I do believe! I do, I do, I do!

I was reading Bill's journal today,The Wildcats Lair (and on Blogspot), Bill was responding to Jess's Writers Question The question was: What is your experience with characters? Do they come to you "full grown out of oblivion" or do they come in pieces and only share a bit of what you need to know them? Do you hear their voices, or do you develop them? What makes them real for you?

...and in his response he wrote this: Characters really do take on a life of their own. Many of the ones that run around the inside of my head have enjoyed that space for more than a decade. Some are probably going on two, but just how many of them are really alive to me? More than I care to admit!

Now, sometimes I respond to Jess's questions myself, only because I've attempted to write a Fantasy Fiction story, that most who read my journal know about. (Kesterwood Forest). But never having any real writing training and having no hope what-so-ever of writing well enough to be published, I don't always respond to her questions. (then again, sometimes I do, just because it strikes me so strong, that i feel qualified to respond.)

Anyway... I came close to trying to respond to Jess but I didn't. But, that certain something I just mentioned about "striking me"... well, it struck in the sentence that Bill wrote... the part where he asks himself "just how many are really alive to me? More than I care to admit!"

Boy howdy! Ain't that the truth!! To anyone who has never made up characters to tell a story, I realize they wouldn't really "get" it, but anyone who has.. well, if most (if not all) of your characters don't become borderline real to you... then you probably don't even like your own writing!

In Fantasy, of course there are characters who one might think, "how can they seem real to you?".. maybe a giant or a dwarf character. But, ummm, dwarves are real people, and so are giants. Giants are people born with acromegaly, a disease that results in an over abundance of growth hormones, also known as Giantism. So right there a piece of the character is "real". Others such as a Wizard type character may not be totally real, but where most of the "reality" begins (for me) is with the personalities you give them, no matter what sort of character it is.

Among my characters I have a Giant named Kien, who could well be labeled "the gentle giant", a dwarf named Laika, who wants nothing more then to have good friends and a life different from others, and an old man named Abbercorn, who could be the father I never had, or a mentor that most anyone would want.

So.. oh yeah, I agree with Bill about characters being alive and very real. And not just in my head, but in my heart also. Sometimes hearing that "it's just Fiction" can be cruel words when it means "they aren't real". I know I can no longer look at a forest without wishing I could walk into it and meet some of the very characters I wrote about. I've laughed with them, and cried with them... no one can tell me they aren't real.

And to Jess... you bet I hear their voices!