Scot Fin's Blog - Posts Tagged "london"

There is a quote from Author Elizabeth Bowen that caught my attention.

Characters are not created by writers. They pre-exist and have to be found – Author Elizabeth Bowen.

I facetiously asked myself about my main character and who found who. Did the fictitious Ralph find me for me to write his (fictitious) stories or at least one so far? Sure …

But I do think Elizabeth Bowen had a point here. Whether it be a main character or others, my characters all exist somewhere in reality. None are any one individual. None of my characters are any specific people I know. They are all elements or characteristics combined from a number of individuals that I have crossed paths.

Elizabeth Bowen
was an Irish born novelist who lived a number of years in London. I often place a special interest on authors who live or have lived for a period in places that interest me. Whether that impacts how I feel about that writer depends on many other facts.

One of those other factors about author Elizabeth Bowen is recurring commentary about a ‘theme’ that seemed to captivate her. I have seen a number of references to

“life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off.”

Apparently this is a theme that influenced much of her writing. Now that is an intriguing concept. To date, I have not actually read anything she had written. Elizabeth Bowen, however, in now certainly on my ‘to read’ and ‘to read soon’ list.



Given her association with London, I had to incorporate a bit of London into her quote. This spot in St. James Park would be a good place to contemplate characters, read, write or relax. I’m not sure if Elizabeth Bowen frequented this area of London during her time there but I’d think she found many characters in London.