I am\u00c2\u00a0working on a new draft of a novel, in which my hope is that my characters will \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 Anyone who writes fiction will recognize this as a phrase denoting the moment when\u00c2\u00a0characters break free of their narrator\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s agenda for them and start talking and behaving like independent living beings.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has studied \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dynamics of Time and Space\u00e2\u20ac\u009d will recognize the terms \u00e2\u20ac\u0153narrative\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153story\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a way to examine the operation of our own minds.\u00c2\u00a0 As with the\u00c2\u00a0concepts of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ego\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, it would be easy to imagine that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stories\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are a problem for\u00c2\u00a0embodied beings.\u00c2\u00a0 But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that is the point to be drawn.\u00c2\u00a0 I think a problem only exists when the self-centered mind fails to recognize the partiality of its own thoughts –when it doesn’\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognize the fictional nature of its own stories (especially those we label \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d).\u00c2\u00a0 But stories are like the air we breathe and are woven from the time, space and knowledge in which we have our being.<\/p>\n
As I ponder how my fictional characters might \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, I seem to be engaged in a process familiar in my own life.\u00c2\u00a0 In both cases the task seems to be to break free of limits that are viewed as integral to the conditions that spawned them.\u00c2\u00a0 In the case of fictional characters, the author typically starts with notions of plot, setting, timeframe, and then writes something (which typically sounds a bit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wooden\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at first).\u00c2\u00a0 With such a genesis, it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprising that characters surface as place-holders in a writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0 construct.\u00c2\u00a0 And in the case of\u00c2\u00a0human life on Planet Earth, I expect that most of us have been attracted to TSK and other spiritual traditions, when we\u00c2\u00a0felt ready to branch out from some script in which we couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0 recall auditioning for the lead role we were playing, \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Eventually we may feel ready to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a story that we thereby make our own.<\/p>\n
The future comes alive when a character tells his author to step aside and just keep writing.<\/p>\n
Like Pinochio, we all come with strings attached.\u00c2\u00a0 The trick is to remember that strings can be pulled from either end.\u00c2\u00a0 –Michael<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am\u00c2\u00a0working on a new draft of a novel, in which my hope is that my characters will \u00e2\u20ac\u0153come alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 Anyone who writes fiction will recognize this as a phrase denoting the moment when\u00c2\u00a0characters break free of their narrator\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s agenda … Continue reading