When Characters Get Together
Terry Odell
As writers, we spend a lot of time with our characters. But what do they think of us?
When I finished writing FINDING SARAH, the characters, Randy and Sarah, wouldn’t leave me alone. I ended up writing a sequel, HIDDEN FIRE.
At the time, I belonged to an online writing group, and every Monday there was a writing challenge. Often, it included using specific words or putting a character in a particular situation. For fun, I decided to incorporate some of the “behind-the-scenes” aspects of being a writer, which I recounted in THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PAGE. I hope you’ll enjoy this peek.
The Other Side of the Page
“You know, I’m getting sick of just sitting around here at the mercy of my writer,” Sarah complained. She squirmed, trying to get comfortable on a fallen log. “Look at me. Stuck out here in the woods in the middle of the night, freezing my ass off in a wedding dress while she tries to figure out how to have Randy find me and save me from that creep.”
“Hey, who are you calling a creep?” Chris popped out from behind a nearby tree and sat on the ground next to Sarah. “It’s not like any of this was my idea. And all that perverted sex stuff. What baloney. Hey, I like women. Women like me. I had no problems with women until she decided she needed a nastier villain.”
“Oh, be quiet you two.” Maggie appeared in the clearing, bundled in a heavy parka. “I’ve got some hot tea in this thermos and cookies in my backpack. And a blanket for you, Sarah, since she’s managed to have you lose yours. Maybe she won’t notice.”
“Thanks, Maggie,” Sarah said. She pulled the blanket around her shoulders, wrapped her hands around the cup of tea Maggie had poured for her and tried to keep her teeth from chattering so she could take a sip. “Mmm. What kind of tea is this?”
“How the hell should I know? I just bought some cheap tea bags and added boiling water. All those fancy teas Terry keeps writing for me—what a crock. I would have brought some booze but I was afraid you-know-who,” she glanced skyward, “might notice if you got drunk.”
“Shhh!” Chris said. “I think I hear the keyboard clattering again. God knows what she’ll have us do next.”
“I’m out of here then,” Maggie said. “I’m not in this scene and I don’t want to be, thank you very much. Finish that tea, Sarah, and hide the thermos. If she finds it, you’re in big trouble.” As quickly as she had arrived, Maggie scurried away.
Sarah gulped the rest of the tea and tossed the cup behind a tree trunk. “Get out of here too, Chris. You’re not supposed to find me yet, although I must say, I wish you would. I saw her looking up hypothermia on the Internet and I’m afraid I’m going to be in bad shape.”
“Sorry about that. But at least you’re the heroine. She can’t really harm you. I hope she doesn’t have a shootout planned for me. I don’t think she has a clue that I’m a crack shot and she’ll have my brains blown out instead.”
Sarah jerked upright. “What’s that? Did you hear something? An animal? You don’t think there are bears out here, do you?”
“Bears?” He shook his head. “No. Maybe an owl. She’s not going to put anything out here that will hurt you. Hang in there—I’m sure she’ll bring me back before that beanpole cop finds you. She’s got him stuck in Pine Hills all exhausted and frustrated.”
Sarah wrapped herself in the blanket and watched Chris disappear into the darkness. This character business wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. When she’d answered the ad, she thought it would be fun—be the heroine of a romance novel. Ha! Aside from one really great night with Randy, it had been one disaster after another. Now here she was, stuck in the woods, waiting around to see what her writer could possibly come up with next.
At least it ought to start happening soon. Chris had been right—the keyboard was clattering at a rapid pace.
Without warning, a calico kitten appeared from underneath a nearby log and climbed into Sarah’s lap.
“What the—?”
A voice from above echoed through the trees. “Hey, I can’t help it. This week’s writing class assignment is a killer. I have to use specific phrases in a story, and they’re all unrelated. They gave us six to choose from. I have to use three of them.”
“Let me guess,” Sarah said. “One choice was ‘calico kitten’, right?”
“Right. Now I need two more. Hmm. Untied sneakers won’t work—Chris already took yours away. Same goes for wool socks. Mouthwash? No, that won’t fit. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to dream about herb-roasted potatoes or feta cheese before you pass out from the cold, would you?”
Sarah sighed. “I’m at your mercy, Terry.” She closed her eyes and conjured up a vision of a five-course dinner including the requisite foodstuffs. “But how hard would it have been to use the wool socks instead of the damn cat?”
Ah, but where’s the challenge in that!
OK, TKZers. What are your characters doing when you’re not around?
New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings
Double Intrigue
When your dream assignment turns into more than you bargained for
Shalah Kennedy has dreams of becoming a senior travel advisor—one who actually gets to travel. Her big break comes when the agency’s “Golden Girl” is hospitalized and Shalah is sent on a Danube River cruise in her place. She’s the only advisor in the agency with a knowledge of photography, and she’s determined to get stunning images for the agency’s website.
