The Writing Process

I could sit in all night wondering whether I should have a woman eating a steak or pasta and it means so much, explains so much, what kind of person she is. Making a person/character three dimensional is the same in reality as it is in fiction. We tend to listen better to those with whom we've shared some sort of intimate history, trust those with whom we've let down the walls of vulnerability and cracked the glass of pain and peevishness. The same is true in literature. I am struggling with my characters because I don't know them; I haven't lived with them as much as I can say I've even lived with myself (how many of us are still searching for ourselves and who we want to be?), but the fact of the matter is, the character and her amalgamations of my experiences, perspectives, and imagination, will never come to life; I can't have dinner with her. That's the truth of it, the crux, that I need to pretend that I am having dinner with Jesse Dresdich, my protagonist, because she wants to get to know me; she won't reveal what I don't ask, for her past is riddled with secrets, trapdoors, and a gallimaufry of polaroid pictures scattered aimlessly like my own (life).

Writing is and has to be an addiction. It has to be the drug you wake up for and wake up to. 300 words, easy, everyday.