Relationships

For probably two years before I started working on my first novel (the one I am writing now), the characters were making themselves known to me. They often spoke to me at night when I was trying to go to sleep, keeping me awake with their stories and their struggles.

More recently, they are reminding me that their relationships, like my own, are formative. Even bad relationships build character, inform choices, and change paths. Good relationships light up our journey, but can also make us complacent.

As I write, I reflect. My characters provide clarity in regards to my own life, my own relationships. They are not me. They have different struggles, different relationships, different dreams; but they shine a light where darkness lurked before.

I have heard that a writer always writes about what they know best, what they care about the most. I would also argue that, in writing, the writer discovers self.