Multiple Personality Disorder? No, I’m a Writer.

(No disrespect to anyone—crazy, insane, loony, committed, batty, bizarre, eccentric, daft, demented, deranged, or otherwise—is intended by this post.)

When is a crazy person not a crazy person?  When they’re a writer.

• Writers can have hundreds of imaginary friends.  No, I’m not crazy, I’m just talking to my characters.
• Writers can allow their characters to possess them, like multiple personality disorder.  I’m just getting into my character’s head so I know what they’re thinking.
• Writers can have a god-complex, thinking that they control the universe.  I do control the universe…in my stories.

We get to do all that—without being committed.  (Why do I have a jingle playing in my head?  *Wouldn’t you like to be a writer too?*)

In fact, the more in-tune they are with their imaginary-friends-slash-characters, the better job writers do at making the world of their story believable for the reader.  It’s true.  And I don’t think that’s just wishful thinking on my part.  After all, how can a writer make a reader believe in a character, setting, or situation, if they don’t believe it themselves?

If I can’t figure out where to take a scene, it’s because I’m not listening to my characters.  Just as much as actors have “method acting”, becoming the character they’re playing, writers do the same thing.  And when I listen to my characters, I discover things about the story that I’d never think of on my own.  For one, they’re much funnier than I am.  And sarcastic.  And noble.  And generous.

Don’t those sound like the kind of people you’d like to have as friends?  So forgive me if I sound like a crazy person when I talk about how I know that so-and-so would never do such a thing because they told me.  When I listen to those voices in my head, I’m just trying to be a better writer.

Visit Kristen Lamb’s blog for more Top 10 Reasons to Become a Writer, as she gave me the idea for this post.  Thanks, Kristen!

Have you ever read a book and felt like the characters were your friends?  Which book?  What characters?

Check out these related posts:

1. Multiple Personality Disorder? No, I’m a Writer
2. Tweet Week: Twitter—A Writer’s New BFF
3. Strong Character Wrap-up & Veteran’s Day
4. Do You Call Yourself a Writer or an Author?
5. How to Find Writer Resources – Guest: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Tagged as: Jami is insane, Kristen Lamb, listening to characters, writers are insane