Do authors hear voices?

Before you start worrying about me, let me explain.

Last week I had planned to spend the weekend writing the next chapter of my newest novel.

Instead, I did almost nothing.

That may sound strange, but sometimes not writing is an important part of writing.

My latest novel, Becoming Eli (my working title), follows two young men living at a time when even the smallest sign of affection could have landed them in jail. Ron is a piano player in a Nashville bar. Charley is a librarian from Alabama.

I knew the premise of their story before I wrote the first chapter, and I know where their journey eventually leads. What I don't always know is how they'll get there. That part is often left for the characters to discover.

This may sound a little odd, but I try to know my characters well enough that I can see the world through their eyes. I want readers to experience what they experience, to feel what they feel, rather than watching them from a distance.

Every author has a different way of telling a story. Some enjoy standing above it all, knowing everything and revealing only what they choose. There's nothing wrong with that approach. It simply isn't mine.

As I found my own voice as a writer, I realized I was much more comfortable living inside the minds of my characters. The reader only knows what they know. They discover the world one moment at a time, just as the characters do. That approach works wonderfully in mysteries, but I think it also creates a deeply personal romance because every emotion is experienced alongside the people living it.

Sometimes that means I have to step away from the keyboard.

There's a chapter in this new book where Ron and Charley finally come together in a way that changes everything. I intentionally set it aside for an entire weekend and let it percolate. I didn't force it. I simply lived with the characters until Monday morning.

When I sat back down on Monday, it no longer felt as though I was inventing the scene. It felt as though I was finally catching up to it.

By the time I finished it, I had a lump in my throat.

That isn't unusual for me. It has happened with every book I've written. Certain scenes still make me tear up, even years later when I go back to read them. Somehow those characters still feel real enough that what happens to them affects me all over again.

So if you ever read one of my books and come across a chapter that makes you laugh, smile, cry, or simply sit quietly for a moment before turning the page, know this:

It touched the author first.

Maybe that's as close as authors ever come to hearing voices.

Mj