The other day I wrote letters to my characters. Today they wrote back.
Dear Author Who Has Trouble Recognizing Happy Herself,
Happy is easy. It’s when I fly. Anytime I take to the air I feel happy and if something is pissing me off, I forget about it as soon as I grip the yoke. Most of the time anyway. Perfect is tougher. The day I flew my first solo was pretty close. But I think the day Edna took me up in her old Stearman was about as close to perfect as I can remember. One of those lazy summer days where for once there wasn’t a pile of something gone wrong waiting for me on the ground. The sky was clear and still and I gazed out at it from between the flying wires and wanted us to keep on flying forever. The pockety-pockety sound of the engine was better than anything I had on my playlist.
Yeah, I’d say that day was pretty close to perfect. Until we landed.
Signed,
Flyboy
Dear Author,
Here’s the thing about bugs. If you stand still in front of a plant and just wait, the bugs will come. Big fuzzy Carpenter bees that make you want to reach out and touch their velvet fur. Hover flies that try to mimic bees. Katydids that blend in so well with the leaves that if you blink, they disappear. Over on the milkweed bright yellow aphids cover the plant and bring the ladybugs in for a feast. If you wait long enough you might see the ants band together to protect their aphids from the ladybug.
Once you stop using all that chemical junk in a yard it’s like a whole new universe moves in. Some bugs live. Some bugs die. But things happen the way they’re supposed to happen, in a way that makes sense if you apply nature’s logic.
When the rest of my world is turned upside down, it makes me feel better to see the garden balancing things out.
Signed,
Plant Kid
Dear Author,
The creep knows what he did. I’m not talking about it until I know he’s locked up or dead. And I’m not lying about my sister. It’s plain and simple. I told you what happened. I told you it was my fault. Would I admit something like that if it wasn’t the truth?
Max wants to know how you are going to make sure to keep him safe.
Max’s friend
Dear Author,
That’s not a chip on my shoulder. That’s a pile of scars from every time my dad hauled off and hit me for no reason at all.
Signed,
Cooper
I want to meet these characters! Please write their stories already!
Thanks for the reminder to do this for my WIP.
I’m writing as fast as I can. Glad they are interesting to you.
Oh, Cooper. Wishing I could fix it.
I knew Cooper would get to you. He’s the verse novel I shared with my editor. Broke her heart a little bit too.
Have you considered a book of letters? Because I really love reading other people’s letters. And these are especially good.
Thank you, Joyce. Do you mean writing a book just in letters? Because I have thought of that. I’d love to collect these into something when the books are published. I think that could be fun.
Yes, I’m thinking of telling the story through letters. Or perhaps inserting letters between chapters could work. Has that been done before. Why not bring the reader into the creative process that way?
I’m doing something similar right now but it’s related more to the research process than through character motivation and discovery.
Anyway, someday you will have all these amazing letters to share with audiences at author events!
I’m glad to see you and the characters conversing!
I love that your characters write back. 🙂