New Suit
As I have contemplated my latest installment after yet another hiatus, it became obvious the best place to begin would be with an explanation. Most within my immediate circle know the backstory of the illness I have suffered with over the past almost two years. It has certainly had its ups and downs and given many challenges along the way. But through the Grace of God, I have proven resilient or perhaps just stubborn enough to hang on while learning to function differently than what I have been accustomed.
One of the major changes precipitated this most recent absence from the webpage, a preoccupation with a move from the Foothills of the Smokies to the Nature Coast of Florida. As we have mostly gotten settled in, it is time to get my groove back and let the language flow.
I have been shopping existing pieces and developing the beginnings of the next work. Always something in the pipe, right? The past several days have given me pause on character creation.
I am unsure how this stage goes for everyone else, but I tend to view it almost as dressing in a character suit. It is almost as if I become the character and live their life while trying to keep up with a meticulous documentation of every, or at least as much, detail as I can get on paper. There are times when the action develops so fast that my fingers have difficulty keeping pace as my mind runs away at a speed all its own. It is almost as if reality has become detached while I find myself lost within the lifeforce of another.
Isn’t that exactly what we as writers expect of the experience for our readers?
That moment when fiction ceases to be fiction and becomes a version of reality signifies that magical moment when the words we have wrought develop a life of their own. A fluid environment which melds with something within the reader preventing them from putting down the pages which have been crafted. A literary nirvana of sorts.
It is the potential, the single possibility of this moment occurring with at least one other reader which brings us back to our paper, pen, pencil, keyboard, whatever each and every day. For me, and I would wager for many others, the joy evolves from this ability to share our passion. This singularity creates the excitement of suiting up in the costume of whichever character is the focus today and parading through a new world on a new adventure wherever it might take you and your reader.
Thoughts? Questions? Comments? All are welcome. Bring the Chaos, we have found a home there.
