Intriguing Thoughts from John Beyer
I enjoy reading quotations from famous people --
other writers in particular -- and someday I would enjoy people quoting me or
one of the characters from my stories. Perhaps they do already and I do not
know about it – wouldn’t that be a hoot and a half?
For a
writer, that could not be plainer. Write on a napkin. Write on a wall. Use a
pencil or pen. Perhaps just strike the old typewriter keys daily or punch the
keyboard an hour every other day. The bottom line is that you just need to
write – that is if you are a writer and if not then you must read what the
writer writes.
That was a
plug for all writers out there – we write so others will read.
Again with
a quotation. This time one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway: “When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a
caricature.”
Now this is where I get in trouble.
I’m currently working on my fourth novel, (the other three were released by
Black Opal Books over the past few years), but my ‘people’ are not doing what
they are supposed to be doing. I am not insane and invisible entities do not
talk to me while I write or go about my daily life chores but the people in my
novels do what they do. Yes, there is an overall theme I am working on when
sitting behind my desk in my office but the letter after letter minutiae is up
to those I am including on the pages.
My spouse, lovely Laureen, thinks I’m
nuts. She happens to have a Ph.D. in Brain Research and perhaps she knows
something I don’t but then again, I have Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. My
degree negates hers, or at least I’d like to believe that is the case whenever
my wife disagrees with me. I’m certain every husband understands this struggle.
Okay, my characters – sorry, Ernest –
my people move about the pages of my writing like nymphs in the forest. Darting
here and there and sometimes I will actually stop the movement of my fingers on
the keyboard and wonder what the hell is going on.
Jonas Peters – one of two of my main
protagonists – ends up in Peru and threatens an admiral of the Peruvian Navy.
That wasn’t in the plans at the beginning of my latest novel but it’s there
now. Frank Sanders – the other protagonist – ends up killing a couple of bad
guys one dark and not-so-stormy night. Again, wasn’t in the plans but it’s
there now.
The point of this that is sometimes
writing just happens and however it works is fine. Characters are not real but
may feel that way when you spend months upon months creating the lives they
lead, the pain they experience along with the occasional joys bestowed on them.
Maugham was correct – as long as you
write with sincerity and passion you cannot go wrong. Writing comes from the
heart or should. That will be evident with your readers.
Hemingway was also correct – your ‘characters’
must be real people and not just fictional creatures. One dimension does not
work for the mind and should not for any sort of writing. Readers must believe
that person they view on a page in a novel should be someone they could
recognize on a street corner.
One day, while Laureen was waiting for
a plane in Dallas she called and said: “Yuri is in the airport. He’s here.”
Yuri is a fictional person from my
novel – Soft Target. She saw him sitting at a bar.
Characters can be real – not just for
the writer.
Just saying.
John Beyer Bio:
Former street
cop, training officer and member of SWAT John Beyer has been writing most of
his life. He’s traveled to at least 23 countries (and was actually shot in the
head in Spain in 2000 during a march between Neo Nazis and Communists two days
after running with the bulls in Pamplona). He was caught in a hurricane off the
coast of east Baja (Bahia de los Angeles) while kayaking and lived to tell
about it. Essentially, it’s hard to tell where experience leaves off and
fiction takes over. You’ll want to read his books.
Website URL: http://johnrobertbeyer.weebly.com/
Twitter: @Drjohnrbeyer
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