Bare naked author souls

Every writer goes through the anxiety of expressing uncomfortable ideas and POVs through a character. I once saw a video of Amy Tan talking about writing, and she admitted her great fear that readers would assume that her characters were her, their strengths and weaknesses were hers, their way of seeing the world was hers. They'd be wrong...but they would still assume. I felt so relieved--Amy Tan worried about that too! And Amy Tan wrote anyway.

I've done this as a reader. I'm guilty. I read a book, especially realistic contemporary fiction, and I wonder if the author is channeling herself through her main character. Sometimes it's probably true. But as a writer I've learned, that's not a valid assumption I can ever make as a reader.

There's no way to hide in your writing. You, the writer, are vulnerable, present in every word. It is frightening, exposing yourself that way. But not always for the reason a reader may think. It's never universally true that an character is the author. But it's always true that the author is fascinated by the character. (maybe there are some exceptions, but I feel too lazy right now to think about them. I have a ton of laundry to do)

A writer writes what interests her, what fascinates her, what challenges her, what engages and motivates and even what frightens her. That's the goal, anyway. Feel free to assume away--that I'm fascinated by the idea of fire-speaking, or vacationing in an immersive Austen resort, of being a princess, of being betrayed, and loved, and hunted, and alone. I'm curious about male/female relationships, and the idea of falling-in-friendship. I find it very easy to follow my proposed motto of write what fascinates you, because what else would I write?

All my books are revealing about my character, though none of the characters are me. I wouldn't always do what my characters do, though I always understand why they do it. I sympathize with all of my characters, even the so-called villains. I find myself constantly allowing them room for redemption, chances to change. Many of them don't, and that fascinates me too. It's fun, this career of exploring what fascinates me, and working that into stories, and reworking those stories word-by-word. It's fun. And hard too. And it makes me completely vulnerable to my readers.

But it also makes me empathetic to other authors. I love the ways being a writer changes me as a reader. Because really, that's what I'll always be at my root.