As I make the final touches on my first novel (hoping to release this month) and continue drafting my second (the sequel to the former), I find myself a bit at war with…myself. (Feels weird saying the same word in one sentence, but it’s what is happening.
I have a vision for my story and my characters. I see them in my mind, and I try to do them justice. I want them to seem realistic, relatable, endearing, etc. However, I also want to please my audience.
Some aspects of my stories, for me, are set in stone. This person will be a good guy; this one will be a bad guy. They will go here, and these things will happen. Some things are debatable. Some characters are vital to one part of a story but not another. Do I send them away for work or a vacation or do I create circumstances that lead to their death? Or do I write them out entirely if they aren’t needed for the whole story?
It could be just me, but I feel some responsibility to these fictional characters. Unless they are the bad guy (or gal), I want good things for them, but that isn’t realistic.
We shall see how the fates turn out for my current work in progress. I know there will be a happy ending for some, for others, they will get the ending they deserve, good or not. Some of them, I don’t yet know where their story will end. I may end up just as surprised as anyone else.
Dawn Ludlow 