Have you Heard the Voices?

Today I actually watched a little of The View on television.  This is very unusual because I rarely touch the channel that the Olympics is on.   Anyhow… I did change the channel and the view was interviewing an author of a new book she has out.  One of the ladies asked about the fact that before even beginning to write she knew the ending and so how easy was it to write the middle of the book.

I found myself smirking as she told the ladies how the characters in the book seemed to take over at times and lead her in directions she never thought of going. (oh yeah, big smirk) So she wasn’t sure if the ending would be the one she thought it would be.

Have you written anything longer than a few hundred words?  A story perhaps where you made up your own characters and set them to some sort of story?   If you have, did your characters take over sometimes? Did they lead the way rather then you?

I’ve written a story.  Nothing major, but still it was plenty long enough for my characters to do exactly as she said hers had !

I’ve also heard voices in my head……. while writing!   I’ve sat long and thought hard about an outcome because they (the characters) had taken over.  What a fantastic feeling!  And I miss hearing their voices. 

I know many of you write.  Are there similar stories out there?  Who won?  The characters or you? 

This also makes me wonder…

Since there are such wonderful feelings while writing, why do some stop writing?  Why are there some authors who have only produced one book or one series of books and nothing more?    An author who seems to have done just that is Diane Setterfield who wrote The Thirteenth Tale.  It’s been years since that book came out (her first book) and nothing since. 

Of course Setterfield’s book is not even “just writing” like what I did.. that was a highly successful published novel!  And still… no other books.   And yet some authors are so prolific with their writing that a book a year comes out over and over and over again.  I wonder what makes that “one author book”? 

I’ve always heard, “if you don’t write ALL the time, and you don’t BURN to write”..then don’t even consider being a writer.   I don’t know why but I’d bet Diane Setterfield isn’t the only person who only wrote “one” book.  Should it not have been written because she seemingly only had that one story in her to tell???  I for one loved the book, so if that’s all she has I am still very glad she wrote it!

So… I was just wondering…  have any of you have heard voices?   How wonderful was it for you to know your characters so very well that you knew how they thought?  And how wonderful was if for them to take over and run with your story?