A Writer’s Best Friend

I remember something I read about Tolkien once, about how he said that sometimes Frodo and Samwise were his best friends because they completely understood him and they never questioned him. I identified with that. I feel that way about my characters sometimes, too. Aw…shoot, not just sometimes, all times. I love my characters, even the ones I hate.

I confess that I’ve never actually read one of Tolkien’s books all the way through. I know. I know. That’s a crime for a fantasy writer, but I was afraid to read him. Afraid I might be influenced. I didn’t want to be. Then of course the movies came out, but I had already written rough drafts of my novels and had them waiting to be typed and stuffed in dresser drawers. I did, however, read ABOUT Tolkien. I liked him as a man before I ever knew him as a writer.

So it is that when the world is a cold and foreign place to me I turn to the inhabitants of the world I created, the world that lives between the covers and even the one that is still bound with a leather cord, awaiting the day that I type the manuscript and send it in. It’s funny to me. This world, the “real” one, often has too much insanity, is too illogical and often seems unreal. That’s when I turn to the one I created where every thing, no matter how extreme or dramatic, always makes sense to me. I only hope that in the process, it entertains a few other people.