Facebook community page. Also included are unfinished emails the woman writes to her husband, often about the hairiness of his new lover. The ending is quite satisfactory as well.

For writers this is worth reading because of the structure of the book - using social media excerpts within a larger narrative - and the use of humor in a serious story.