Wednesday is the day for the Insecure Writers’ Support Group. I’m writing this post early because I’m about to go on holiday and my iPad is refusing to charge. (I’m sure computer equipment has a mind of its own, as well as a memory.)
This month I have managed to carry out quite a bit of editing of The Novel, although I’m nowhere near the point of submitting, or even sending to a professional editor. I wonder why it is we always feel more secure about our writing when we’re at this stage. I wonder, wonder, wonder…
This month we’re asked if we have ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose. Well, my main character in The Novel lives in a town very close to me, the town where I say I live when people ask, and where I worked for twenty years – although she’s there in the 1980s, when I wasn’t, which means I have to check that schools, hospitals, roads etc were in the same place then as now.
The real problem for me is that, if I’m not careful, all my characters tend, after a few chapters, to become me. I’m on my guard against this more than I used to be, because I’m aware of the problem. Someone once said to me that I should let my characters just develop on their own, and become who they become, but everything comes out of my imagination, doesn’t it? Possible strategies for dealing with it (seeing as I’m a woman) might be to write about a male leading character – perhaps.
Looking forward to reading other writers’ posts, iPad permitting.
Rosemary Johnson's Author Page 
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