As writers, how much of ourselves is in our characters? At a recent presentation of my novel "Look for Something Good," a fella in the audience came up to me afterwards and said, "So your book is an autobiography?" When I answered no, that maybe some parts of me were reflected in the main character but the secondary and the minor characters were made up from beginning to end, the questioner seemed surprised. And I suppose I was surprised that he was surprised.
My writing certainly draws from experiences, places, conversations, and encounters. Readers of my book who know me have said they see parts of me reflected in it, not in physical description but likes and dislikes, personality traits, ideas, and mannerisms. I couldn't have written this book otherwise. But to say the main character personifies me and the plot of the book is nowhere near the truth. Indeed, all the characters in the book show something of me, as well as something of me I wish were true, and something of me I am glad is not true.
That, I belief, captures the essence, and joy, of writing, to take where we have been and let it be a guidepost for a story that captures not only our own imagination but also the imagination of readers (and hopefully there will be many of them!) I can say that every conversation in the book was created from whole cloth but nevertheless I could imagine being a part of them in one way or another. And some of them caused me to laugh out loud as I wrote.
My autobiography would be pretty boring. But me consisting of many parts partly and mostly imagined in a variety of characters and situations made, I like to think, a novel that held together for 80,000 words. I believe this is true for writers in general. As grueling as writing can be, when the final punctuation is typed on the last page, it sure feels good.
Doesn't it?
Thank you, and God bless.
Robert Drews
www.vertupublishing.com
www.robert-drews.com
