I spent most of yesterday writing, albeit slowly, six hours yielding about 3,700 words. I have a pretty good idea of the main things that need to happen in my novel. I have a decent chapter by chapter outline. There are certain historical events that have to take place. But in the writing of this book, I really wasn’t prepared for these characters to take on lives of their own–at least not in the first few chapters!
Yesterday I wrote an entire chapter without any intention of doing so until it came out of me. I sat down and the words just flowed out of me, my characters doing things that I never anticipated until I wrote about it. One major character that wasn’t supposed to show up for three more chapters made an early, surprise appearance in a move that it seems will be a major plot driver. He’s way more of an ass than I anticipated that he would be. The entire scene took place at the whim of Apicius’ daughter, who apparently has a merchant friend at the market who gives her little toys every time she visits. THAT was not anywhere remotely in my head when I sat down to write. I also discovered a future failure for Thrasius, which again, was not anticipated, but will be extremely important.
When characters write themselves, to me it feels simultaneously exhilarating and creepy. I sit back and wonder, Where did that come from? It’s like a ghost driving my hand and my thoughts.
I’m curious about the psychology behind the phenomenon. What is happening in our heads when these characters come to life in entirely unexpected ways? What or who are we channeling when we write so unbidden?
You should check out the research by Marjorie Taylor at the University of Oregon. Her primary research in the past has been on imaginary companions, and she recently completed a study applying the same phenomenon to adult fiction writers. http://imaginarycompanions.com/ Check out the Authors Project link.
I personally think a lot of the free writing results are simply echoes of lost pathways in our frontal lobes. Things that we have experienced once, but have never had memory pathways built to them. Like lost fragments of programs on a hard drive. Your subconscious sorts through these and the result is thoughts that seem to build themselves.
Of course, that could be a load of hooey. But it works for me
I read something by Arthur Koestler recently - very interesting. He thought it was something to do with allowing the brain to go to some altered state of consciousness - something in between the way a child thinks and an adult thinks (Freud’s ego and id - I think..but not too well up on Freud).
Anyway - 3700 words is impressive! Sounds like the words were really flowing.
Love that picture BTW!
This design/color scheme looks great, btw. I love it when the words just come - because the writing is generally great, and the word count grows exponentially without me noticing
Glad it’s going so well!