Call Me Mistress
I just re-read another key scene in Freudian Slip--the most gut-wrenching scene I've written since The Roofer. And when I was done reading it, I cried.
Maybe I'm just exhausted. Maybe because a friend of mine hurt me today. Maybe because I'm just feeling emotional. Maybe because I'm running a low-grade fever for the first time in months. Maybe because it's a damp, damp cold here. Or maybe . . . maybe because I am so utterly INVESTED in Julian's love for Katie.
And that is at the heart of writing a good book. I know it's really easy to think sometimes a writer just pounds out a story like a monkey on a keyboard. But when you find those stories in which you truly feel your characters' emotions, then it's a sign you're doing something right. If I know what happens but can still cry for him and his agony. When I read that the flames burned higher and his world . . . went into a pinpoint of nothingness, I wanted to reach into my computer and hold him.
And ultimately, when investing [and remember this is a comedy! so this bit of pathos is the darkest point in the book] in a book, you have to be fearless. I can't pull back just a little. It has to be that painful.
Tonight, I am going out for martinis. And when I play with my green olives, I will think of my poor Julian. And know . . . poor baby . . . it had to be this way. And then I will look forward to tomorrow when he is written out of this jam.
I love being mistress of my universe.
And you? Invested in your characters?
Maybe I'm just exhausted. Maybe because a friend of mine hurt me today. Maybe because I'm just feeling emotional. Maybe because I'm running a low-grade fever for the first time in months. Maybe because it's a damp, damp cold here. Or maybe . . . maybe because I am so utterly INVESTED in Julian's love for Katie.
And that is at the heart of writing a good book. I know it's really easy to think sometimes a writer just pounds out a story like a monkey on a keyboard. But when you find those stories in which you truly feel your characters' emotions, then it's a sign you're doing something right. If I know what happens but can still cry for him and his agony. When I read that the flames burned higher and his world . . . went into a pinpoint of nothingness, I wanted to reach into my computer and hold him.
And ultimately, when investing [and remember this is a comedy! so this bit of pathos is the darkest point in the book] in a book, you have to be fearless. I can't pull back just a little. It has to be that painful.
Tonight, I am going out for martinis. And when I play with my green olives, I will think of my poor Julian. And know . . . poor baby . . . it had to be this way. And then I will look forward to tomorrow when he is written out of this jam.
I love being mistress of my universe.
And you? Invested in your characters?
posted by Erica Orloff at 5:11 PM
6 Comments:
Sometimes, my characters just exhaust me. During the black moment of the novel, I just can't take it. I get too depressed and I have to remind myself that I like my life.
I don't cry during the writing of it, but if I read it again after some time, I will cry, once in awhile.
Spy:
I cannot believe how utterly invested I am in this story. It's funny, The Roofer was much like me. So, it would make sense to invest of myself in it. Julian and Katie are nothing like me, and yet I agonize for them.
E
I think I would have to write this as a tragedy.
Soulmates, never able to physically unite...
It makes me very sad.
Jude:
Well . . . it DOES have a happy ending.
The absurdity comes from heaven and hell and all the warring factions of the universe.
E
Erica, I'm sorry you had such a bad day--the being hurt, the fever, etc. I hope things are better.
natalie:
Thanks. Today is better.
E
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