There's nothing like a set of revisions to make an almost smug author come back to earth with a bang. I don't even have my RITA yet, but the party's over. I have to fix up my current heroine.
Actually, listening to Sir Ian McKellen being interviewed on TV last night helped me to understand why.
He was being asked about playing in popular movies like Lord of the Rings and X Men rather than Shakespeare (he's currently touring King Lear) and somewhere in his answer he mentioned that people love popular movies, because the characters are good and brave and face up to things we wouldn't want to face in real life.
I knew that, didn't I? But I think maybe I let a little too much reality creep into Nell's story and I need to go back and lighten her up. Let her laugh more at her troubles. I think I made her too much like me. (grin)
I read somewhere recently that a very popular author imagines her reader coming home from a hard day's work and curling up in a chair with a cuppa, while she forgets about the rotten day she's just had. I'm trying to write for that reader, too. Wish me luck.
2 comments:
That is exactly what books should do!! When I was at work I would leave the noisy classroom, come home to a cup of tea, some quiet music and a book to read and sit with The Labradors on the verandah. Heaven!!!
2paw, that's how I feel about reading, too. But sometimes, when you're in the depths of a tricky plot, or wrestling with certain characters, you can forget why you're doing this.
I think "remember the reader", should be a writer's motto.
I might make a note of it to stick on the top of my computer screen.
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