Do Authors Have Multiple Personalities? Duh!
Multiple
Personality Disorder (Dissociative
Identity Disorder or DID) is a real medical disorder and is nothing to joke
about. For those who suffer from DID , their families suffer equally and has
our prayers. What I am poking light, conversational fun within this article
only pertains to writers (and quite a few
actors/writers), and as to how they fully commit to having multiple
characters within the pages of their manuscripts, books, cinematic scripts,
short stories, and periodicals. This commitment can cause readers (family and friends included) to ask the
question; Where did all these people come from?
I had once had a
test reader of mine stop me with a look of concern on her face. When I asked
her what was wrong, she told me she had to talk to me about my current project (at the time it was just called The Book and
still is). We took a break and went to the coffee shop in the building. I
guess it was the look on her face that had me concerned, but the tone in her
voice that had me terrified. When we had our drinks and finally found a
secluded table to sit at (her request),
she blurted out a question that had me shaking the walls with laughter. She
asked me which character in the story was me. Once I got a better hold of myself and was
able to breathe normally, I looked up to see a few of my other test readers
coming up to the table quickly.
After a quick
hello and insure them that I wasn’t giving out Spoilers, I told them the
question that had me in tears. To my surprise each of them and the others who
weren’t there had the same question. At that point it was no longer a joke and
quite disturbing. The way they described each of my characters back to me was…
frightening. I didn’t think my quick description or background story of each
character (so far) was that detailed as to solidify an actual person they could
relate to on a personal level. As they put it in my face, (in their opinion) they could actually believe each character had a
distinct personality as they spoke, presented themselves, and interacted with
other characters that were completely and solely their own. This time when the
question was asked, I had to actually use that single brain cell that always
gets me into trouble and set it on auto. I answered their questions as simply
as possible.
I am each
character because each of them comes from my imagination. Although I have taken
some small snippets of my own life experiences, it is all me. The story, and each storyline were created by
me too many years back to think about it, but the answer is still valid. I also pointed out that since this book is
musical based, that even the songs play a part as characters to help tell the
story and express a particular mood I wanted to place the reader in. When the
topic of multiple personalities came up (not
belittling DID), I made mention that maybe I should see someone about it. With
me writing the major outlying on a new series call The Twin Hearts (yes shameless plug, but actually happened),
I was shouted down not to do that because it's my screw up my fledgling talent (my description). It was then pointed out
to me (disturbingly fierce) that
books that can present full and distinct characters are the most enjoyable to
read. If I did decide to allow someone to tamper with my writing thought
process, they were going to beat the crap out of me. Hey, what were friends
for.
It matters little
what genre(s) an author writes in to
express him or herself. It also matters little
if the writer is a seasoned professional or just starting out. What does matter
is the writer enjoys telling stories because that passion is expressed clearly
within the pages they present to the reader.
So, I’ll end this here with this thought.
Do all authors have
multiple people running around between their ears? Duh, Yeah! But are they crazy? We’ll just have to let
the readers determine that. SD
Would
you like to have your topic discussed? Would you like to get an opinion
on something that bugging you? Have you ever wonder about what makes an
author pull out their hair? Well, let's sit down for a cup of TEA or a nice healthy shot of CAFFEINE.
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