Bring Your Characters to Life

Stephen King throws characters into predicaments to “watch them try to work themselves free.”

“My job isn’t to help them work their way free . . .” he said, “but to watch what happens and then write it down . . . I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way.” (On Writing, 164-5).

I experienced that while writing my first novel, Who Buried Achilles?

Thirty years after his abusive alcoholic father had abandoned him, Prometheus confronted his estranged father in a train depot near Bayeux, France. He (and I) had rehearsed exactly what he would say and do.

Despite his near-stuporous inebriation, Prometheus’ father, François, completely derailed his son’s (and my) plan.

I typed feverishly as Prometheus and François yelled at one another on the open-air platform. I saw them clearly in my mind. I wrote what they said. When they were done, I sat back stunned and said aloud, “That’s so much better than anything I could’ve thought of.” It was surreal.

I rewrote much of the book to accommodate François’ new storyline.

You can read François’ words in Chapter 17, but check out the rest of the book to understand Prometheus’ gritty and spiritual journey.

P.S.  My editor, Bill Thompson, gave Steven King his big break when he published Carrie. After Bill read my manuscript, he emailed his assistant, “O’Driscoll has promise. Give him my number.” I later saw that email. It was more surreal than writing Chapter 17.

Get it on Amazon. I’d love your read and review.