{"id":892,"date":"2017-07-31T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=892"},"modified":"2017-08-01T05:53:03","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T10:53:03","slug":"a-writers-womb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=892","title":{"rendered":"A Writer’s Womb"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTERVIEWER
\n<\/em>You start with a character in mind. Does that character change as you go along? Take\u00a0Sophie\u2019s Choice for example. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

STYRON
\n<\/em>There\u2019s a scene near the beginning of\u00a0Sophie\u2019s Choice\u00a0about Sophie\u2019s childhood in Poland, and she begins to talk about her father. I was trying to establish her personality through the memory she had of Poland and her father. As this monologue unspooled and I wrote it down, I began to feel as if I were listening to an actual voice. She tells how her father\u2014a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow\u2014had become a passionate fighter during the war to save Jews from the depredations of the Nazis. Then the most amazing thing happened: I suddenly said to myself, This woman is lying to me; this fictional character that I\u2019m creating is telling me a lie. This couldn\u2019t be! I knew I had to wait for a long time in the book to reveal it, but I realized that her father was in reality a vicious anti-Semite. This is what I mean about the autonomy of the character: how characters become more real than real. What amazed me was that I discovered this about this young woman even as I was writing\u2014this revelation came out of the blue. But I was totally convinced that she was telling the truth first, and I only realized in my inner self that she was lying. That to me is a testimony of the ability for characters in a novel\u2014at least of the kind I was writing\u2014to take on a life of their own.\u00a0<\/em>William Styron, Paris Review, Art of Fiction No. 156, 1999<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

We know how babies are made, for the most part, which is to say we know the mechanics of it. What we cannot grasp is how a particular life enters that evolving physical tissue. A reasonable person might concede that since we don’t understand how<\/em> it happens, we are ill-equipped to judge when<\/em> it happens. But that’s another topic. The fact is that it does<\/em> happen. So it is with writers. Like Geppetto carving his wooden puppet and hoping for a real boy, our dreams come true when our wooden characters magically transform into real boys and girls.<\/p>\n

It happens to all writers whose work blossoms from the good earth of characters, but none of us knows how it happens. It just does. And when it does, it’s like electricity hitting Frankenstein’s creature. Suddenly, the collection of pieces we’ve cobbled together draws a breath and becomes a being with his or her own desires, motives, and agendas. We know these characters aren’t real people, but I’d venture to say they are as real to us as the memory of a person. Especially once the work is complete. Proof of life comes when they are that real to our readers, too.<\/p>\n

My life’s enriched by the many, many characters I’ve read and loved, and by the ones I’ve written. They are my strongest motivation to write. If I don’t write, they aren’t born.<\/p>\n

“Sing, O barren,
\n<\/span><\/span>You\u00a0who\u00a0have not borne!<\/span><\/em>
\nBreak forth into singing, and cry aloud,<\/span><\/em>
\nYou\u00a0who\u00a0have not labored with child!<\/span><\/em>
\nFor more\u00a0are\u00a0the children of the desolate<\/span><\/em>
\nThan the children of the married woman,\u201d says the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.
\nIsaiah 54:1 New King James Version<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTERVIEWER You start with a character in mind. Does that character change as you go along? Take\u00a0Sophie\u2019s Choice for example. \u00a0 STYRON There\u2019s a scene near the beginning of\u00a0Sophie\u2019s Choice\u00a0about Sophie\u2019s childhood in Poland, and she begins to talk about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[17,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-eo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1556,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1556","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":0},"title":"In Search of Je Ne Sais Quoi","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"First and foremost, my heartfelt thanks to Blake Kimzey and Writing Workshops Dallas for inviting me to post on the WWD blog, where this appeared on November 30, 2020 My second novel, Stork Bite, released in November 2020, after eight years of working and reworking it. I had wanted to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2020"","block_context":{"text":"2020","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":437,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=437","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":1},"title":"Stella!","author":"lsimonds","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThis is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.\u201d John 6:39 About a year and a half ago, against good judgment, I adopted a black and white Pomeranian out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":121,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=121","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":2},"title":"Mere Men (and Women)","author":"lsimonds","date":"April 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWho would form a God or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all his companions would be ashamed; and the workmen, they are mere men\u2026.\u201d Isaiah 44:10-11 NKJV There was an episode of the situation comedy Seinfeld in which the character Elaine embarrassed herself with her drunken behavior\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":829,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=829","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":3},"title":"Love The One You’re With","author":"lsimonds","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tribe. n.\u00a0a group of persons having a common character, occupation, or interest \"If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.\" Romans 12:18 ESV I recently enjoyed the company of a three year old for\u00a0a few days\u2014the daughter of good friends. She lives in another town,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2017"","block_context":{"text":"2017","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":75,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=75","url_meta":{"origin":892,"position":4},"title":"Break Through","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 1, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cSo (Israel) came to Baal-perazim, and David smote the (Philistines) there. 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