Aleksy Jakes wants out. He’s been working for an unscrupulous taskmaster in Prague, and he’s had enough. When he spots one of his coworkers in a Prague hotel restaurant, he’s shocked to discover she’s not who he thought she was.
As Shalah and Aleksy cruise along the Danube, the simple excursion soon becomes an adventure neither of them imagined.
Like bang for your buck? I have a new Mapleton Bundle. Books 4, 5, and 6 for one low price.
Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”
My characters do talk to me, but not at any great length. Minor characters are no exception. Here’s how one of those snuck something past me, and I had zero idea why, at the time. {Excerpts from “Sail Away on My Silver Dream”}:
❦ Page 48: Uncle Vince drove Dad and me to the mall to get some ice cream for after dinner and so Dad could return the presents we’d bought for Mom. At the last minute, I asked if I could keep the angel pin. It seemed really important to have that pin, even though Mom wasn’t there to give it to. Dad started to argue with me about it, but Uncle Vince said something to him, and Dad said it was okay to hang onto it as long as I wanted to.
Later in the book, Sharon is unhappy at home and at school and tells David “The truth is, I’m absolutely miserable.”
❦ Page 91: I wished there was something I could do to help Sharon, but I couldn’t think of anything. I decided the best thing I could do was to look for a really awesome treasure to give her the next time we sailed together. Then I thought of something.
Thanks to “Uncle Vince,” David has a present of great emotional significance to give to Sharon. I may reunite them in a sequel.
Sometimes those “throw away” lines lead to significant points. I had to rethink the protagonist in Danger in Deer Ridge because of line I’d added to When Danger Calls, which was three books earlier. I’m glad I went back and checked to see how much I’d already introduced about that character or I’d never have remembered that detail.
My mentor, Edith Battles, said she often found that she’d written little details that turned out to be big details, a few chapters later. Our Unconscious (or Guardienne) is often way ahead of our frontal cortex.
From my new book: A playwright, John Guare (rhymes with fair), got stuck while writing the first act of his new play, Muzeeka. To distract himself, he went thru some of his recently-deceased father’s correspondence. Therein, he found a long note he’d written to his dad two years previously, while sheltering from a rainstorm in an Italian museum. One page of the note was a monologue. That page fit seamlessly into Act I. His inner playwright knew he’d already written the missing piece of the play and wasn’t cooperating.
Terry, what a fresh, fun idea! I never thought of what my characters think of me. This exercise would be a terrific way to unblock yourself.
Thanks for this twist on the voice journal!
Glad you enjoyed it, Debbie. It was a lot of fun to write.
I second Debbie’s comment. What a terrific exercise to push through when the words refuse to flow.
What a fun exercise. And a fun read. Well done.
Thank you, Doug.
What a fun and creative exercise, Terry.
I only wish my characters would do what I tell them to. Usually they tell me what to write.
Oh, mine aren’t always cooperative either, Kay.
Long after I finish my stories, some of my characters live rent free in my head and will often be in my dreams or that dream state between waking and sleeping. The characters from my first three books, a trilogy, have hung around for over 40 years.
That’s awesome, Marilynn. You never had to say goodbye.
Mine hang around, too. They sometimes hitch a ride in the backseat of my car. I haven’t been writing as long as you have, but mine are still long-term residents.
Backseat visitors remind me of a scene in Locke (starring Tom Hardy), where his father joins him briefly on the road to London. It’s a very unusual movie–the entire on-screen cast is listed above.
Wow!
What a fun and revealing writing exercise, Terry. I’ll definitely have to try this. Great way to become unstuck.
The heroine of my Empowered series, Mathilda Brandt, after the end of the saga, is now raising her daughter and helping her found family deal with the extraordinary power each person now possesses, in small measure, which connects them to the living world.
My librarian sleuth Meg and her friends are working at the library, going on skate dates and seeing movies in the mid-1980s.
I’ll bet they’ll have lots they’ll be able to share when you write the next book, Dale. Thanks for stopping by.
I loved your story! Made me smile.
I have an opposite relationship with my characters. They won’t leave me alone, especially the first few weeks, months?, they are like, oh you have to do something? Listen to this episode of my life then we’ll jump fifteen years into the future, then go back to that other thing.
LOL, Azali. Eventually, you get what you need, though, right?
Before writing each day, Sue Grafton would write a “letter” to her book, and listen. I’ve found that a beneficial exercise, for when the characters talk to me they reveal what’s going on “off screen.” I call this the “Shadow story,” and it’s essential to my plotting. I want all the characters, especially the bad guys, operating at maximum capcity. When I know what the baddies are doing when not on the page, the plot almost writes itself.
Jeffrey Deaver would do something similar. Have a discussion with himself to get started. Right now, I need to find out if one of my characters is actually a bad guy. Make that two characters. And why did the protagonist’s sister die? Initially, it was a conflict/tension issue, but she’s speaking to me from the grave saying there’s a lot more story here.