Sometimes I fall into a funk where I just don’t want to write. I’ve learned that a major source of inspiration which can drag me out of that funk is my characters.
Recently I’ve been dealing with some harrowing events. Writing has been a challenge. Even caring about writing, which is so crucial to my well-being, sank into a murky depression.
My characters can pick up and reflect this depression. We’re very lucky, those characters and I, that there are others drifting in my imagination (or paddling and keeping afloat in the murk), willing to grab hold of the sinking ones and pull them out. They make their way through the trubled turbulance, finding cheerful spots I may have forgotten, reminding the depressed characters (and me) that they exist. They manage to cheer up the ailing ones and myself in the process.
This happened to me recently. I was sitting down to write a Conversations with Christopher blog, not wanting to do it. Christopher is a character very sensitive to my moods. He picked up on my depression, felt a little rejected at my reluctance to write about him. This prompted two other characters of mine; Danyel and Tayel to visit Christopher during the blog. They appeared at the Cauldron, willed the misty landscape to become a garden path all three of them loved. The twins reminded Christopher of his importance to them and his importance in my stories. In doing so, Danyel and Tayel cheered up not only Christopher but me.
Yes, my characters are imaginary but they’re part of my imagination. What they feel and do affects me. How they defy my expectations and my funks triggers my creativity for they’re part of it. Thinking about them, letting them think, seeing what they’ll do with their personalities and motivations can get my creativity going like nothing else.
How about you, dear reader? Have your characters ever stepped up in times of trouble to help you?