"When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature." - Ernest Hemingway
Do you believe this quote of Hemingway? I do. Well, that's because I do it all the time. Whenever I'm writing a story, the characters aren't just someone doing the action for me in my work, they're people. I'm not saying they're real, they're not. They're imaginary. Yes. It's crazy but that's life. We tend to fill up the spot we lack most and that's what I'm talking about. These people I create using my imaginations now live with me. They've become a part of my life and they fill up what I lack.
For instance, I really want to have a big brother. I know that's impossible since I'm the eldest. I can't go back to my mother's tummy and let a baby boy go out first before I could get to get out again. So since I am good at imagining things, I have created my imaginary big brother. It may sound crazy but it helped me a lot. My imaginary big brother helped me a lot. He made me have someone to talk to. And he help me think about things. Another one is my imaginary best friend. I'm not much of a friendly person. I always stick my nose to books and I'm a little shy when it comes to making new friends. It was my imaginary best friend who got me through this stage. She opened a part of me that's been sealed for a long time. Now I have made a lot of friends. For others, especially the girls who love daydreaming, these characters could be their dream guys. It gives girls hope that they will find someone as sweet, caring, loving or someone of their taste as the man of their dreams.
See, these characters mean well. They fill up the spots we lack and give us the chance to improve ourselves.
Of course, to create a character, the writer must know them well. The writer must be the one to know them more than the characters know themselves.
They live in the mind and heart of the writer. They affect the writer in every way possible. And the writer affects them too. They live. They have hearts. They have minds. Writers cannot force themselves to create a character that's too perfect. They have flaws too. That's because even with the writer's control, these characters have control of their own. They tell the writer who they really are. That's why there are some good guys who end up as bad guys or the other way around. They are free when they are created, doing the things they need to do in the story the writer writes. The story shows them who they are. The writer helps the characters be known to everyone who reads their story and be loved. This is every character's dream - to be known, admired and loved.
As a writer, I write to give these characters life. And by seeing them be loved by the readers, it's what keeps me alive and inspired to write more and create more characters to be loved. Because characters are people, not just another caricature in a writer's mind.
Do you believe this quote of Hemingway? I do. Well, that's because I do it all the time. Whenever I'm writing a story, the characters aren't just someone doing the action for me in my work, they're people. I'm not saying they're real, they're not. They're imaginary. Yes. It's crazy but that's life. We tend to fill up the spot we lack most and that's what I'm talking about. These people I create using my imaginations now live with me. They've become a part of my life and they fill up what I lack.
For instance, I really want to have a big brother. I know that's impossible since I'm the eldest. I can't go back to my mother's tummy and let a baby boy go out first before I could get to get out again. So since I am good at imagining things, I have created my imaginary big brother. It may sound crazy but it helped me a lot. My imaginary big brother helped me a lot. He made me have someone to talk to. And he help me think about things. Another one is my imaginary best friend. I'm not much of a friendly person. I always stick my nose to books and I'm a little shy when it comes to making new friends. It was my imaginary best friend who got me through this stage. She opened a part of me that's been sealed for a long time. Now I have made a lot of friends. For others, especially the girls who love daydreaming, these characters could be their dream guys. It gives girls hope that they will find someone as sweet, caring, loving or someone of their taste as the man of their dreams.
See, these characters mean well. They fill up the spots we lack and give us the chance to improve ourselves.
Of course, to create a character, the writer must know them well. The writer must be the one to know them more than the characters know themselves.
They live in the mind and heart of the writer. They affect the writer in every way possible. And the writer affects them too. They live. They have hearts. They have minds. Writers cannot force themselves to create a character that's too perfect. They have flaws too. That's because even with the writer's control, these characters have control of their own. They tell the writer who they really are. That's why there are some good guys who end up as bad guys or the other way around. They are free when they are created, doing the things they need to do in the story the writer writes. The story shows them who they are. The writer helps the characters be known to everyone who reads their story and be loved. This is every character's dream - to be known, admired and loved.
As a writer, I write to give these characters life. And by seeing them be loved by the readers, it's what keeps me alive and inspired to write more and create more characters to be loved. Because characters are people, not just another caricature in a writer's mind.
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