![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/ImaginaryPeopl.jpg\" "\\"ImaginaryPeople\\"")
You know the way your dead grandmother can pop up in the car with you?\u00a0 You know just what she\u2019ll say about slowing for the stop sign, and how she\u2019ll cross herself when you pass St. Luke\u2019s.\u00a0 Her chortly, spontaneous laughter will float right through you. It\u2019s memory, but it\u2019s also alive, fluid. It\u2019s strong because it\u2019s yours alone, in your own mind, especially if you practice bringing your grandmother forward.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not a writer but you know remembered real people, that\u2019s what characters feel like. My characters feel convincingly full and true to me. They\u2019re not only on the page when I\u2019m copying down the gestures I see or the voices in my ears.\u00a0 My characters sometimes join me when I\u2019m doing dishes or taking a walk. I\u2019ve never seen Gaia\u2019s or Leon\u2019s face distinctly, but I know what her scar feels like on my cheek and I\u2019ve glimpsed the back of his neck on other teen boys. I would know them if I saw them, like you\u2019d recognize your grandmother if she knocked on your door.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, I know my characters inside. I know their memories of when they were kids (picking blueberries), and what they\u2019re like when they\u2019re sick, hurt, or grieving (Q cell). I know how they feel about the mistakes they\u2019ve made and how they\u2019re worried they might do worse. I know their emotions when they\u2019re so angry they can\u2019t give me any dialogue or explain themselves. (That would be Leon on the porch of the winner’s cabin.) Their wondering happiness in an embrace is mine, and so are their discoveries and curiosity.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re my imaginary friends.<\/p>\n
We tend to associate hearing voices with insanity. A psychologist friend recently said to me that creative, artistic types are more likely than the general population to be on the functional end of the manic-depressive spectrum. Frankly, I find the generalization dangerous, as it implies that artists, especially those with mental illness, succeed only because they have a crazy gift of creativity rather than because they work their butts off.<\/p>\n
Recall that writers practice creativity 8-12 hours a day, daily, the way doctors, teachers, athletes, and plumbers practice their craft. You get good at what you do.<\/p>\n
I know my peeps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You know the way your dead grandmother can pop up in the car with you?\u00a0 You know just what she\u2019ll say about slowing for the stop sign, and how she\u2019ll cross herself when you pass St. Luke\u2019s.\u00a0 Her chortly, spontaneous laughter will float right through you. It\u2019s memory, but it\u2019s also alive, fluid. It\u2019s strong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","category-prized","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1529,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}