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Feb. 15th, 2007 09:21 amSo, I should be doing this stupid flyer right now, but I honestly don't feel like it. Instead, quotes I got yesterday when looking up Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone, the book I'm reading right now that is soooo good.
TBR: I know that your characters are very important to you. William Faulkner once said that he didn't really write stories --- he just followed his characters around and took notes. Could you comment on this?
LAMB: This is exactly the way it is for me also. People always say, "But you're in control of what happens." That's not true. I start with a character's voice, and that voice leads me into the story. I never know where I'm going and getting into the character leads me into realizing the story. I don't love writing. I feel compelled to write. It's the characters. I develop them --- then comes the need to find out what is going to happen in their lives.
TBR: Do you live with your characters?
LAMB: Yes, I do. I live with them for some part of every day...And for the time I'm there, I'm living with my characters, watching them and wondering what they will do next.
TBR: Do you worry about them?
LAMB: Very much so. And sometimes I try to put them on safer paths or have them make better choices. But whenever I do that, my writing becomes hollow. So I've learned to let them go their own way and just wait to see what happens.
That is sooooo me.
TBR: I know that your characters are very important to you. William Faulkner once said that he didn't really write stories --- he just followed his characters around and took notes. Could you comment on this?
LAMB: This is exactly the way it is for me also. People always say, "But you're in control of what happens." That's not true. I start with a character's voice, and that voice leads me into the story. I never know where I'm going and getting into the character leads me into realizing the story. I don't love writing. I feel compelled to write. It's the characters. I develop them --- then comes the need to find out what is going to happen in their lives.
TBR: Do you live with your characters?
LAMB: Yes, I do. I live with them for some part of every day...And for the time I'm there, I'm living with my characters, watching them and wondering what they will do next.
TBR: Do you worry about them?
LAMB: Very much so. And sometimes I try to put them on safer paths or have them make better choices. But whenever I do that, my writing becomes hollow. So I've learned to let them go their own way and just wait to see what happens.
That is sooooo me.
