Ask Anything: Answers (2)
Jan. 7th, 2024 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
narya_flame #2 of responses to comments on this post!
This one was fromspiced_wine :
How did the (OC) characters in ‘Paradox’ come into your writing mind? Gradually, or did they just ‘appear’ on the scene acting in their roles and speaking their lines? (so to speak).
So I wanted to write Paradox almost ten years sooner than I actually did. I'm glad I waited because the concept needed a bit more weight than I'd have been able to give it when I first had the idea.
Claire was, for some reason, originally called Catriona and she was Irish. In the very early drafts I think she lived with other postgraduates, but they never really came to life as characters. I think in the earliest days she may even have been related to Tolkien, but I canned that fairly quickly; I'm not sure it even made it into a draft.
When I started writing it "properly", she began to speak and behave rather like one of my friends from secondary school, although I didn't deliberately set out to recreate that. There are bits of my own experience in the mix as well; that's hardly a secret. She also, on occasion, behaves a bit like my husband, which I didn't realise until quite recently. Anyway it was silly continuing to force her into a persona that made her feel like a made-up character, so I let her be who she was telling me she was. Once I had her voice and personality nailed, the rest of it was easy.
The first housemate on the scene was Theo. I knew a lot of Theo types at university and in my early years at work, many with a lot of wasted potential, one of whom is sadly now dead (he overdosed). I suppose Theo was a composite of all of them, and a fictional means of exorcising some ghosts.
I couldn't work out, though, why Claire would live with someone like that, unless there was some sort of pre-existing connection - hence, Harrison, who wasn't really meant to be much more than a side character and a sounding board for Claire. He developed XD
Rosie - I don't quite remember. I think I wanted another female character, and she seemed to "fit" with the group. People wonder how like Claire I am, sometimes, but the truth is at twenty I was far more like Rosie, despite studying a different discipline!
Luc turned up partway through the story, uninvited, and refused to leave.
This one was from
spiced_wine :How did the (OC) characters in ‘Paradox’ come into your writing mind? Gradually, or did they just ‘appear’ on the scene acting in their roles and speaking their lines? (so to speak).
So I wanted to write Paradox almost ten years sooner than I actually did. I'm glad I waited because the concept needed a bit more weight than I'd have been able to give it when I first had the idea.
Claire was, for some reason, originally called Catriona and she was Irish. In the very early drafts I think she lived with other postgraduates, but they never really came to life as characters. I think in the earliest days she may even have been related to Tolkien, but I canned that fairly quickly; I'm not sure it even made it into a draft.
When I started writing it "properly", she began to speak and behave rather like one of my friends from secondary school, although I didn't deliberately set out to recreate that. There are bits of my own experience in the mix as well; that's hardly a secret. She also, on occasion, behaves a bit like my husband, which I didn't realise until quite recently. Anyway it was silly continuing to force her into a persona that made her feel like a made-up character, so I let her be who she was telling me she was. Once I had her voice and personality nailed, the rest of it was easy.
The first housemate on the scene was Theo. I knew a lot of Theo types at university and in my early years at work, many with a lot of wasted potential, one of whom is sadly now dead (he overdosed). I suppose Theo was a composite of all of them, and a fictional means of exorcising some ghosts.
I couldn't work out, though, why Claire would live with someone like that, unless there was some sort of pre-existing connection - hence, Harrison, who wasn't really meant to be much more than a side character and a sounding board for Claire. He developed XD
Rosie - I don't quite remember. I think I wanted another female character, and she seemed to "fit" with the group. People wonder how like Claire I am, sometimes, but the truth is at twenty I was far more like Rosie, despite studying a different discipline!
Luc turned up partway through the story, uninvited, and refused to leave.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-07 11:44 am (UTC)I know what you mean, you sort of have to let them develop themselves in the writing.
The first housemate on the scene was Theo. I knew a lot of Theo types at university and in my early years at work, many with a lot of wasted potential, one of whom is sadly now dead (he overdosed). I suppose Theo was a composite of all of them, and a fictional means of exorcising some ghosts.
Yes, I imagine you did know many Theo types and the potential that goes to waste is a tragedy. However I do like Theo a great deal and think that his OD gave him a good kick up the behind, let alone how he was brought back from it. He also had the tough love and strength of the others to lean on, after.
I couldn't work out, though, why Claire would live with someone like that, unless there was some sort of pre-existing connection - hence, Harrison, who wasn't really meant to be much more than a side character and a sounding board for Claire. He developed XD
Harrison developed so much in that story!
Rosie - I don't quite remember. I think I wanted another female character, and she seemed to "fit" with the group. People wonder how like Claire I am, sometimes, but the truth is at twenty I was far more like Rosie, despite studying a different discipline!
Well, I love Rosie :) I don’t see how anyone could not.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-07 01:03 pm (UTC)Yes, exactly.
Yes, I imagine you did know many Theo types and the potential that goes to waste is a tragedy. However I do like Theo a great deal and think that his OD gave him a good kick up the behind, let alone how he was brought back from it. He also had the tough love and strength of the others to lean on, after.
I really like him, as much as I also want to shake him! He's a pretty decent kid but easily led, so how he gets on really depends on him finding the right people to be led by - at least until he develops enough sense to make the right decisions on his own.
Harrison developed so much in that story!
Tell me about it!! Big surprise to me.
Well, I love Rosie :) I don’t see how anyone could not.
<3 <3 <3