I am getting to the end of writing my new novel, Radwinter… when I finish within the next week or so, then the hard work will start of editing it, eliminating as many errors as I can and generally knocking it into shape.
I think my family and friends must be fed up with me talking about it, but my main character has become such a large personality, he is with me all the time, and I’m constantly thinking about what he will do next, what he might say, what he might discover on his quest to trace his family’s roots. Now… I am a woman, I’m retired after a life of working as a teacher, I am very happily married with two wonderful children, I have one sister and many cousins…
me
Thomas is a man (as you might guess) he’s a young man in his thirties, he is married but has no children, he was brought up by his eldest brother, he’s a solicitor, he is about 5’10”, has mousey hair, a red beard and is plump… well, chubby, fat even…
Thomas?
http://www.fyens.dk/article/1052960:Film–Nicolas-Bro-skal-spille-Simon-Spies
Lois Elsden 
Hi Lois…I hope soon to be joining you in the editing phase of my second book, Conor Kelly and The Fenian King. The editing stage is hard work, and painful, yet a strangely enjoyable process all the same. Do you think you will be able to edit Thomas out of your life at the same time…at least for a while?
LikeLike
I think he will linger on… but I’ll be able to choose when i meet up with him, rather than him being there all the time!
Isn’t it curious how such a relationship grows between someone who is totally fictitious? Do you find that your characters become almost autonomous and do things which are unexpected to you? Sometimes a ‘person’ who had what I intended a s a walk-on part, takes centre stage and becomes a main player!
LikeLike
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes, they take my story off in new (and better!) directions I hadn’t even thought of. I know that sounds crazy, but they really do take on a life of their own, and I miss them when their story is told.
LikeLike
Not crazy at all – it’s just the same for me… that’s why I only ever have a hazy outline of what I’m doing because I never know where my people will take me. It’s always exciting to start a new story, isn’t it, because however many characters you have waiting in the wings, someone unexpected will arrive!
LikeLike
That’s me too! I always feel inadequate when I read how precisely other authors plan their storylines because I never do that…it changes constantly for me as my characters act out their stories and continuously drop their spanners in my work, hehe…
LikeLike