Whilst AFTERLIFE was doing the rounds at my writers' group, one key issue that kept coming up was wraith physiology. My main character, Yasmin Stoker, is a wraith who can take either the form of a human being or mist. And this became a huge sticking point, because everyone wanted to know if she had a fully functioning human body when she's in human form. Does she need to eat, sleep, use the toilet, etc? Does she breathe? If she has lungs, a heart, whatever, where do they go when she turns to mist?
And the answer was mostly, I don't actually know. I wrote the first half of this book for Nanowrimo 2007, so at the time it was just a case of "get the words down, sod it if it doesn't make sense!" So I didn't stop to think about whether or not Yasmin had human needs whilst in human form. I know she sleeps (mostly for narrative convenience; a character who's awake 24 hours a day requires a lot more plot than I had at the time). I know she eats human food, but she doesn't need to - it's a comfort thing. The chapter that really sparked off the debate for my writers’ group was one where Yasmin is in bed eating a bacon sandwich. Do wraiths eat bacon? Inquiring minds wanted to know and I had no answers!
Most of the other undead creatures in the book were pretty well developed by that stage in the writing. I knew my vampires, my Lich Lords, my ghouls; how they functioned, what they needed to survive, and what could hurt them. Yasmin was a bit different and I hadn't really figured out all the answers by the time I finished the first draft. Having spent hours agonising over whether or not she had kidney stones and could digest bacon, I came to the conclusion that I might be overthinking things.
But how can you ever be sure? How much detail is too much? Are these the tiny details on which an entire book will rise or fall? Or are they the tiny details that readers will overlook because they accept that we're dealing with supernatural creatures?
I started to set the rules for Yasmin more firmly in place as I redrafted with my group’s feedback, figuring out how much physical damage she could take, what happens to her bacon sandwiches when she turns to mist, and whether a vampire could kill her. And in the end, I think I resolved all the burning questions. I swear though, if I ever have to spend another writers' group meeting trying to explain why vampire sandwiches are not going to happen, I'm scrapping the whole book. It's bacon all the way.
About Author Naomi Clark
Naomi Clark lives in Cambridge and is a mild-mannered office worker by day, but a slightly crazed writer by night. Her short fiction has appeared in ezines from Midnight Times to Dark Fire Fiction. She has a perfectly healthy obsession with giant sea creatures and a preference for vodka-based cocktails. When she's not writing, Naomi is probably either reading or watching 80s cartoon shows, and sometimes she manages to do all three at once. Her debut novel, AFTERLIFE is out now from Damnation Books, and the first of her URBAN WOLF novels, SILVER KISS out now from QueeredFiction.
Visit her livejournal at http://naomi-jay.livejournal.com/
Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/naomi_jay
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8 comments:
Fascinating. I'm still rather new to the undead characters but find the story to have some reflection in my own experiences already. Seems taking anatomy & physiology is going to come in handy when writing.
I have a book involving angels and demons. Already, a person on twitter has questioned the anatomy of the angel characters. As I'm writing the first draft, I'm also working on the anatomy and physiological aspects of the characters involved.
Clark's book sounds interesting, as well as the main character.
Thanks for this guest blog Naomi! How could you not consider the ramifications of a bacon sandwich while writing your novel?! (says ironically in mock shock ;-D kidding!) When you use some original or quite unfamiliar creatures (not vampires or werewolves) you have to prepare yourself to the readers' inquiring questions. But I think that with a little imagination everything can be resolved and explained as these creatures exist in your universe, and as some authors have vampires who can walk out in daylight while others have them only awake at night. It's your freedom to tell us readers how your characters are. :-)
ps: I also love Vodka-based cocktails ;-p
stella.exlibris (at) gmail DOT com
Just wanted to stop by and say hi to you, Nome. Best with everything!
Hi Naomi, thanks for stopping by. Your blog entry was really interesting on how you can develop a character. Thanks for the insight.
This was a very interesting post I enjoyed it very much. Sounds like a very good book.
sstrode@scrtc.com
I enjoyed the post. Have not read many books with wraith's as heroines.
Sounds interesting.
Sounds like an interesting heroine - something new - I'd love to win it!
shelleyrae73 at gmail dot com
I agree that you can over-think things when world-building, and constrict yourself too much sometimes. It never fails to astonish me how many people insist there are rules for invented creatures, when to my mind the only rules are the ones you make up yourself.
A while back an author of my acquaintance asked if it was possible for vampires to be awake during the day--as if the answer might be in an encyclopaedia somewhere.
I think so long as you don't contradict yourself you can have your paranormal beings do and eat whatever they want. Mine do!
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