This is going to sound quite bizarre...
Partway through tinkering with parts of Full Throttle, it's struck me that the editing process is not that easy.
My characters are all reacting slightly differently to the editing and refining process. Some are quite happy to let things be changed and don't mind how; some happily work with me in tandem to improve things; and some struggle against it, not necessarily fighting for control, but demanding their words be unhindered.
Reading through some of the narration, I can see that some of my characters have a very strong individual voice which permeates their point of view, yet others don't, and it's fascinating. Peter and Mark, for example, have very unique and distinct personalities, and they want the text to be their absolute words and thoughts. Lynne, Lars, Alistair, Duncan (amongst others) work with me, and it's a much more cooperative process; they'll suggest things, I'll suggest things, and we see what works for us both. Surprisingly for me (as he's one of the stroppier characters in the book), Darren is one of the laid back ones; generally, as long as it's close enough, he's happy to have whatever.
It's kind of cool that my characters are separate enough creations for these differences to exist. Even if it makes the whole editing and revising process less straightforward than I'd like. It is very odd, having an 'argument' or 'discussion' with a person who effectively only lives inside your head...
All this is why I tell people that it's hard to talk about writing fiction without sounding like you've lost it.
My characters are all reacting slightly differently to the editing and refining process. Some are quite happy to let things be changed and don't mind how; some happily work with me in tandem to improve things; and some struggle against it, not necessarily fighting for control, but demanding their words be unhindered.
Reading through some of the narration, I can see that some of my characters have a very strong individual voice which permeates their point of view, yet others don't, and it's fascinating. Peter and Mark, for example, have very unique and distinct personalities, and they want the text to be their absolute words and thoughts. Lynne, Lars, Alistair, Duncan (amongst others) work with me, and it's a much more cooperative process; they'll suggest things, I'll suggest things, and we see what works for us both. Surprisingly for me (as he's one of the stroppier characters in the book), Darren is one of the laid back ones; generally, as long as it's close enough, he's happy to have whatever.
It's kind of cool that my characters are separate enough creations for these differences to exist. Even if it makes the whole editing and revising process less straightforward than I'd like. It is very odd, having an 'argument' or 'discussion' with a person who effectively only lives inside your head...
All this is why I tell people that it's hard to talk about writing fiction without sounding like you've lost it.