I hear voices in my head.
No, I’m not daft or certifiable—at least no
more than any other writer, I think. The voices that I hear are not the kind
that tell me to do strange things or incite me to desperate acts, rather they
belong to my characters, both those I know and those I’ve yet to meet. And I’ve
learned something in over forty years of writing—when they speak, I listen!
Carrying paper and pencil or pen is
wonderful advice for those moments when your characters begin to speak and you
want to capture them for posterity. It’s all well and good to say oh, I’ll
remember that, no problem, until you’re
sitting in front of your computer screen and your fingers are in place upon the
keyboard and suddenly you’ve forgotten every single word you were sure you’d
remember forever. As they talk, you should write, that much is just a given.
But sometimes you aren’t in a position to
write—for example, while you’re driving, or when you’re showering (bathing
isn’t quite so bad, at least you can take the paper and pen into the bathroom
and write while you soak), or even when you’re having sex. So what do you do?
If it’s just one line, you can keep repeating it to yourself until you’re in a
position to write it down, and that can work. But what if it’s more than that?
I have a little trick for those moments. At
least it works for me. I get a mental picture of the emotions involved, and
capture them visually, imprinting them with the words, almost like a hot key.
So that when I’m ready, I “press” the key, and then it comes out where I can
capture it. If I let the character ramble before I’m ready, I find that I lose
the words. But if I imprint them in this way, then they stay there, waiting for
me to access them.
For example, a couple of years ago my
daughter and I went to see Inception at the theatre, the Leonardo di Caprio
film. I wasn’t even sure at first that I wanted to see it, but she did so I
agreed to go. Before we went, I got to thinking about Leo and other films that
I’ve seen him in over the years, including Total Eclipse (Leo and David Thewlis
– totally hot! Kissing and nakedness, very delicious!), and I heard a voice
speak to me.
“Did you know that Leonardo di Caprio is a
vampire?”
Sounds like an odd beginning or
introduction even for a character. But I thought what the heck, let’s listen. I
realized that this was a new character, so I kept the line in my head, all
through Inception. Afterwards, I worked on the story, as I drove home. First, I
needed character names. In Inception, Cillian Murphy plays a guy named Robert
Fisher. He’s an important character, and his name stuck in my head, but I
reversed it and changed it slightly. So Robert Fisher became Fisher Roberts.
One character down, now for number two (I already knew this would be m/m, so I
needed another male name). As I was driving, I scanned everything around
me—billboards, businesses, vehicles, whatever—for the mate to Fisher Roberts. I
saw an ad for hunting, and suddenly I had it—Hunter, who became Hunter
Long. It wasn’t til long after I began
to write that I saw what I had inadvertently done – Fisher and Hunter. It might
seem contrived to some, but I swear to you it was totally accidental.
I knew nothing about these two guys, but I
began to write, using that first line, and I kept writing until some 35k later,
I was done. Or at least I thought it
was. After a brief stint with a publisher who shall remain nameless, I received
Leo back into my own hands and then I took the original story and added 5k to
it, in the form of Hunter’s POV, and then I sold it to Torquere. And now we
have a happy ending, as well as a new cover and more depth to the story of
Hunter and Fisher.
This isn’t the only time this has happened
to me, far from it. There once was a time when I was researching a non-fiction
book, a children’s book about composer Percy Granger, when a voice began to
speak, and he told me he was a gay werewolf. I could feel that he was a nice
man, so I politely told him to please wait til I was done with the other
book. But he kept talking, so to appease
him I thought I would just write down a few notes and hold onto them until I
was ready. Those few notes became the first chapter of To The Max.
Which became
an entire book. And which now has a sequel. All because a voice wanted to be
heard. Oh, that other book never got written yet. Guess Percy needs to speak
louder, eh?
Another time, it was Judas Iscariot that
spoke, and that book became Revelations (for which I’m still seeking a
publisher). Sometimes I only get to the first chapter, and then it sits as a
WIP until I get back to it. But at least it’s a start.
I hate to think about all of the characters
that I have lost or forgotten because I wasn’t able to keep their words in my
head. Perhaps they’ll come back again someday, but I’m not holding my breath.
That goes for the books I’ve written in my dreams, but forget the moment I wake
up. Since I started using my little mnemonic trick, I haven’t lost a thing, and
that’s a good feeling. I just hope my readers agree that it was worth it!
