No Friend of Mine
I have received my proof copy for GATES for me to read over and approve.
It is very strange reading over your own book. When it is on a computer screen, you think ,"oh, I'm editing my work, no biggie". But reading your words in print are a whole new kind of weird.
It's like looking at a photo album of a trip you went on only you invented the location and all the people you met there. It's like meeting your favorite characters from a TV show and having them sit on your couch and ask for a beer like it's no big deal. It's surreal at best.
I also remember when I wrote a lot of these scenes. I recall what I was doing the day I figured out that Anastasia and Roman should date. I remember where I was when I came up with the idea of Bael or got the flash image of Lucy hanging off a balcony with a blood red claw keeping her from falling to her death. Reading over my work in print form feels like a trip down memory lane.
Someone asked me once if this is because I feel like my characters are my friends and my answer is absolutely not. I don't feel like my characters are friends of mine. I really don't and I know a lot of authors feel like they are. Lucy and Nathaniel and the "Gang" are all a part of me and they are very important to me and I obsess on a regular basis about what they would say or do in any given situation. But they aren't my friends. I sometimes wish they were, I think going shopping with Anastasia would be a riot or people watching with Roman would be ridiculously funny but I don't feel like they are my friends. I feel like they are my bosses. They decide how they want to behave and I literally, just write it all down.
The skill with my writing comes in with HOW I write it all down. I chose the words, the imagery, the descriptions that give my stories life. I am not friends with the people in my head, I am their recording secretary.
One of greatness joys of my life is being a slave to the voices in my slightly deranged mind and reading it in physical form is my new favorite thing to do.
I love it. I love it all.
On May 24 when GATES is released, I hope you love it too.
It is very strange reading over your own book. When it is on a computer screen, you think ,"oh, I'm editing my work, no biggie". But reading your words in print are a whole new kind of weird.
It's like looking at a photo album of a trip you went on only you invented the location and all the people you met there. It's like meeting your favorite characters from a TV show and having them sit on your couch and ask for a beer like it's no big deal. It's surreal at best.
I also remember when I wrote a lot of these scenes. I recall what I was doing the day I figured out that Anastasia and Roman should date. I remember where I was when I came up with the idea of Bael or got the flash image of Lucy hanging off a balcony with a blood red claw keeping her from falling to her death. Reading over my work in print form feels like a trip down memory lane.
Someone asked me once if this is because I feel like my characters are my friends and my answer is absolutely not. I don't feel like my characters are friends of mine. I really don't and I know a lot of authors feel like they are. Lucy and Nathaniel and the "Gang" are all a part of me and they are very important to me and I obsess on a regular basis about what they would say or do in any given situation. But they aren't my friends. I sometimes wish they were, I think going shopping with Anastasia would be a riot or people watching with Roman would be ridiculously funny but I don't feel like they are my friends. I feel like they are my bosses. They decide how they want to behave and I literally, just write it all down.
The skill with my writing comes in with HOW I write it all down. I chose the words, the imagery, the descriptions that give my stories life. I am not friends with the people in my head, I am their recording secretary.
One of greatness joys of my life is being a slave to the voices in my slightly deranged mind and reading it in physical form is my new favorite thing to do.
I love it. I love it all.
On May 24 when GATES is released, I hope you love it too.
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