Last night, after investing an hour into only Part 1 of the 5-part Scrivener tutorial, I shifted my attention to outlining the history for Munwar Meek, the fighter hero in my fantasy series The Soul Cycle. The plan is to outline his backstory as well as his hunter/ranger counterpart, Para, so that my husband would have a place to begin outlining the campaigns which lead them to meet.
Why?
Cyrus 'Munwar' Meek, by Rin Jay
Because my goal is to utilize Para’s portion of the campaign for this year’s NaNoWriMo, as I blogged about on my other site, NonaKing.com. This is only the second year I will work from a completed outline, research notes, etc. The first year I did so was back in 2008, my first year participating in the contest. The notes and outline were from a campaign written by my husband. 
But here I have written myself off tangent!
On my way home from work yesterday I made it a point to start brainstorming Munwar’s history. I wanted to give myself as much time as possible to purge any ridiculous ideas before jotting down the outline and emailing it to the hubs. Imagine my surprise when my thought process struck a wall, especially since I had been restraining myself from thinking of Mun’s history up to that point, believing it was too soon since his would be the second story and not the first.
But my creative juices struck more than just a wall, there was an overwhelming feeling of… reluctance? No, not even that is the correct word. It seemed much more, although the word escapes me at the moment. My immediate reaction was that Mun did not want to talk to me about his past.
For years I have been told that we should interview our characters so that we know exactly who they are before diving into their story. Well, stoic Cyrus Munwar Meek wanted nothing to do with that interview, being the private person he is represented in To Save a Soul and Silver and Iron. Apparently, he doesn’t like speaking of himself, nor of his past.
You know what I found myself doing? Having an internal conversation with my character – in my head without my lips moving, of course. Heaven knows what fellow drivers would have thought had that conversation been external!
It was the oddest experience, reasoning with a fictional character and having the unshakable impression that he listened! Not only that, he almost reluctantly acknowledged my reasoning and assurances of discretion! Soon after the discussion ended, his history began to flow and I was able to progress with the outline.
Has this ever happened to you?
It has been so long since my characters interacted with me in this way, and I must confess it is nice to be back in a type of relationship with them. After all, how can I say relationships and communication is my platform when I don’t even communicate with my own characters?
I am a writer. I adore the spinning of the unwritten tale – that lesson waiting to be divulged to others. Each day a new story beckons. One last happy ending. My characters have a life outside of my own, and I always learn from their destiny.
I loved your post, Nona. I talk to my characters all the time–and they talk to me. The first time I did this–I asked my 12-year old protagonist why he said he wanted to be king of the world. He replied, “because when you’re king of the world, nobody teases you anymore.”
You never know what those pesky characters will come up with until you ask. Good for you!
HAHAH! That is so fantastically awesome…. Thanks for sharing, Carol. You are *so* right, and it is amazing how they so often have their own unique personalities, isn’t it? The best way to see God’s Inspiration at work, eh?