Okay, I'm not talking paranormal here, although clearly that is a most popular genre. I'm speaking about the writer, how it helps to pursue those subjects or characters that haunt you.
Come on, you know what I'm talking about... the ones who keep you up at night. The ones you have secret conversations with. The ones that just seem to keep on popping up no matter how hard you try to dismiss them.
For a while, all my ghosts seemed to come from Gee's Bend, Alabama. So instead of fighting it, I invited them in for sweet iced tea, asked them to take off their shoes and warm their toes in front of the fire. And then I wrote down everything they said.
So if you're struggling with which story to pursue, pay attention to those ghosts. They can be really good company. Once you get past your fear.
Maybe it is because I am still stuck on nonfiction, but I keep trying to finish conversations with real people. I've started writing some of them down. Maybe a memoir?
ReplyDeletei call them "my voices" - that makes me sound crazier though.
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