Ever had characters stuck in your head who never go away? I do, and I can't get rid of them. I will never write a story about them. They do not belong in anything I am currently working on where I can insert them as secondary characters. So, why won't they leave me alone?
When I hear one speak to me, I will at least give him a name so he will shut up and stop disturbing my thoughts. Another chimes in with her toothy grin and I tell her to go away. She laughs, slapping her knee like I'd made some funny ass comment. I give her a name and ask her to leave. She refuses.
This is my last effort to get these demons to find a home elsewhere. The only way I can get them to shut up and leave me alone is to write about them. I'm giving you short, sweet blurbs to introduce them and all their obnoxious, narcissistic drama.Cleavis Johnson works at the local marina. He operates the boat-lift and when boats are not docking after a long day at sea, Cleavis sits on the wooden benches outside the storefront, waiting for the next vessel to approach. He'll smoke his pipe, his fat fingers almost covering the entire bowl. Cleavis is a big man and when he talks, his lips barely touch, probably in order to accommodate his oversized teeth. Even though I have no place for him, he continues to smoke his pipe and talk about all kinds of things which have nothing to do with me or my novel.
Betty Pickerton lost her two front teeth in a bar fight when she was 22 years old. She couldn't afford dental work, but once she turned 30 she didn't care anymore. She had already landed a life-long mate, Johnny Ray. Johnny died in a hunting accident two weeks before they were fixing to get hitched. Now she's 52 years old and guards her 12 x 55 trailer with a sawed off shotgun to keep out the riff raff. When there is a demand for Deliverance, The Reunion, I will consider a spot for you, Betty.
Chesney James dropped out of high school to take care of her alcoholic mother. When she's not decked out in studded, black leather with her hair gelled into five equal spikes, she's holed up in her room cutting on herself. She threatens to take her life if I don't write about her. So, here it is, I'm writing about her. Now, Chesney, I don't write emo stories, so please, please, PLEASE, shut it!
Carrie Chiles works at the Foxy Lady Lounge as a dancer. She won't turn down a good offer when solicited during private sessions in the back. What she does after working hours is her business, literally. She has this notion that if I write about all her sordid deeds, I could make a crap-load of money from all the horny housewives who purchased copies of 50 Shades of Gray. Carrie, I do not write erotica. And even if I did, I don't do sloppy seconds.
Who are some of the characters that disturb your thoughts while you are crafting your novel? Why do you think they are there and what do you think they are looking for?
Awesome post, I love this! Would you mind if someone took your characters and wrote about them? LOL! Maybe that's your intention? To move them on that way.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really enjoyed the read.
I don't mind at all, just change the names. :D
DeleteGlad you enjoyed!
Find a place in your writing notebook where these folks can take up lodging and await their turn. Then, the next time you're between projects or looking for a palate cleanser, see if one of them wants to be a short story, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteGood idea, Cynthia! I need a Hotel California type of place. lol
DeleteSomewhere on my D: drive is a file, 'character files' containing years of blurb on every character that I couldn't use somewhere. Sometimes just a name, sometimes pages of notes, they all go in the file until the day that may never come. I think of them like forgotten toys in a toybox. Once in a while you remember them, play with them, then return them, as beyond nostalgia, they just don't fit anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteI'll chuck these few in a folder and hope they will quiet down. They feel more like elves on shelves...watching me.
DeleteDiane, I love how quirkily-creative your characters are. I wish my chars. were that in-depth. I have a few that grow into such detailed characters, but a lot of them end up being a "use your imagination, dear reader" types. I'm much better at short stories that focus on metaphors about inanimate objects than I am creating complex characters (something I'm working on aside from figuring out how to write decent romance...)
