to write is to act

For the longest time I thought I would go into acting. I love to perform. I love the stage. But there was an element in this career path that was missing: pure creation.

Over the years, the more I write, and the more I learn about my own process, the more I have come to realize that my acting plays an important role in my life.

I have spoken before about how my characters are real to me. Once, when I was maybe fifteen/sixteen, I wrote a death scene that sent me into a completely surprising grief-spiral that didn't pass quickly at all. I felt as if a close friend of mine had really, truly died. The experience shocked and alarmed me, so that I was careful with it for the next few years.

But what I'm talking about is a little bit more than that. When you take on a role, you become completely absorbed in the other person. During productions at the theatre where I performed, we would explore the characters in great depth, be asked to create bios for them, to know their deepest fear, biggest secret, secret passion.

Writing is exactly the same. If your main character is facing a difficult choice, you have to step into their shoes and experience it with them, in order to faithfully put that down on the page. If they have lost the will to go on, you have to feel that too. Experience their joys and their heartache.

It's emotionally taxing, and yet it is rewarding.

All of this is just what goes on in your mind, but the mind is where the power of creation lies. Perception is simply signals picked up by your brain, and so what you imagine is also perception. It can become very real.

This, in my opinion, is what makes great writing.

I spoke, recently in a vlog, about how, for the longest time, I kept a diary as one of my characters. I have actually done this twice. The reason for this was partly for me to discover what journey they were going to take, but more importantly, it was about finding their voice, and, to an extent, becoming them.

How far do you step into the shoes of the people you create?

Do you act out the scenes you invent, even if it is only in your head, in order to better understand the emotions, motivations, reactions that occur?

What is your process like?

*Hugs*

<3