Wednesday 29 May 2013

Real People as Inspiration




A recent conversation with my sister went something like this:
Me: Yes, this character is named after you.  But at least I didn’t kill you this time.
Her: No, you dropped a great big tree on me instead.

For some reason, I’ve been writing my younger sister into a lot of stories recently.  The poor thing has been killed in a plane crash, drowned in a puddle, and succumbed to cancer. She’s died as an infant, a young girl, a teenager on the cusp of adulthood and as a mother.  I’ve killed her so often that she’s developing a complex over my apparent desire for her death.

But that’s not what it’s all about.  It’s kind of a compliment how often she shows up.  She inspires me to write characters that I care about, that my MC will care about and my readers will cry over.  When she died of cancer in recent short story, I cried so hard that I was typing blindly.  I still haven’t been able to finish the plane crash scene, it actually hurts to read those lines.  They are far too realistic, so believable that they terrify me.  I don’t actually want her to die: she’s one of my closest friends and confidantes and I hope she knows how much I like her and love her. 

But she inspires me to write the very best death scenes and my MC’s grief-stricken reactions are exactly how terrible I would feel if she truly passed away.  And as a writer, I can’t afford to miss out on what produces strong emotions.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and dig her out from under the tree I dropped on her.  And come up with her next fictional death scene.



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20 comments:

  1. Thanks for the chuckle! :)

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  2. Lol, Carolyn. But you're absolutely right, some of my best fictional deaths are the characters I most adore.

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    1. If we-- as writers-- love our characters then our readers are likely to as well. And there is nothing as satisfying as believing so strongly in a character's reality that his/her death brings you to tears. Although I have to admit, I prefer crying over happy endings to sad ones!

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  3. I haven't killed off any characters I truly love (yet). That would be extremely difficult. I toyed with an alternate tragic ending for my last book but ultimately decided not to write it that way. Your sister sounds like a wonderful person - and a really good sport ;)

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    1. You should try it Rhiann, I was hesitant to kill off a character but it's really improved my writing.
      And yeah, my sister is great. She puts up with a lot from me. ;)

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    2. Some of my characters are already dead - does that count? lol.

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  4. Wow Carolyn! I've read lots of your work over the years but I never knew you were so sororicidal!

    By the way, how does this Thursday blog hop thing work?

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    1. Maaja, Rhiannwynnnolet.com co-created this blog hop. Here's a link to the info.

      http://rhiannwynnnolet.com/where-to-find-me/thursdays-children/

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  5. Haha, this didn't just make me laugh, it actually was really sweet. I do the same thing to my kids (even worse, in some ways!), and I think it's our way of dealing with the fear that we truly might one day loose those most important to us.

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    1. It's absolutely the best way to deal with aggravating kids, I think I've done it a few times myself. ;)

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  6. Oh, my. What fun. I have a t-shirt that says,"You are dangerously close to being killed off in my story," but you've actually taken that concept much further.

    It's awesome you and your sister have that kind of relationship that you can name a character after her. :)

    http://www.miaceleste.com/?p=341

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    1. I want a t-shirt like that! I have a sign that says:

      Warning: Novelist at work. Bystanders may be written into the story.

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  7. Haha! Yeah, I have a few people I kill regularly in my stories. But I don't actually like them in real life, and they always end up being the villain, so it's really very therapeutic and cleansing.

    At least, that's what my shrink tells me ;-)

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    1. Oh my... I've never written a villain that way. It sounds like fun!

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  8. You know I totally get that. When someone dies in a story and I don't care - it's just wrong. Imagining it's someone you love can only help you really hit the emotional tone. Sounds like your sister is a good sport though!

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    1. It does feel wrong to not care about a fictional death, doesn't it? They should all mean something.

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  9. "She inspires me to write characters that I care about, that my MC will care about and my readers will cry over."

    I love this idea so much. I'm going to have to try this technique. My poor sister... ;)

    One of my best friends once had me killed while on a jog by a vampire. I take it as a compliment. :D

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  10. That's beautiful. Your deepest love brings you closest to your heart so we all believe the truth of the matter. Huh. Write what you know, I guess. Your real feelings for her translate into real emotion for the reader. :) I need someone like that.

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  11. Great post! I think the last two lines are my favorite. lol

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