ReplyDeleteI DO have one guy, though, and man... he's been plaguing me for years. He's a filthy roommate-type with gaping baby teeth who pathologically lies and spends his days in a christmas-tree-light lit musty basement on a hand-me-down calico couch playing Halo all day while eating salt & cracked pepper chips & listening to indie rock bands like the Bachelors and Band of Horses. And, dum da da da! After a good TEN years I finally found a home for him in my current WIP! He's the perfect irritatingly lovable comic relief and drives my MC (and sometimes me) completely nuts. Alas, my MC needs someone to help pay the rent...so he's stuck with the doesn't-know-how-to-shower southern Londoner with a mole on his butt that he proudly brings up whenever the opportunity arises, lol. I wish I had a clue where this nutball came from, but I'm glad I finally found a home for him!
Wow, randi! Thanks for sharing this guy. lol
DeleteThis is a guy we all know through personal experience or through another person. Somehow, we've all met that guy, but what a spin. I'm thinking a cross from the big lebowski and the entertainer from that reality show. He might steal the spotlight from your MC. :D
Great visuals, randi!
I don't know what you're talking about! I want my privacy! Please...keep me out of your writting.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Cleavis Johnson
Cleavis! Your lips touched.
DeleteMine are there because they want their stories told, and they won't leave me alone until that happens.
ReplyDeleteWell, sounds like you have a lot of writing to do, Kelly! :) Maybe why I'm not being productive. I have my fingers in my ear going, "lalallalalalalalalala, I'm not hearing you!"
DeleteI'll take Chesney James off your hands if you want. My drain brainpan likely has a place for hr.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, but you'll have to give her a name change. :D
DeleteWhat a great post! I've been thinking about this for a while, too, pondering what to do with all these extras.
ReplyDeleteMind if I do a similar post and link it back to yours?
I hope your extra voices die down soon *nods* Because you are an author, I do not feel that this is out of place at all. Every author hears voices. Right?
Okay, good. (You answered, right?) ;)
Have a wonderful day, you.:)
Thanks, L.T.! Yes, feel free to link back. :)
DeleteYeah, I have a journal just for this. They get on my nerves. If I try to ignore them I end up losing sleep. They pop up at the most inconvenient times. Mine get greedy. I write them down and then they want thier own story and start writing scenes before I get a chance to. Love 'em to death though ;)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean all too well, Auden. Mine have been quiet since I made this post, but let some time go by and they'll be back. lol
DeleteVery entertaining. Your post reminded me of my last trip to Walmart.
ReplyDeleteWhere Darwinism is in full force. :D
DeleteI get these negative little trolls who talk me down to size, rip up any shred of confidence and laugh at my grammar. I hate them and think they escaped from Hell or something. Fortunately, my writing angels come from a stronger place and if I concentrate I can feel the bad little weasels evaporate.
ReplyDeleteSomething similar happened in my writing group. The angel liked my chapters and I swear the guy that didn't suddenly grew horns!! :D
DeleteI love this post! My current protagonist was like this. I was trying to write his daughter's story and it kept stalling and he kept waving at me. "Hello! I'm here! To write about her, you should write about me first!"
ReplyDeleteIt is exactly the same! It's like the characters are jealous of each other.
DeleteVery vivid characters, Diane!
ReplyDeleteThey seem the sort of people who wallow in their own low expectations of life. Maybe that makes them harder to write for.
Thanks, William!! Sometimes I think they are washed out characters who just want attention and they have already gone down and out and I don't know what else I can stomach to put them through.
DeleteI loved your character descriptions. They all sound slightly quirky, but that's my favorite kind of characters.
ReplyDeleteI don't have character sketches as well developed as yours, but I have bits and pieces of stories and dialogues between characters. I store them in my story cupboard on my desktop. When I need food to for my site, I pull them out and see which one is ready to eat:~)
Thank you, Sara! I like quirky, too. I just wish I could fit them in somewhere. I think I also have stored bits and pieces (all equal to about 40,000 words hoping for a home one day). =)
DeleteWe are glad we aren't alone! Sometimes I think I must be schizophrenic with all these people in my head waving at me!
ReplyDeleteI always think there is that chance we might have a minor case of schizo. Then I reassure myself, "So long as they don't come out of your head and force you to do things that are bad...I think you'll be just fine. Shhh, you're okay, I promise."
Delete;)