Sunday, April 10, 2011

The People in My Head--or I'm not crazy--really

I have this darling character, okay, I have several darling characters, okay and some not so darling. But hey, they're mine...all mine. They pester me. They taunt me. They whine, and complain and demand my attention. "Write about me next."
"No, you had your turn."
"She's done with you, it's seriously my time!"
I lie in bed--and each torments me with their stories. There's the abused wife suffering from the loss of her premature baby, the pyschotic shrink, the cowboy and his cadillac, the teenager who doesn't know she's adopted. Sometimes it's my elven child and her dragon who haunt me while I'm drifting off to sleep. Let's not under-estimate the villany of the wizard who would make her his bride in order to take her powers. Then there's man with the mysterious past come to heal a broken family.

So where do these people come from? My head, of course. Do any of you fellow writer have that same problem? Certainly, you do. That's what makes us writers. So what do you do when you have more than one story screaming to be written? I'd love to hear how you decide who gets your attention.

I'm glad my characters don't shut up, though, otherwise I'd have nothing to write about. So put me in a padded cell...

...just let me have my laptop, please!