Fear in Writing: Strangers

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Monday, June 6, 2011

Strangers

We have new neighbors.  They are really nice people--a young couple with two kids very close in age to our's.  We've yet to get to know the parents very well as they both work during the week.  But we've had the children around nearly every day since they moved in.  Our children are IN HEAVEN!  They ask every morning and every night when they can have their new friends over.

And so they come.  And they play.

Four laughing, pretending, needing children.  In some ways it's easier--my children are entertained and that equals less work for me.  In others it's more--more mouths to feed, more responsibility, more restrictions on my activities.

But all in all, it's a blessing.  My children can run freely to another house for the first time.  They are learning to be hosts and how to treat guests.  They are making strong friendships.

Sometimes when I'm writing, a stranger wanders in.  That person could be a major character in the future.  They could be instrumental to the development of my MC.  They could be a killer.  But it's a process for me just like it's a process for my children.  I have to learn how to work with this new children, discover their likes, dislikes, and other traits.  I have to be a good host and treat them well.

Then they aren't strangers anymore.  They are just part of the writing family.

4 comments:

  1. Writing contest......My blog Amish Stories is having its first ever contest this week. The First prize winner will win 2 tickets to tour the farm where the 1985 move "Witness" staring Harrison Ford and Kelly Mcgillis was made in Strasburg,Pa . This farm is now Amish owned, and the family has given permission for folks to tour their farm. This may be the last time anyone will be able to walk and see the same things that Harrison Ford and the other actors saw during the making of "Witness". The Witness tour should last about 2.5 hours. In addition to the Witness farm tour tickets, 1st prize winner will also receive 2 tickets for Jacobs choice. There will also be a 2nd place prize, which will be 2 tickets for the Amish Homestead. Please go to My blog www.AmishStorys.com for contest details, and more information on the prizes. Richard from the Amish settlement of Lebanon county.

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  2. Sometimes those who just appear become our greatest friends, in life and in writing.

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  3. It happened to me this weekend. I was working on my so-called novel and found that some of the ideas I was pursuing didn't really work in 3rd person. So I started to work in parallel on a short story in 1st person. And suddenly a new character was born. He's a kind of akward math teacher who tend to get involved with women who struggle with Pi (3.14) >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  4. I am always amazed by how alive my characters become to me.
    I find myself laughing and crying with them.

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