I go through a similar process, I think. Somedays I'll say a character isn't talking to me, because I'm having a difficult time grabbing their perspective. Other days I will joke about "channeling" someone because I can suddenly see how things have to be, or I am inspired by that character.
Do I believe they are voices in my head? No. It's my way of thinking about them. It explains to me why somedays, it's easier to write certain characters than others.
Wow. I've never thought out my own thinking/fic-writing process like this. But I think writing fiction with human characters has a sort of unofficial standard procedure, which calls for various degree of communication in some form with the "characters."
Most of the times, I can't write fast enough, which is why I tend not to plan ahead except the barest bones of the plot. If I work out the details in my mind, I forget what they were pretty quickly, get frustrated, and give up.
But with the "muse-space" (and this is really Emily-san-ism in my mind, because you're the first person I've known who shares that part and does it believably AND humorously), the characters tend to be more real, more vivid. I have a friend who RPs Fuuma from X/1999, and she once wrote out all the little quirks and habits her Fuuma-muse had, and it was detailed to the point I could almost imagine there really was a person like that. Of course, her impeccable grasp of canon was what made this Fuuma believable, but her details were simply unbelievable.
It's kind of like your Yukimura. There's the canon Yukimura, and there's Emily-san's Yukimura, and I think I'm in love with yours more than with the canon. Yours is actually more believable and well-developed than canon (come on, canon doesn't give Seii-chan more than ten pages), and I think even Konomi-san will have hard time topping your Seii-chan. Conclusion: you're amazing. ^__^
I think there really is a trick to hauling the character-shapes and also the communication far enough "up" into the waking and verbal consciousness. Once they're up there it gets easier to remember what the characters "say" long enough to sketch out plots and so forth. Of course, that's also when they start getting obtrusive.
I'm a Pagan and walk the shamanic path, so I'm used to a milieu where all kinds of entities get contacted and (maybe) Channeled whilst Journeying.
I started shamanic life by "actualising" the this-world faces of spirits in Mask form. So - by analogy - Channeling characters from fiction works the same way. I have to say that it's easier if the literary characters connect in some way with an Archetype, whether a Universal one (say - "Trickster"), or a personal one (say - bit-of-rough-with-a-heart [Yay! Shagrat!]). In fact, I'm often made aware that a particular writer/film/tv show has produced an Archetype by the reaction I have when writing in that particular fan-verse (JKR - yes, I'm thinking of Snape here!). If the character has got free of their creator and is rampaging joyously across the fandom, then they've probably struck an archetypal nerve (and usually without the author's knowledge or approbation).
and usually without the author's knowledge or approbation
You can say that again. *grins* I'm always kind of entertained when some bit of characterization takes on a life of its own and the author tries to get it back. Never seems to work very well, does it?
Yes, the little people in my head talk to me. One reason that I write stories with so much dialogue (or, actually, getting close to radio plays with quotation marks instead of capitalized character names) is that they're a chatty bunch but not so much with the action, so there's not too much for me to describe.
When I write, in effect what I do is bring the actors into the rehearsal room and let them improvise, and I keep running the rehearsal until I think they have the scene down pat; then I write that.
Ah, yes, that sounds familiar. A few stage directions, a motivation, and then watch them go at it. Come to think of it, most of my characters seem just as crazed 'backstage' as the theater people I've known.
I do find it interesting that writing in lj has changed my story-writing style. My latest fic writing phase started out extremely dialogue-based. Now, the extent to which I indicate action in my own textual life *waves hands demonstratively* seems to have translated to my characters as well. It's a curious thing to track.
Very well-put with the rehearsal-run! I find I almost get into a "Director's Cut" situation sometimes, and the version that gets written down is actually a fraction of what MIGHT have been. Course, I've been know to run bedroom-scenes indefinitely - just to be sure to get them ABSOLUTELY right *g*
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 02:01 am (UTC)Do I believe they are voices in my head? No. It's my way of thinking about them. It explains to me why somedays, it's easier to write certain characters than others.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 03:40 am (UTC)Most of the times, I can't write fast enough, which is why I tend not to plan ahead except the barest bones of the plot. If I work out the details in my mind, I forget what they were pretty quickly, get frustrated, and give up.
But with the "muse-space" (and this is really Emily-san-ism in my mind, because you're the first person I've known who shares that part and does it believably AND humorously), the characters tend to be more real, more vivid. I have a friend who RPs Fuuma from X/1999, and she once wrote out all the little quirks and habits her Fuuma-muse had, and it was detailed to the point I could almost imagine there really was a person like that. Of course, her impeccable grasp of canon was what made this Fuuma believable, but her details were simply unbelievable.
It's kind of like your Yukimura. There's the canon Yukimura, and there's Emily-san's Yukimura, and I think I'm in love with yours more than with the canon. Yours is actually more believable and well-developed than canon (come on, canon doesn't give Seii-chan more than ten pages), and I think even Konomi-san will have hard time topping your Seii-chan. Conclusion: you're amazing. ^__^
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 05:08 am (UTC)I think there really is a trick to hauling the character-shapes and also the communication far enough "up" into the waking and verbal consciousness. Once they're up there it gets easier to remember what the characters "say" long enough to sketch out plots and so forth. Of course, that's also when they start getting obtrusive.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 02:42 pm (UTC)I'm a Pagan and walk the shamanic path, so I'm used to a milieu where all kinds of entities get contacted and (maybe) Channeled whilst Journeying.
I started shamanic life by "actualising" the this-world faces of spirits in Mask form. So - by analogy - Channeling characters from fiction works the same way. I have to say that it's easier if the literary characters connect in some way with an Archetype, whether a Universal one (say - "Trickster"), or a personal one (say - bit-of-rough-with-a-heart [Yay! Shagrat!]). In fact, I'm often made aware that a particular writer/film/tv show has produced an Archetype by the reaction I have when writing in that particular fan-verse (JKR - yes, I'm thinking of Snape here!). If the character has got free of their creator and is rampaging joyously across the fandom, then they've probably struck an archetypal nerve (and usually without the author's knowledge or approbation).
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 06:48 pm (UTC)You can say that again. *grins* I'm always kind of entertained when some bit of characterization takes on a life of its own and the author tries to get it back. Never seems to work very well, does it?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 02:49 pm (UTC)When I write, in effect what I do is bring the actors into the rehearsal room and let them improvise, and I keep running the rehearsal until I think they have the scene down pat; then I write that.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 07:02 pm (UTC)I do find it interesting that writing in lj has changed my story-writing style. My latest fic writing phase started out extremely dialogue-based. Now, the extent to which I indicate action in my own textual life *waves hands demonstratively* seems to have translated to my characters as well. It's a curious thing to track.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-25 03:02 pm (UTC)