Thursday, February 18, 2010

Secrets by Leann Harris

One of the exciting things that can happen when writing a book is when a character tells you a secret about his past that you—the writer-- knew nothing about. In the book I’m working on now, I have a character, the foreman of the ranch, who surprised me. As he was talking to the hero, he said something that shocked me. He has cancer.

After I wrote that scene I went to the gym to exercise between sessions of writing, I got to thinking about what Ollie (the foreman) revealed. It made perfect sense. And his situation makes my heroine’s life even more desperate.

It is an exciting thing for a writer to be surprised by their characters or discover a secret that they are keeping and will only reveal it when they must.

I am not unique in this. It happens to most writers, but it is a fun experience when it happens. Now, I’ll admit I don’t directly talk to my characters, but in their own way, they speak to me.

I know that sounds strange, but I never claimed I wasn’t.

4 comments:

Terri Reed said...

I love when that happens. In my book Chasing Shadows that came out last November, I thought I knew who the villian was but all of a sudden this other person took over. Totally surprised me.

Edna said...

I talk to my computer all the time, and if I am sewing I tell my machine what to do. I always get the answer I want that way.

mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net

Lynette Eason said...

LOL, I love it! But what's really weird is when you have a character show up dead. Not the hero or heroine but a pretty major character. Just showed up dead. Now that as truly a great writing moment!

Leann Harris said...

Wow, Lynette, that would throw your plot into a tizzy.