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What do You do when your writing upsets you?

“If I ask you to think about something, you can decide not to. But if I make you feel something? Now I have your attention.”


Lisa Cron

When I’m writing short stories I’m in the world of that story for a short time. But novels, as I’m finding out, are different.

I’ve grown to love these characters, become involved in their lives. What’s worse, I’m the one making them miserable, because I created their world, and their troubles! I guess the fact that I’m feeling their feeling is a good thing, because maybe then the reader will get to experience those feeling as well. And as Lisa Cron says, maybe I’ll have pure writer’s gold: my reader’s attention!

But in the meanwhile, I’m a little blue, all because of the people in my novel– who have nothing much in common with me, who have no existence beyond my imagination.

Does this happen to you? 
Do you ever strongly feel the emotions of the characters you read about, or the ones you write?

For those coming here via #IWSG, here’s my post.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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