Eden Ashe

Archive for August, 2010

I admit it. When I first started writing, I might have scoffed a little when authors would say something like this. Or insinuate that their characters were driving them mad. Or worse yet, declare that they were only writing what the characters wanted them to write.

Yeah.

Right.

I mean, c’mon. Obviously you as The Writer were writing what you wanted to write. What you wanted to see on the page. And the characters were only doing what you were making them do. Because, really, characters do not have minds of their own.

Then I created Emma, the fantasy artist. Emma with a mind of her own who knew things about characters I hadn’t even realized I’d created yet. Emma who sees the links in the things that I write and manages to connect the pieces six months down the road when I’m ready to give up. It was Emma who dragged me kicking and screaming into the fantasy romance world so I could give her and Micah the story I’d never been able to fit in the nice, normal everyday world.

I know what you’re thinking. Why do I think this is Emma, and not just me talking to myself? Easy. I know Emma’s voice. And if I told you some of the things Emma has done that has made me believe she is a living, breathing character in my head, well…you’d think I was nuts. But I’m getting off topic. As much of a pain in my backside that Emma and her Micah are, they’re not a part of the world I’m working on right at the moment. Well, that’s not entirely true.

See, my characters are now forming split personalities. When I started writing, I had Luca and Keeley and Micah first. Then I created Emma to go with Micah, and gave the brothers a sister, Seren, and a mate, Adrian, for her. Of course I have other characters for other series, but these were the three couples for the Dragan world. They were supposed to stay in that world and I expected them to be happy and content with the fact that they were all going to get their own stories which of course meant their own Happily Ever Afters. I really should have known better.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, the story I’m working on now started off as Luca and Keeley’s original story. It’s turned into something SO FAR beyond what the first draft was, that it’s not even the same story anymore. It’s not even the same world. But I couldn’t separate Luca and Keeley from it. I could give them new names, but this was still their story. See, they want both–their dragon story, and the Guardian story. Which meant that everyone else from the dragon world expected to be part of both series, too, since brothers have to stay together, and NO ONE gets near those guys except for their women, unless I want to end up in the emergency room because my characters have revolted and split my head open. And yes, I am now blaming my migraines on them.

So…yes. I am in charge of my own personal insane asylum. It’s just not as bad as it sounds, because I fully believe with all of my heart that if I don’t know my characters and love them absolutely, that no one else ever will, either. And they really, truly deserve to be loved. After all, they have to put up with me.

~Eden