Along with being a reader, I fancy myself a pretty good fantasy fiction writer. In junior high and high school, I got straight As. I was so bored with school that while the teachers lectured and in between homework and having no interest in sports or boys, I wrote a book. I wrote it straight through, with absolutely no outline planned out. I just let it flow, let the characters talk to me and tell me what they wanted to say, what they would do, and they became so ingrained in my mind that they feel like old friends.
Well, my main character, a rogue named Viper, decided that some day, he deserved a quartet. It was going to be just a three-book series, but somewhere after deciding the end to the third book, he wanted a chance to reflect back on everything that happened. So the idea for a fourth book appeared.
That's the back story.
My main point is this: somewhere in the middle of my extremely stressful dead week at college, Viper demanded to be heard. He had a scene he wanted in the fourth book and without permission, he carried on a complete conversation with a minor character.
How very frustrating for me, lacking pen, paper, or time, to acknowledge his request. So, while studying for my worst final this semester, I took out a piece of paper, a pen, and wrote an entire page without stopping once. It could have been more, but I didn't have the patience to expand with details. I merely wrote the grit of it and set it aside.
But I felt better afterward. Maybe, in a different life, I could've been a successful author. However, much as I like Viper, I am not too proud to think he could compete with the likes of Harry Potter or Edward for the affection of the nation. I can humbly acknowledge that they are better authors than me, just for the mere fact that they are published, and I am not. However, my dream of getting my book published, if only for the satisfaction of seeing it bound as a real book before me, is still there. I enjoy my characters very much, and they are alive and very vocal inside of me, no matter what anyone else thinks :)
Sometimes, you just need to listen to them, and write.
