I Have a Question for You

If anyone out there writes stories about people, I have a question for you: Do you also become attached to the characters you create? I found myself truly caring for the survivors in my first novel Return of the Sun. I like Steve from Uncle Steve’s Cabin even more, and have mixed feelings about completing his tale.

Maybe it’s because I spend so much time with them that they seem real. Not real in that I expect to meet them on the street, but real in that I’m emotionally invested in them. Their lives are forever intertwined with mine. And how could it be otherwise? They come from me, are products of my imagination, sprinkled with bits of people I know. Like Frankenstein’s monster without the electrodes.

Whenever I finish a project I feel bittersweet. I’m relieved and glad (what will I do with all of that free time?) the characters’ stories are tucked away, and sad because I’ll miss them. Weird maybe, but whatever.

I tease myself thinking I’ll take a break from writing, give myself an emotional break, but I know better. I have the plot for the sequel to Return of the Sun snaking around my brain. It will be nice to revisit that world and the people I left there.

Thank you for listening.