We so often try to make our characters be like us. They have our thoughts and feelings, our delusions and our neuroses. But no matter how realistic they are, they are not quite real.
They live storybook lives, the kind where people always say just the right thing (or just the wrong thing) and they do it with precise timing. Even when they hem and haw, they are doing it in exactly the right way to make you, the audience, feel the way the author wants you to feel.
Characters also get to do things we rarely do. Characters get to wander from town to town, meeting people, solving problems, and moving on. Characters get to act like important big shots. Characters get to ride on a train across hundreds of miles, writing about their great realizations.
Live like a character, even if it’s only for a little bit. Not every character can be imitated, but some of them can. See what it’s like to be one of those people. Experience the world the way they would. Understand what they are going through it just by imagining it, but by experiencing it.
Even if it’s one small experience, it is a worthwhile one.
P.S. This entry was written several days prior to being posted. Technical difficulties prevented me from posting it online. This in no way whatsoever prevented me from writing it. There is no excuse to not write if you are a writer.
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