The Residents Of My Head Are Restless

Or maybe the right word is relentless.  I can never tell with them.  I think it depends on which resident we’re talking about.  Yes, this is a post about my characters, including some that you haven’t heard about in the last little while. And yes, I’m going to rant for a little bit.  My blog, my rules, and trust me, I’ve been given cause.

In case anyone’s disgruntled about this post for any reason, it’s Sketh you want to blame.  Honest, it’s all his fault.  After another knock-down-drag-out fight with two-thirds of a chapter last night, Sketh decided to whisper a tiny bit of his story into my ear and then demanded I write it.  Now, this guy carries many sharp objects on his person and isn’t exactly shy about using them, so I thought it a good idea to listen and do what he said. To a point, at least.  Did I mention he did this at 11 at night, just as I was getting ready for bed?  I don’t know what time zone my characters live in, but it’s clearly not mine.  If it hadn’t been such a good bit that he shared, I’d have been irritated by his timing.

What I am irritated about though is the number of times my characters wait until I’m just about to start writing something else, have in fact already committed to doing so, before they start these kinds of antics.  It’s never the characters who are ready for me to start writing their story either.  No, it’s the one where that whisper is like pulling back the curtain for a moment to peak through the window, only to let it fall closed again in seconds.  Tantalizing.  Aggravating. Wildly irritating.  Sleep-depriving. Awesome. Vexing.  These are the words that come to mind every time my characters do this to me.

Oh, and let’s not forget distracting.  Very VERY distracting, because then my brain wants to rip that curtain away entirely and drink in the world so I can furious bang out all the notes I need to write that story.  But don’t forget, I already have a story on deck when this crap happens.  How cruel is that to my suddenly ambivalent self, to be balanced and torn between two lovely, enticing possibilities?  Yes, I know, I can make notes on the one, then go off and follow my original plan.  A variation of that is what I usually do, but I’m always afraid that I’ll lose the thread of what I was planning, lose the connection that lets me slide down into the world of that story.  There is absolutely no winning for me, because I’m also terrified that if I put the new idea aside with minimal notes and leave it relatively unexplored, then I won’t really find the thread of that world when I come back to let that character have his/her turn.  Like I said, total ambivalence.

And it isn’t just Sketh, though he’s taking the immediate blame after his little stunt.  No, Reah still pushes almost every day, and the male protagonist for that story recently started sharing too.  Beyond that? There’s that old idea, Thaumaturge I mentioned the other day. And Cayle, from my Masques idea, periodically drops a small bomb in my thoughts then wanders off.  It’s like a war zone in here, I’m telling you.

Yes, I know, I should be grateful for all the inspiration, and I am. But it would be nice if they would respect both normal sleeping hours and the times when I’m busy with something else on my plate.  One day, it’ll be their turn, and I’m sure they won’t appreciate the interference of whatever idea is trying to distract me at that point.  I guess what goes around, comes around, even for imaginary people.

Oh, and have I mentioned how hard it is to focus on editing The Nine when Sketh insists on sharing such awesome tidbits?  Grrr.

~ by Julie on May 25, 2012.