Have you ever been caught having a conversation with a character, method acting as one, etc? How did you explain it?
"LOL Not really. I think I spend enough time with them on the page that I don't need to bring them into my real world, so to speak. But never say never." - Kay Cassidy, author of The Cinderella Society.
"I did when I was younger! I have ridiculously long hair, and when I was younger, I'd make up dialog for stories in front of the mirror while brushing my hair. Bit Rapunzel, that. But every once in awhile, my mother would catch me doing it. I have NO idea what she really thought of me...." - Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe.
"LOL Not really. I think I spend enough time with them on the page that I don't need to bring them into my real world, so to speak. But never say never." - Kay Cassidy, author of The Cinderella Society.
"I did when I was younger! I have ridiculously long hair, and when I was younger, I'd make up dialog for stories in front of the mirror while brushing my hair. Bit Rapunzel, that. But every once in awhile, my mother would catch me doing it. I have NO idea what she really thought of me...." - Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe.
"All the time! My kids are so used to me having ‘out loud’ conversations with my characters that they don’t even comment on it any more. If I’m alone in the car and someone notices, I try to pretend I’m on the phone." - Cynthia Omololu, author of Dirty Little Secrets.
"I tend to brainstorm scenes out loud when I’m alone in my car. It’s not so bad now that hands free headsets are available; people assume that you’re talking on the phone and don’t look at you like you’re a total nutjob. But years ago, before cells were common, I remember brainstorming a scene that was super good and super emotional, and I ended up talking to myself and crying like a complete idiot in the car. Some guys drove by me, pointing and laughing. What else could I do? I twirled a finger next to my ear and pointed at myself." - Carrie Harris, author of Bad Taste in Boys. 
"I don't tend to do that. I will sometimes hear voices, especially if I don't wear the tin foil. Just kidding. But I sort of hear how a conversation would go in my head for a particular scene. Then I jot it down. There are Post-It notes all over my house with odd phrases on them. I may actually have a whole book if I collected those Post-Its...like a sticky stream of consciousness." - Maurissa Guibord, author of Warped.
"I don't have conversations, but I do start mouthing the words of dialogue and emoting a bit with the scene I'm writing...I'm pretty good at controlling it when I'm writing in public, though. But I do occasionally get people going, 'Oh my God, Hannah, what's wrong?' when I'm killing someone off or something." - Hannah Moskowitz, author of Invincible Summer.
"My husband, Greg Leitich Smith, is also an author, and sometimes I’ll notice people in, say, restaurants eavesdropping on our conversations. Once we were talking in an animated way about the best way to kill off a (fictional) fourteen-year-old boy. This clearly distressed a few folks sitting around us." - Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Blessed.
"All the time. I'm a monologuer so I'll be blow drying my hair, stuck in traffic, walking the dog and I'll just start talking like one of my characters. Thankfully I live in Los Angeles
"No, they pretty much stay in my head, but I do draw my characters and sometimes I draw comics, for which expressions are crucial, and several times it's happened that someone points out I'm making a lot of faces." - Jaclyn Dolamore, author of Between the Sea and Sky.
"I haven't, but I have been caught crying in a coffee shop while writing a sad scene. Luckily, everyone knows I'm a writer who cries a lot. They don't worry about it too much!" - Inara Scott, author of Delcroix Academy: The Candidates.
"Ha ha! That would be funny. I don’t converse with my characters, but I do read dialogue out loud sometimes to check the flow. I try to do that when I’m home alone, though." - Kim Harrington, author of Clarity.
"No, but I have been caught crying over my own manuscript. I pushed it off on PMS, but actually it was my gorgeous, heartbreaking prose." - Sara Bennett Wealer, author of Rival.
"Nope. I never do that. I will say I've occasionally spoken a line of dialogue out loud to make sure it sounds the same as it does in my head, but I've never actually spoken to my characters, or spoken as them." - Stacia Kane, author of City of Ghosts.
On Thursday find out if the rest of our authors have been caught conversing with their characters!
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:) Great responses. Love seeing all the different ones from authors.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who talks to the characters in their head, lol. I also like to read my writing out loud to see if it sounds alright spoken aloud or see if it flows right.