It's been a busy month at my house! One of those times when plans for multiple ventures converge at the same time in a perfect storm of chaos keeping me away -- by virtue of distraction -- from the things I'd rather be doing, like writing. But it was in the interest of helping my two handsome sons find their passion in life that I gladly made that sacrifice. (Really, it was convincing the impatient voices in my head to give me a break that was particularly difficult!)
Having two kids in college at the same time (One freshman, one junior.), evokes two primary responses: The first is - as any parent of college bound children will agree, financial panic. As we sort through the FAFSA applications to figure out who pays for what, thankfully that is finally settling down. Second, having reached the monumental milestone of having raised our tiny babies to the age of independence (ROFLMAO! Most parents will see the humor in my response.), where do they go from here? What does their future hold?
Whether it is the flesh and blood children that we create from our bodies, or the characters we breathe life into with our well chosen words, we sincerely want the best for them. Even our antagonists, have to have a back story that explains why they are so twisted so we can make sense of their behavior!
For me, my first and favorite protagonist, Adrian, began much like that of a child. In the beginning, he was everything I thought I wanted -- Handsome, successful, living a life very different from my own. But as he grew, a darker side of his personality began to emerge, angry outbursts, foolish choices, unfortunate trials and all, making him all the more well rounded, interesting, and hopefully wise.
In hindsight, creating Adrian has been much like raising another child, a child I hope will go out into the world and touch the life's of those he crosses paths with.
As I look over my complete manuscript- or as complete as it can be as it creeps closer to publication, I find an unlikely parallel between Adrian, and my boys. Like parents as well as writers, we do our best with what we have to work with, but as they grow in to mature ( Rolling on the floor again...) individuals, we have to know when to let them go to find the life that was meant just for them.
Our children will always be our children, as our characters will be part of us as well, but our greatest achievement is in watching them go out and make a difference in the world carrying a little bit of ourselves with them.