Do your characters talk to you? Do you have
any tricks you use for getting your characters down onto paper? I’d love to hear about it! Thanks for having me, Nephy! Have a great
day, everyone!
NEPHY - Oh hell yeah, my characters talk to me all the time. Sometimes they drive me nuts, but I love them all. Someone once said it must be good to constantly have your head full of beautiful, damaged boys. Oh hell yes, especially when I'm torturing them and they're utterly helpless :)
Blurb:
Halloween is the night when the veil between the
worlds grows thin... Not that Fisher Roberts believes in Halloween or any other
holiday. Unlike his roommate and longtime best friend, Hunter Long. The trouble
is that Fisher’s feelings for Hunter are more than that of a friend, and it’s
getting harder and harder to hide those feelings from Hunter.
Fisher has promised
Hunter to attend a Halloween party with him on All Hallow’s eve, even though
he’d really rather not. Things start out badly and then take a decided turn for
the strange. Hunter confesses to being a vampire. Not that Fisher believes
that, of course—that’s just Hunter’s strange sense of humor. But the kiss in
the park... what’s that about? And at the Halloween party from Hell, nothing
and no one are what they seem to be... Halloween madness or something more?
Excerpt:
Fisher trembled, an expectant
trembling, as if he were waiting for something to happen. He didn't have to
wait long. Suddenly those beautiful lips were touching his, and then they were
kissing, truly kissing. No, it wasn't Fisher's first kiss, but it was his first
with a man. His only kiss with a man. And he was amazed at what a difference
there was between this kiss and the others. Not because of gender, but because
it was with Hunter. Because Hunter was someone special.
He felt
himself giving in to those lips, melting into that touch, with a heat that
penetrated his entire body, vibrating in its intensity. Now Hunter was nibbling
at his lips, soft tender kisses that shook him to his very foundation. His head
was reeling, and he was on the verge of losing all sense of self when he felt
the first raindrops splash upon his upturned face.
What the
hell. He pulled back at this sudden insertion of reality into a very unreal
scene, his mouth forming a large "O" of amazement, his eyes going
into saucer-plate mode. But even as he did, Hunter moved forward, sliding his
hips until their knees were touching. From this position, luckily, they
couldn't get much closer, or Hunter would realize what else he had raised
beside's Fisher's blood pressure.
He was
going to do it again. Fisher just knew it, he could feel it, and oh God how
badly he wanted it, as he felt a whimper rise in his throat, indicating a
neediness he wasn't aware he even possessed. But the drops were turning thicker
now, more of them, and they were brutally cold. A definite shock to the system.
His brain was screaming to him to get out, get out now.
Even
though this was what he wanted, exactly what he wanted. So what was the
problem? What did he think would happen if he gave in to his feelings? He
didn’t know. He was afraid of things that he couldn't even explain to himself.
He
practically threw himself backward from the picnic table in his haste to get
away, landing on the hard ground that would soon be turning to mud if this
downpour kept up. A steady rain it was now, and lightning crackled angrily
above their heads.
"Fisher?"
Hunter rose hastily, reaching for him. So Fisher did the only logical thing he
could do -- he gained his feet and ran, as hard and as fast as he could. He
hated himself with every step that he took -- and he knew he had never loved
Hunter Long more.
Julie Lynn
Hayes was reading at the age of two and writing by the age of nine and always
wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Two marriages, five children, and more
than forty years later, that is still her dream. She blames her younger
daughters for introducing her to yaoi and the world of M/M love, a world which
has captured her imagination and her heart and fueled her writing in ways she'd
never dreamed of before. She especially loves stories of two men finding true
love and happiness in one another's arms and is a great believer in the happily
ever after. She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and two cats, loves
books and movies, and hopes to be a world traveler some day.
She enjoys crafts,
such as crocheting and cross stitch, knitting and needlepoint and loves to
cook. While working a temporary day job, she continues to write her books and
stories and reviews, which she posts in various places on the internet. Her
family thinks she is a bit off, but she doesn't mind. Marching to the beat of
one's own drummer is a good thing, after all.
Her published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, MuseitUp
Publishing, Torquere Press, and eXtasy Books. She has also begun to
self-publish and is an editor at MuseitUp.
You can
find her on her blog at http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com, and you
can contact her at tothemax.wolf@gmail.com.
Link:
Torquere
My blog:
http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com
My website: www.julielynnhayes.com
My facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527332074
My Publishers:
Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_222
Museit Up Publishing: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php
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