If Only My Pen

“Oh no, nobody in that story is me?” Have you ever heard yourself answering that way when someone ask you “Which one of you characters is you?”

Why do we say that? Why do we lie like that as writers? Why can’t we just admit that every person we create is us to a certain degree? If it because we don’t know?

Well if you are a writer that doesn’t realize that, think about this for a moment: As we go through our day, are month, our year our live, we accumulate stories—now on that I can almost feel your heads nodding. But think about this, we also accumulate characters.

Now the funny thing about that fact is that while we do this we are not simply writing what we saw (e.g., he had dirty hair, green eyes, or a smooth way about him) no, we are interpolating (not to be confused with interpreting) how that person affected us. WE are deliberately adding to that person’s real self piece of us through that person’s interaction with us or our reaction to him… so in affect… we are becoming that person to an extent.

When we create a rich full character that makes a reader respond, we are taken that minimal about of information gathered from a superficial observation or a limited contact (or years of information if we are brave enough to write about a real person) and have translated their actions through the use of our own senses and put them then on the page for other’s to share and take away their own interpretation of that person.

In the end, just like the children’s game, by the time several people have read our books, our characters become so far removed from that ‘man on the train’ or ‘woman in the store’ or ‘our sister’ ‘cousin’ etc., that we are hardly ever nailed to the wall for slander or libel but instead are asked… was that character you? This is because at the core of every character is your perception of them.

At the root of every man woman and child is your idea of why they are who they are… and thus, this makes every character we write a little bit of us. Don’t shy away from the question. Answer it proudly—oh yes, that was me, and so was this character that that one over there and this one right here… they are all little bits me and my mind at work. I designed a world for you with people I wanted you to meet. I thought you’d enjoy meeting them as much as I did when I met them the first time.

Heat up your winter nights with McGriff’s newest novel
- BLOOD RELATIONS -
The much anticipated sequel to the best seller OBSESSION 101!
“Roman is back and he’s ‘madder’ than ever!”
www.michellemcgriff.com