: Re: Lost my ‘magic’ concerning characters I love creating characters, and for me it’s been the joy of writing for however long I’ve been doing it. I have maybe three or four unfinished projects

@Bryan361

Vote Up Vote Down

I quote Natalie Goldberg a lot because I love how, in Writing Down The Bones, she talks about ideas like compost. You throw in all the kitchen scraps and dead leaves and give them time to break down. Given enough time, they develop into beautiful compost that’s like gold for your garden.

Maybe you just need to give your story and characters a bit more time to ‘compost’ in your mind.

Character is driven by action. Who they are as people is defined by the choices they make and the actions they take. That is, you don’t tell a reader your character has a hard time making decisions, you put them in situations where their lack of decision making leaves them paralysed.

Perhaps, if you give your story time to grow, your characters will develop out of the situations you write them into. Try flipping things on their head and have them react in unexpected ways. As your story develops, your characters will too.

Sometimes, the harder a story is to write, the more complex and rich it becomes. But those stories take more time than others. The decisions and actions taken harder to make, and the characters deeper and more three-dimensional as a result.

So, I wouldn’t rush into writing it off as a bad idea. Perhaps work on finishing the others while you give this one the time it needs to ‘compost’. It could end up being the best thing you’ve ever written.

Good luck!

(0)

Login to post a comment!