Over the last two months I have managed to wring out a thousand words into the Moleskine and I typed them up today. Now I’m at the point where my protagonist must confront some of the very issues I’ve been struggling with since I have become a widower. I don’t know if I can even do this by proxy.
Kev,
What Maura would say to you (and probably is), is, “Listen knuckle brain, this is easier said than done, but: do not project your own limitations, onto your protagonist. Let him or her sort their own problems out, in their own inimitable way.” Then when theyve done their thing, Maura would say, "If that worked for him, why not for you?" :wink: Take care Kev, keep y chin up
Vic
Not to discourage you, but maybe you aren’t yet ready to write about such a personal topic. Some topics I only poke at with long poles in my writing, because I can’t effectively distance myself. I suspect everyone has their hot buttons.
But maybe you are ready. In that case, bear in mind that your character is not you.
Kevin, as you are probably aware I virtually never contribute to threads like this as creative writing of any kind is not an aspect of my world as currently experienced. However, it just seems to me that “your protagonist” is someone who has come out of the depths of your system, so I just wonder if the reason you-s/he have reached this point is that actually, deep down you have reached the point where you need to externalise this part of your struggle … and that’s the purpose of the “proxy route”.
Thing is, maybe by playing it out through the proxy may well allow you to explore responses and their outcomes in a way which is not possible in your real-time situation.
But feel free to ignore me … I’m not a psychologist, I’m a linguist …
Mark
First off: Vick-K, Damn you sir and thank you sir (again). That’s scary close to something she might have said.
Second off: xianmenese, I’m about to accuse you of having sucked my brain. This story is part of a series, and it was inevitable that one day I would reach this point, regardless of what was going on in the real world. Soon he and I must cross the event horizon, and find out what’s on the other side.
You’ve got good advice here, Kevin. All I will send you is hugs. 
Zoe
I haven’t written it yet, but now I understand how to do so. I’ve another short scene to muddle through first.
I seriously need more pub time. I’ve done my best work at the bar, with a pint, and sometimes with a bit of what KB would consider an unreasonable facsimilie of chips.
It’s how most of us function most of the time. Plan, theory, organization – those are idealized maps which never show the log across the road or the ghost in the mirror.
Tennyson, so wrong about so many things, did once in a while get it right:
Keep muddling.
phil
s/most/all/g
Doesn’t matter who you are, even the most organized, muddle is the best for which we can hope. Chaos of nature or a doctrine of freewill, either mandates that the puddle we exist in will be cloudy at best.
Oh, this is hard. I loved vic-k’s advice and it sounds like he knows you well enough to say it. First of all, well done on the words!
It sounds like you’ve had fantastic advice, and I can only add that it might help, when you’re ready to write it, that you keep tissues to hand. It might really, really help to write it - in fact, it probably will - but you have to be ready for that kind of thing, and it can open up old wounds.
I’ve always found it helped to write things out, but often I’ve had to wait until I felt strong enough. It looks to me like you’re doing brilliantly, regardless of how it feels inside.
J xx
P.S. What is it they say? Something like: “Man plans, God laughs.” I like muddling. It’s kind of fun, and leaves room for lots of surprises.
Let the character become.
Unhindered.
After all each character may have influence from the writer but in a whole is its on entity in itself. Your job is to “breathe life” into the character without boundaries you may set upon yourself in the real world. You are the architect, the creator. Let your imagination guide you.
Oh, yes, he is much, much cooler than I. 
I very much like Vic, xiamenese and wock’s advice - all seem to point to perhaps you’re holding on just a little too tightly. You have expectations which are too tensely wound up in a need to succeed and prove something. A need to be totally in control.
But you can’t force your characters, or your inspiration. Cut yourself a little slack and just let them lead you. Even if you need to back track later and clean up some details, unfettered writing could reveal more about how you want things to play out than trying to impose a path over that event horizon.
Hope you’re bearing up and doing well, all things considered.
Pink, I’m not disagreeing with anything you’ve said, but truth be told, I’m getting some vicarious catharsis out of this that I very much need. So I’m getting some material out of bereavement, after all.
I’m feeling better than I was when I started this thread. But I’ve just GOT to get this stuff written down…
At the end of the day, Kev, most kinds of creative endeavour, prove therapeutic, one way or another. Just keep your surges gentle, and your expectations modest, that way, the odd hiatus that comes along, will be akin to Leonardo, stepping back from the canvas, turning away from it, and walking over to the balcony, and watching life unfolding before him. With his faculties recharged, he`s ready to return to the canvas…or the keyboard. 
Take care son,
VIc
How’s it going, Kevin?
A few paragraphs here and there, over the course of the month. I’ve done that a couple of times this week. I’m working nights now, 9 weeks on the job after 6 months’ unemployment. I have not completed adapting my life away from work to this very different situation.
But I think about this story every damn day.
I’m a firm believer that thinking is part of writing, a very necessary part. Filling up the well, percolating, marinating, call it what you will. I think rushing stuff into print before it’s “cooked” can be a big mistake.
(OTOH, it could just be inherent laziness. I’ve been thinking about this new novel for a year now. Hard. 
)
I’m also a fan of freewriting when you really get stuck. Just throw the words out, type blind if you can, don’t worry about spelling or typos or anything. Kind of unsticks the dam. You can always turf the whole lot.
Please find enclosed an example of Vic-k`s, typing blind:
Take care
Fluff