A Character in Search of a Home

Okay, this blog may be a bit weird if you’re not a writer, but here goes. I’m presently working on a YA (young adult) fantasy novel.  I breezed through the first 220 pages. The story flew from my imagination, to my fingertips, to the computer screen. And then….

nothing.

For weeks now.

Nothing!!!!!

I kept coming back to this one scene in a tavern and I couldn’t get my main character out of there. And then I realized there was someone else in the background. Someone I didn’t know yet, but he lurked in the corner and kept drawing me back to the scene. Everytime I tried to leave without introducing him, my writing stopped.

What to do? I hadn’t planned on adding a new character. He wasn’t in my plot outline. I didn’t even know who he was! So I sat down today and interviewed him. It sounds bizarre, but it worked. I asked him who he was, what his history was and what his intentions were for my story. You’d think, seeing as he’d come from my head in the first place,  I’d have already known the answers, but I didn’t.

But now I do! And I can’t wait to sit down and add him to my cast of characters and see where he takes me and my protagonist. I think it’s going to be a wild ride!

I thought about how many times I do that in real life. How many times do I leave a “scene”–a meeting or a party, and don’t take time to notice the person in the corner. Whether it’s my own insecurities or my self-absorption, I bet I’ve missed out on a lot of opportunities to bring a new “character,” a new friend into my life. It’s sad to think about but it makes me determined to try harder to live outside my comfort zone and allow new people into my story!