Voices

Tony Jordan writes because he has secrets no one else knows. I write because the voices in my head tell me to.

When a character clicks it's a wonderful thing. I've been struggling for a while with one of my characters, Alan, who just wasn't quite real enough; there was something missing. So I had an afternoon nap yesterday thinking about Alan and low and behold I dreamt about him... and he spoke to me. He was missing an emotional core, something that would explain why he is why he is, dishevelled, lonely and headless of others. And he sat down beside me in my dream and told me all about how he had caught his wife, the love of his life, shagging the postman on the hall carpet, and how his wife, now ex, had emigrated to Australia with their daughter. He missed his daughter and it had turned him in on himself. He'd withdrawn from society and relationships with others, cutting off his daughter to spare himself the pain of separation, only living for himself. That way he figured he couldn't be hurt again.

But the road I have put him on in his story will force him to think of others, feel their emotions, and deal with their problems, ultimately bringing him back into contact with his daughter. Nice.

Thanks voices.