Mid-Week Update: Crying Over Spilled Characters

Do you ever make yourself cry with something you’re writing? I wrote a scene today that had me bawling. It spilled out really fast — I wrote 550 words in 20 minutes before taking a short break, that was the emotional part, and then came back a while later and wrote another 750 in about 35 minutes. That’s pretty fast typety-typing. And there was the crying. I will say it was a scene I’ve been thinking about for months, and it’s pivotal to the entire Children of the Sidhe series. It is emotional, and dark, and wrong, and strangely right at the same time. 

I can’t remember any other time that I’ve cried over my writing that way. What about you, fellow writers? Do you cry over your spilled characters?
I didn’t write on Monday. I know I said that whole “must write every day this week” thing. But office day, long commute, brain tired and headachy after kids were in bed. I did some blog reading. Fine with that.
Still, with today’s 1,300 words, and the fact I can count the remaining scenes on one hand, I will be finishing this book in the next week (note that includes the long weekend). Yippee! Of course, then it goes in my to-be-edited pile, so nobody get excited. I need to edit book three before I edit book four.
Speaking more broadly of the series: It’s really exciting to approach the end of a series like this! I can feel it all coming together. There will be five novellas total in the Children of the Sidhe series. Two are out now (Tribute and Vessel), Flight is written, and Descent is almost written. I’m thinking about the fifth novella, Shield, being my project for November. I had mentioned NaNo, but let’s be honest, 50,000 words in a month just doesn’t feel good to me. It feels like panic and the rest of my world falling apart. But 30,000? After two months off of writing to publish Queen Witch and edit Flight? I think I’ve just spilled my round four goals. 🙂

About J.R. Pearse Nelson

J.R. Pearse Nelson is a fantasy and romance writer from Oregon, USA. She lives with her husband and two daughters among the plentiful trees and clouds of the beautiful Willamette Valley. J.R. is always searching for the magic in our world. She weaves tales rooted in mythology, bringing legend to life in modern-day and fantasy settings. J.R. is the author of the Of the Blood fantasy romance series, the Foulweather Twins fantasy series, and the Water Rites fantasy series. You can connect with J.R. and learn more about her fiction at her website. Visit jrpearsenelson.com.

3 comments on “Mid-Week Update: Crying Over Spilled Characters

  1. There have been times I’ve cried over scenes I was writing. We get so caught up in the emotions of our characters.

    I did NaNo for two years in a row and finished both times. But at a price. I felt like I HAD to write rather than I WANTED to write. I had to write 1667 a day, and if I skipped a day, I had to write 3334 the next day. I don’t need that kind of pressure, so I won’t be doing that again. On the plus side…that’s how I wrote Haunted Lake, and I think that’s still my favorite of all my books. 🙂

    • I didn’t realize Haunted Lake was a NaNo book. That’s awesome! And I agree about the excessive word count stress. I’m a happy writer when I know I can skip out for a few days and not be missed if it comes to that. And we’ve already talked about max word counts — that 3,334 beats out our 3,000 comfort level on a FULL DAY of writing. I’m not real nice to be around if I’m trying to keep that pace for a month. lol

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