In Love Again

Well it's happened. I've fallen in love with Danny, my main character of my WIP, Inheritance.

I'm listening to:
Dwight Yoakam's The Heart That You Own
Yep, I've got it bad.

His name's Danny. He's real cute. Actually, no. He's not as cute as all that. I describe him as having a pleasant-but-non-descript face. I read somewhere that the face of a main character shouldn't be described too much. Something about reader identification and reader wishes and reader libido. Whoever said that -- sorry I forgot-- probably gave far better reasons than I could probably think of, but I think his/her assessment is pretty right on. Beauty and individual tastes vary so much. In my case, although my other WIP contains two absolutely beautiful men, I honestly like guys with pleasant non-descript faces.

Anyways, my past crushes aside, I'm glad this crush is kinda taking me over. I'm more likely to finish the novel that way. Of course hubby will have to live with this crush of mine.

I don't know how it is for other women writers but I become absolutely hard to live with whenever I fall in love with a main character. My hubby, Luke, was safe when I was writing Wind Follower because Loic (WF's main character) was based on my sweet teenage son...a kid I wanted to strangle every minute of the day. But Danny... Ah, Danny! He'll be a problem for the beloved husband.

Unfortunately, in creating a perfect male character for my female character I ALWAYS think about the guy's perfect sense of humor, his perfect body --yeah, Danny has a wonderful body-- his insightful understanding of the heroine. Dangerous thoughts all. Then the next thing I know: I'm falling in love with some guy literally created for a female character. And I begin whining and complaining at hubby and telling him all his flaws.

Mercifully, I am somewhat morbidly introspective. I can never quite delude myself into thinking that my nagging is part of the creative process. I get all guilt-ridden and upset with myself ...and yet, the crush remains. Prayers, emails from writer friends, long weepy phone conversations with friends about "what exactly constitutes a true love" --All of no avail. The crush --masturbatory and insane and narcissistic as it is-- tends to continue until I finish the story. Then miraculously, the love spell breaks.

That's when --I swear! This ALWAYS happens-- I realize the created character actually reminds me of my hubby. I say to him, "Sweetie, you're my true love!"

So, whether I know it or not. After Inheritance is accepted by a publisher and on book shelves, I'm going to realize in a blinding flash of spiritual light, that Danny has been living with me all along, that unreal imagined Danny is really the living-breathing Luke lying at night beside me in bed. And how wonderful that will be!

Today I finished writing a ghost story. It's a fun little piece. Humorous, about a black woman battling a demon in her house. It's unlike Wind Follower and my other writings except it shares the one thing all my writings share: my poor character is stressed. Whether it's the stress of dealing with or meeting racist mother-in-laws (as in the story I have in Jigsaw nation entitled "Homecoming at the Borderlands Cafe" Whether it's marrying into a clan and dealing with an immature husband (as in Wind Follower) Whether it's the love story in my current WIP, Inheritance, the important emotion in all my writings is STRESS. My characters are always faced with an interrupted life and are always on their last nerve.