Ask the Author: Madeleyn Questman
Answered Questions (2)
Madeleyn Questman
I actually get inspired to write because of my characters. I tend to focus on character-driven work, and before I even put together a final story I like to fully flesh out my staff in as detailed a fashion as possible, all the way down to the kinds of things they like to eat, the music they listen to, the books they read. Then I give them a day or two to ‘proof.’ Usually they’ll be pretty happy with everything I’ve given them, but I’ve had a few characters who just weren’t into the way I set them up – they didn’t like their names and they didn’t like the hobbies I gave them, so I let them make their own decisions. They turned out to be much richer in the end. I’ve also had characters who simply refused to do what I wanted them to do because it just wasn’t part of who they were, so I allowed them to make suggestions, which took the chapters in different directions but made the story flow better. In a couple of instances, I’ve woken up and found that my characters have completely rewritten part of a chapter. It’s exciting to see what the characters will do, especially if they have any ideas of their own.
Madeleyn Questman
The Idea for ‘Murphy’s Path’ came from my friendship with a graduate student when I was at school. I had not had contact with him in years, and I remembered him having a certain personality that I always found intriguing. So I started writing a story about how I thought his life had turned out. When I reconnected with him a few years ago, I found out that not only had his life not turned out the way I thought it would, but he also was not the person I remembered from before – he was extremely different in his attitudes and opinions from what I recalled – rather negative. I wanted to finish my story in a much more positive way than what I saw in real life, so I let me character tell me what he wanted to accomplish, and ultimately he followed a much less traveled path than had the inspiration for him.
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