The Introduction of Fictional Friends
Have you ever read a book or watched a movie in which the characters become so real to you that you feel as if you almost know them? Or perhaps, for you, it’s a famous singer or sports-player who you’ve watched so many times that you now talk about them as you would your next-door-neighbor.
“Dude, did you see how many 3-Pointers Steph made last night?!”
The longer we invest in reading, watching, or listening to these celebrities or characters, the more we come to regard them as people we actually know.
Now hear me, I’m not pointing out a potential psychological problem in our society, and neither am I making an argument in favor of it; I’m merely making an observation. Because, maybe, it will help you understand how it feels to publish a book.
Hold that thought for a moment, I will come back to it.
To further understand where I am going, I need you to use your imagination. Try to picture how you would feel if one of your “fictional friends” was coming over for dinner. Imagine having to introduce them to your family.
Gosh, I really hope Bob likes my sister….
What if they don’t get along? Will that hurt my relationship with one or each of them?
This could be really awkward…
My family is so weird—what will Fred think of them?
Even if your thought process wouldn’t be quite so dramatic, you still might be a little nervous, right? In my case, however, these examples are almost mild. You see, I have been writing this particular story for half of my life, and now the characters are like dear friends. This story is so deeply ingrained in me that no matter what I am doing, my mind tends to wander back to it. And at last when I get to open my laptop and the pages pop to life on the screen, my heart sighs with a sense of coming home.
Ok, you are probably wondering what on earth is the point of these random ramblings. Or perhaps you might be worrying that I am going a little bit doolally (remember that word, you might hear it again). I won't make an effort to contradict you on that latter question, but as for wondering what my point is, let me explain.
There is a part of me that wishes to keep my story a secret only for me, like a hidden world that no one else knows about, with people and places that are entirely mine alone. My secret happy place that no one can ever tarnish or criticize. But there is another part of me that simply cannot wait to share this story, these characters, with all of you. I think most of us instinctively know, even if we don’t want to admit it, that the best joys in life are the ones that are shared (except for Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream, which is better if I eat all of it myself, thank you very much).
Thus ties in my examples. Characters in books definitely can feel like close friends. Mine certainly do. And in publishing my book, I feel as if I am walking up to my large, extended family, aware of all their skeptical eyebrows and politely-curious stares, leading my fictional friend, my book, behind me to meet them.
Yes, I am nervous, but also excited, to finally, after fifteen years, open the door—or rather the book cover—of this story, this new world, to all of you. It will not be for everyone; nothing ever is. Not everyone jumped up and down screaming through the entire trailer for Star Wars, The Force Awakens like I did. But for those of you who might enjoy this particular story, and even more for those of you who one day could find that these particular characters have become your fictional friends too, I cannot express how happy I am to introduce you.